Ski Aggu

August Jean Diederich grew up in Berlin-Wilmersdorf.^[8] His grandfather is the SPD politician and political scientist Nils Diederich.^[9]

In a 2022 interview with Der Tagesspiegel, Diederich's stated that he lived in Ireland for an undisclosed period of time. He maintained that in Ireland he intensively practiced the martial art Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and eventually became the national champion in his weight class.^[10]

Ski Aggu began releasing music on SoundCloud in 2018. His early work focused on partying, though the tone was darker and more melancholic. Many of these early songs made frequent reference to West Berlin hotspots and popular night clubs, with some critics interpreting his lyrics as prescient social commentary on the daily life of young Berliners.^[10] Ritter Lean, a close childhood friend, has frequently collaborated on songs with him.^[1][11]

He released his first single Weißwein & Pappbecher ("Wine and Paper Cups") in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[12] Since then, he has aimed to release new tracks on a recurring basis. His second song, Super Wavy (in collaboration with YFG Pave), remained his most streamed song on Spotify until the release of "Party Sahne" in 2022.^[10]

After focusing on club performances in the summer of 2021, Ski Aggu prioritised appearances at outdoor festivals a year later, in Germany and Austria. Among his 2022 appearances were the Heroes Festival [de] in Geiselwind,^[13] splash!,^[14] Poolbar Festival and Frequency.^[15]

For the track "Hubba Bubba" released in September 2022, he collaborated with Berlin music producer Southstar.^[16] One month later, he released "Party Sahne" ("Party Cream"), which featured producers Endzone [de] and Ericson. The song, which samples the melody from the song "Jerk It Out" by the Swedish band Caesars, reached number 32 on the German Singles Chart.^[17] It has retrospectively been characterised by entertainment media as his career breakthrough.^[18] A June 2024 profile of Ski Aggu in Sleek Magazine noted that following the release of "Party Sahne" he began to perform in larger venues and receive greater exposure by artists for song collaborations.^[11] In November and December 2022, Ski Aggu performed first tour, Aprés Ski, appearing in cities across German-speaking areas of Europe.^[19]

On 2 December 2022, Ski Aggu released his debut album 2022 war Film gewesen (2022 was a film year) which included four new songs.^[20] In his review of the album, Yannik Gölz from Laut.de wrote that Ski Aggu "has an ear for vibes and knows that he does not have to spell out the impact of his music." Gölz stated that while songs felt like filler tracks, the album contained "too much good music to ignore," and overall constituted "a quite interesting statement." The reviewer rated the album four out of five stars.^[21]

On 25 May 2023, the single "Friesenjung" was released in collaboration with Dutch rapper Joost Klein and German comedian Otto Waalkes. The song is a reinterpretation of Waalkes' original and reached number one on the singles charts in Germany and Austria.^[22][23] The single appeared on his second album Denk mal drüber nach (Think It Over) which he released later that year.^[24]

Ski Aggu released his third studio album on 30 August 2024, Wilmersdorfs Kind (Child of Wilmersdorf) which consists of 17 tracks.^[6] A number of singles featured on the album reached high positions on charts in Germany, including "Balla Balla", "DEUTSCHLAND 🇩🇪 (recorded in collaboration with German artist Ikkimel), and "Bye x3" (in collaboration with German pop group Jeremias [de]).^[25]

Diederich's interest in martial arts is reflected on his social media platforms and in music videos, in which he frequently poses in fighting stances. Outside of music, Diederich follows the football clubs Hertha BSC, Napoli and Celtic FC, and has been seen wearing these teams' jerseys.^[10]