Obama Hip-Hop
Friday, August 15th, 2008It looks like the august and influential – and therefore sometimes a little stuffy – German weekly newspaper Die Zeit sometime in the recent past, when I wasn’t looking, established a new affiliated website, Zuender, to try to appeal to the younger generation which greatly prefers to access the publication’s content via the Net rather than the newsstand. (Zuender, or rather Zünder, means “detonator” in German.) There’s really no doubt that this is Zuender’s purpose, as one can tell not only from the much more edgy graphical set-up of the website but also from the nature of its articles: as I look at the Zuender homepage right now, the headline article’s title is “Undress, Apartment Inspection!: What do the furnishings in amateur porno-films betray about their directors?”
Sorry, I’m afraid we’re not going to discuss that one today. (I know, I don’t even give you the link. That’s just another reason why you should go learn German yourself.) Rather, let’s take a look at a couple of other pieces, which together give a German look at the current political influence within the US of rap/hip-hop music, starting with one entitled The Irrelevant-Bitch Dilemma, by Oskar Piegsa. (Please pardon the expression, but that’s the title: apparently Nutte is “bitch” in German, i.e. the disparaging term for females. Please do not misuse this knowledge.) (more…)
