Born December 2nd, 1968 in Kiel, Germany as Sylvia Macco, Cora E is a former nurse turned hip-hop artist, who emerged in the early underground German hip hop culture. She was not only one of the originators, but she was also one of the few females in the industry. She was a Zulu Queen and as such, a member of the Zulu Nation.
Relocating to Heidelberg, she was one of the very few old-school acts to be taken on by a major record label after she released two singles with Buback. She wrote her own lyrics, and worked independently. The social criticism based on personal experience in her music link her to other Hip-Hop artists in Germany, such as Advanced Chemistry. Her old school sound interested EMI; they signed her and another female artist, Tic Tac Toe. She had success with the record company and her first single Schlüsselkind (Latchkey Kid) was a hit.
Her first single with EMI, "Schlüsselkind" (Latchkey Kid), was released in December 1996 and was able to achieve wide airplay. The song featured a relatively unpolished production style and traditional delivery, with lyrics that attempted at social criticism via her personal experience by linking a description of her own childhood to the problems of children of working parents. The song was a tribute to the transformative power of hip-hop and directly refers to its country of origin, the United States.
