ThruHell – Virtual Rap Crew from Neo Cologne

WHAT IS THRUHELL?

ThruHell is a music and story project I created around the fictional rap crew Orion, Chanel, Nino and Baily. I remained in the background as GRIMMGHOZT and acted as their ghost producer. The idea was to release my music without having to place myself at the centre of it.

The project combined songs, characters, its own world and fully animated music videos. That combination also made it extremely demanding for one person. A single video could take more than six months to produce, leaving virtually no room for regular social-media content. I eventually put ThruHell on hold.

THE WORLD OF NEO COLOGNE

Orion, Chanel, Nino and Baily have known one another since childhood in Neo Cologne. After a global nuclear war, the city was rebuilt at extraordinary speed and rose to become the new centre of Europe.

The catastrophe drew the remaining human population closer together and led to war being outlawed. Ego, the pursuit of power and social cruelty did not disappear with it. Behind the image of a united society remained a world in which the strongest often prevailed.

The four discovered hip-hop culture together as children and made it their means of expression. Their friendship grew into a rap crew. They live their music – and use it to change the world around them in the only way they know how.

Orion, Chanel, Nino and Baily as the ThruHell crew

THE CREW

RAPPER & SINGER

ORION ORTEGA

Orion was born during a flight across the Atlantic as his parents were forced to leave the United States and flee to Germany. The son of a Cuban father and an African American mother, he grew up in Neo Cologne amid poverty, insecurity and difficult circumstances.

At an early age, he learned to hide his vulnerable core behind a hard exterior. He had to assert himself in a cold world while holding on to the possibility of a better life. Anxiety, self-doubt and a paralysing inner emptiness followed him for years. He increasingly searched for distraction in alcohol and fleeting relationships, but none of it could give him what he was truly looking for.

Although Orion had been writing lyrics, rapping and singing since childhood, it took him years to understand the stability music could provide. It was more than an escape from his reality: it became his calling.

His lyrics deal with depression, survival and the search for meaning. He gives a voice to emotions many people recognise but struggle to put into words.

INSTRUMENTALIST

CHANEL MARCEAU

Chanel’s mother was a well-known call girl from France who was rejected by her family because of her lifestyle. Her father, a Russian pianist, remained at her side until his death. Through him, Chanel received an exceptional musical education from an early age. Alongside the piano, she masters several string instruments.

After her father died, she moved to Germany and was raised by her grandfather, Matis Marceau. He brought her up with strict, elitist values and a clear idea of the place she was expected to occupy within his family and company.

Chanel spent much of her youth at boarding schools, which she quickly came to hate. She repeatedly ran away in order to escape her grandfather’s control and follow her own path.

During one of those trips, she attended a concert and met Baily and Nino. Occasional encounters soon became regular meetings. The three shared not only a love of music, but the desire to create something of their own.

BEAT CONNOISSEUR & MULTIMEDIA CREATOR

NINO NABIL

Nino was born in Naples into an influential Camorra family. His father was shot during an internal power struggle, forcing Nino and his mother to flee Italy while he was still a child.

They first found refuge in Egypt, his mother’s country of origin. The people pursuing his family tracked them down there as well, and their escape eventually led to Germany. Soon afterwards, his mother was also murdered, leaving Nino to spend the rest of his childhood in a series of care homes.

There he eventually met Baily, whose life story mirrored his own in many ways. Shared pain and the feeling of being left to survive alone developed into a close friendship.

Through Baily, Nino became deeply involved with music. He continues to process his experiences by programming beats and creating films. Exceptionally versatile, he taught himself recording, mixing and mastering alongside beat production.

Within ThruHell, Nino connects sound and image. He does not think only in songs, but in complete audiovisual worlds.

DJ, PRODUCER & BEATMAKER

BAILY BAYU

Baily was born under dangerous circumstances in Jakarta. Her father held a senior position at the Chinese embassy in Indonesia. When an affair with a colleague resulted in a pregnancy, he used every connection available to conceal what had happened. Neither his marriage in China nor his political career could be allowed to suffer.

Baily’s mother refused to end the pregnancy. She remained in hiding for months and eventually gave birth in secret. To protect both of their lives, she arranged for the baby to be sent to Germany as an apparent orphan, leaving the father to believe that the child had died before birth.

Baily grew up in a succession of care homes in Germany. Small in stature, she quickly learned how to assert herself and make sure she was heard even in difficult situations.

She also has a calm, spiritual side. She is open to meditation, yoga and different philosophical ideas, but music remains the centre of her life.

Baily produces every ThruHell song and is a virtuoso on the turntables. Her greatest talent is bringing seemingly opposing sounds, ideas and personalities together as a harmonious whole. She is not only the crew’s producer, but its musical centre.

CEO OF MMM CORP.

MONSIEUR MATIS MARCEAU

Matis Marceau is a powerful French businessman who has built a vast property empire in Neo Cologne. His connections reach deep into politics and business, and he ranks among the city’s richest men. A significant part of the Neo Cologne skyline bears his signature.

To protect the reputation of his family, he rejected his own daughter when her life no longer matched his image of a successful and respectable dynasty. After her death, he took responsibility for raising his granddaughter Chanel.

Matis is obsessed with preserving his reputation, influence and wealth. ThruHell, hip-hop and Chanel’s friendships represent everything beyond his control. He regards the crew as a disgrace and a threat to the future he has planned for his granddaughter.

His goal is to destroy ThruHell and force Chanel to take her place within the MMM Corp. She is expected to honour the family and continue his life’s work.

But the moment his empire is threatened, his true priorities become clear: his own power and the preservation of his fortune, even when his granddaughter’s life is at stake.