Fler was born on 3 April 1982 as Patrick Decker. He and his mom were left by his father when he was five, after which his problems in school began, not because of his grades, but because of his behaviour. He has been accused of nationalist views, because of his lyrics in songs like "Neue Deutsche Welle" (New German Wave [allusion to the so called "Neue Deutsche Welle" in the 1980's]) and "Das hier ist schwarz, rot, gold - hart und stolz" (This is black