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Dimensions of Dissatisfaction and Dissent in Contemporary German Rap: Social Marginalization, Politics, and Identity Formation

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The Sociolinguistics of Hip-hop as Critical Conscience

Abstract

Rap music has a long history as a site for socio-political awareness and commentary. In recent years, socially critical attitudes have permeated German mainstream rap. This chapter explores expressions of dissatisfaction and dissent in a corpus of contemporary, commercially successful German rap lyrics. The analysis shows that German rappers employ explicit and implicit ways of expression, for example, direct reference, irony, and imitation, to voice their objection to specific social issues and behaviors. By positioning themselves as critics of political and socio-economic issues, German rappers project their sociocultural identity and index their belonging to a particular social stratum.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The official German charts are “the only music charts for Germany licensed by the German association of the music industry (‘Bundesverband Musikindustrie’, or BVMI)” (www.offiziellecharts.de), which represents the interest of ca. 350 labels and music companies, covering approximately 90% of the music market in Germany. The charts are calculated from digital and physical sales and are neutral with regard to specific age groups or genres.

  2. 2.

    The song ‘30 Grad’ (‘30 degrees’) by MC Fitti, another German rapper, for instance, is stylistically directly comparable to Fatoni & Dexter’s ‘32 Grad’, but lacks the element of social criticism .

  3. 3.

    The immigrant background of the artists, although not explicitly stated as effecting the discrimination here, resonates in the background of their self-portrayal.

  4. 4.

    Jimi Blue Ochsenknecht is a young German actor famous for his appearances in teenage movies. He had a brief stint in rapping in 2007 and 2008, which was the subject of ridicule in the established rap scene (cf. the ironic, over-the-top portrayal in K.I.Z.’s Jimi Blue, released on their 2013 mixtape Ganz Oben). The actor’s name is used here as a paragon of a bad rapper.

  5. 5.

    The translation fails to convey a German wordplay based on the phonological similarity between künstlerisch (artistic) and künstlich (artificial).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the two editors, an anonymous reviewer and Robert Niemann for their helpful comments on individual aspects of an earlier version of this chapter. Any remaining errors are our own.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Leonie Wiemeyer

  2. University of Muenster, Muenster, NRW, Germany

    Steffen Schaub

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  1. Leonie Wiemeyer
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Teaching and Learning, Southern Cross University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

    Andrew S. Ross

  2. Centre for Meta-Learning, Faculty of Systems Information Science Future University Hakodate, Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

    Damian J. Rivers

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Wiemeyer, L., Schaub, S. (2018). Dimensions of Dissatisfaction and Dissent in Contemporary German Rap: Social Marginalization, Politics, and Identity Formation. In: Ross, A., Rivers, D. (eds) The Sociolinguistics of Hip-hop as Critical Conscience. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59244-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59244-2_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59243-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59244-2

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