Sounds German by Kirkland A. Fulk;

Author:Kirkland A. Fulk; [Fulk, Kirkland A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 2021-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

Poetry of an Alien: Case Studies and Constellations

The first set of case studies revolves around aspects of middle-class German-ness in the Alte Schule-context and the ways in which specific bands positioned themselves vis-à-vis African-American culture. In 1989, approximately a decade prior to the graduation (or dismissal, depending on one’s perspective) of the Klasse von ‘95, the Eifel-based group LSD, short for Legally Spread Dope, had published the “Competent”-EP, which they followed up with their first album, Watch out for the Third Rail in 1991—a noteworthy reference to the 1982 movie Wild Style. Released on the then Cologne-based label Rhythm Attack Productions, whose owner Stephan Meyner had hitherto specialized in licensing American rap-acts, “Competent” ended up being the only German contribution to the label’s New School-Sampler—note the moniker—among tracks by African-American artists such as J.V.C. F.O.R.C.E or DJ Duquan & The Wonderluv, which LSD’s Future Rock a.k.a. Michael Rick had produced. Performed in English by Ko Lute (Patrick Steffen), the single “Competent,” with its meticulously curated samples of James Brown’s “Give it up or Turnit a Loose” and Uncle Louie’s “I like Funky Music,” among many others, explicitly references the U.S. Old School rather than the New School.32 LSD’s sound is thus closer in spirit to the output of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five or Afrika Bambaataa than the politically charged noise-sound of Public Enemy or the confrontational hardcore rap of N.W.A. Ko Lute’s apolitical lyrics neither refer to the band’s West German middle-class background nor do they explicitly address rap in a local context, unless one counts the repeated claim that LSD are, indeed, “competent” despite their visible whiteness, linguistically audible German-ness, and subcultural belatedness.33 Overall, “Competent” exemplifies a strain of German Old School-rap that seeks to stay as close as possible to the original culture with regard to its aesthetics. Yet, while LSD adopts hip-hop’s aural and visual codes, the group does not engage in processes of cultural adaptation as the band seeks to minimize the focus on nationality and skin color.

In 1991, the year in which LSD’s Watch out for the Third Rail came out, Boombastic Records released one of the first German hip-hop samplers, Krauts with Attitude – German Hip Hop Vol. 1. Compiled by the journalist Michael Reinboth and the DJ Katmando—after Rick Ski had left the project due to creative differences—Krauts with Attitude contains 15 songs of which only three were performed in German.34 The track list includes LSD and the pre-fame Die Fantastischen Vier, but also a number of artists with an immigration background such as Brothers Moving Germany or Al Rakhun. The title insinuates a connection between the controversial group N.W.A. (and by extension the Afro-American experience writ large) and German youths, going back to a story in the music magazine Spex a year earlier “that announced it luridly on the cover as ‘Krauts with Attitude,’ but in the issue itself discusses it tamely as ‘Eurohop.’”35 In the sampler’s liner notes, we find the following statement: “It is time to counter the self-confidence of the Brits and the Americans.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.