A heated controversy about German rap and sexism is currently raging in Germany. The German rap artist Fler found himself in the crossfire of criticism for his misogynistic content and messages on social media that he sent to a user of the Instagram portal.
German rap is criticized: An Instagram user shared the video from the organization Terre des Femmes with the title: “#unhatewoman: It’s time to change something” with a sharepic. In the sharepic in question, in which numerous rappers were mentioned with their Instagram shortcuts, so to speak as a link, it says:
“Writing texts like that, celebrating thoughts like that, simply makes you an accomplice. It's not funny, it's not cool, nor should it be considered OK under the guise of artistic freedom. It's dangerous & scary. It's 2020. Just stop it. Show a little respect and write about something new and relevant to the times. Thanks and bye. More at #UnhateWomen @Terre.des.femmes unhate-women.com
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In response, the German rapper Fler sent the message: “I could become a perpetrator if you keep getting on my balls. And then I'm the perpetrator against YOU and not against THE women...so don't talk shit.
The rapper also published a photo of the woman, calling her a hooker and putting a €2,000 “bounty” on the user, and later threatened the artist and comedian Shahak Shapira, who published the screenshots.
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The issue of sexism and German rap has existed since the first appearance of this style of music. On the one hand, German rappers defend their texts about violence against women, sexism, drug trafficking, homophobia and glorification of violence as an artistic "stylistic device", and at the same time German rap actually has strong artistic and cultural relevance in many respects, precisely because such violent stylistic devices are used.
As always, the marketing trick is that supposedly forbidden or taboo statements seem more interesting than good indie rap from the brands Fantastische Vier, Fettes Brot or Casper. It is often argued that the language of violence simultaneously conveys the language of the milieu that German rap wants to represent, i.e. young people from the street who are supposed to be given a voice through rap.
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Newspaper scholar Samira El Ouassil disagrees and describes this representation in her column on Übermedia :
Artistically enhanced anti-Semitism, homophobia and misogyny are not refined street culture, but garbage.
Deutschrap: So where does the problem begin?
Anyone who delves deeper into German rap will not be able to avoid finding various controversies and areas of tension within the music genre. A perfect example is the figure of “Mother”. That of the other musician colleagues is repeatedly the target of the worst hostility, while your own is lifted into heaven and takes the place of the Mother Mary of the Catholic Church in a quasi-godlike manner.
Likewise, in one song your partner is essentially an angel, a refuge, while in the next song she is the employee of the month in a red light establishment. The role of women in German rap is portrayed subjectively on different levels.
One could therefore say that these texts about violence against women represent, for men in this genre of music, the last rebellion against the justified moral supremacy. To put it bluntly, it is essentially the dismantling of the “always tough” man who shows no feelings and sees his fulfillment in violence and the satisfaction of sexual desires.
But it also serves as a stylistic device to show the middle finger to society and politics, which have long ignored the social problems of the poorer sections of society. However, many rappers often cannot understand the connection to sexist and violent lyrics.
Such texts and songs become problematic when the performers exceed their intended artistic freedom. Issuing bounties and threats of violence against people, especially when they are not appearing in public spaces, crosses the line of artistic provocation, and while a "beef" between two feuding rappers in the media can be entertaining and profitable for both artists, it is Direct threats to civilians can be dangerous and should not be protected by artists' freedom. That's a completely different level.
How will you react now?
In this context, the Berlin police sent out a contentious tweet that said “Hmm… Is it just us having déjà vu, or is there actually going to be another album dropped soon? As “fanboys,” we of course still have to forward this insulting aggro announcement for criminal investigation.”
The tweet from the Berlin police alludes to the fact that Fler usually artificially created arguments or scandals when new albums were released in order to draw attention to himself and promote the new album. Although the tweet is intended as a swipe at the German rapper, it could also be perceived as trivializing by others.
Aside from the fact that the re-uploading of the user's picture copyright , violated her right to her own picture and the description as a "hooker" most likely published a false statement of facts, there is another problem behind the posting.
The problem itself is less the real physical threat from the rapper himself, but rather the influence of his fans, who could feel called upon by their idol's statements to carry out the rapper's threat or to take his call for a bounty seriously.
One can therefore assume that the matter will fizzle out for the rapper in the area of artist freedom, a strategy that numerous German rappers have already used in the past - but is that the right way?
If sexist song lyrics turn into real threats of violence and women are harassed by the flower, then the freedom of artists is in question. Because one must not forget that in the end the reality looks different for the people affected.
What looks like a promo to some is happening on the backs of other people who suffer from it. Is this still artist freedom or is it already an infringement?
Secondary literature:
At this point we refer again to Samira El Ouassil's column regarding German rap. Netzpolitik.org describes the above-quoted column on Übermedien :
The rapper Fler seems to have another problem with his behavior, this time on the Internet. Here he doesn't spend minutes insulting police officers or injuring a cameraman, but instead threatens women on Instagram who criticize him. If you think that would look good on a hip-hop artist because of street credibility and such, read Samira El Ouassil's column: "Artistically understated anti-Semitism, homophobia and misogyny is not refined street culture, but garbage." Word.
We would also like to point out an article from the tagesspiegel that appeared on March 3, 2020 ( here ). It reads:
Patrick Losensky's shabby violent outbursts.
He threatens, insults in a sexist manner, and hits. Why we shouldn't keep quiet about rapper Fler's actions.
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )