Schlager, rap & Schlager rap: How hip-hop started to cuddle with a hit

If you name two music genres that are as far apart as possible, you might think of the two divisions rap and hits. But as the saying goes: opposites attract. And that is also the case with these two genres, so that there are now a large number of examples whereRap and hits suddenly work together.

It wasn't too long ago that the message about the world was that rap music was the most successful music genre in the world. Such an assertion is of course difficult to prove, especially since it always depends on which assessment basis you work. But that hip-hop music has been immensely successful for years, nobody will doubt who is interested in music and will be bought, bought, bought and streamed.

In most cases, however, such a success is accompanied by the fact that such a genre continues to open up to the mass, splits away and, as part of the mainstream, traps paths that would probably have been unthinkable without success in the majority society.

Artists have been located in the hip-hop cosmos for a long time that do not rap. Only take someone like Trettmann, who originally comes from the reggae area. Also the extremely successfulWhat you call loveFrom Bausa from 2017, thanks to the shimmering beats and autotune insert, the rap area was always assigned, although from songwriting it was much closer to hits than in what is commonly located in hip-hop music. Or a singer like: As a Feature Guest, she has already worked with large German rappers like Luciano, arrest warrant and, but she is by no means a rapper. However, she undoubtedly brings a hip-hop attitude and an urban wording in her texts, which would probably not exist in this form without rap music.

At the same time, pop artists have always been working on hip-hop for a long time to benefit from their supposed coolness. For this, rap parts have always been reinforced in songs, as is the case, for example inwas made frequently. But when and how did hits and rap come together?

At the latest in 2023 everyone should have realized that rap and hits are no longer a contradiction and that both genre can fertilize each other. This year the most successful pop singer Helene Fischer and the most successful rapper Shirin David have come together. The two have a new version of Helene Fischer's SuperhitBreathless through the nightPublished, almost for the tenth anniversary of the song. This means that they are together with, among other thingsBet that..?occurred in front of an audience of millions. And while Helene Fischer only made it to third place on the charts with the original version of the song in 2013, thanks to rapper Shirin David, her first number one hit in Germany succeeded (for Shirin David it was already sixth number one).

Although one has to say: Helene Fischer still does not seem to be a convincing supporter of hip-hop music. It was probably encouraged by her management and/or her record company to consider such a collaboration. Fischer himself commented on the collaboration as follows: “Deutschrap is a completely different genre for me. But I found Shirin David the only one who stands in the pole position. I also find them very clever and not naive and not reckless. " The song with her and Shirin David was extremely successful (by the way: also some songs by Shirin David's current albumSmart but blondeHowKiss menow have a strong hit.) But the first musical clash of hit and rapstars wasBreathless through the nightnot.

One of the first Schlager rap collabs dates from 2008. The pop singer Karel Gott has a new version of his 2000 cover versionForever young(originally the song of Alphaville comes and means:Forever Young) recorded together with Bushido. The hip-hop community then hailed Sellout allegations for Bushido, which should not have itched further, because: after all, he was fifth in the single charts, and Karel Gott and he gave a gold record.

The successful rapper Olexesh also tried a hit rap collab in 2018 and for the songWe 2 always 1Vanessa Mai brought on board - or better: vice versa. Because the piece was finally on Vanessa Mais albumBatcontain.

At the doctorate of the song, the two also appeared in some television shows, which are rather unusual formats for German rappers. For example, the two were atHit the HensslerOn ProSieben and at theStar night on Lake Wörtherseeof the Austrian radio. Both programs in which rappers are usually not visible.

The appearance as such was as such appearances are: so with a lot of playback and a lot of dancing. Nevertheless, the whole thing caused a small tsunami in the hit paradise; a scandal known as the "F-word scandal". Because in the chorus of the song, fans wanted to understand the sentence "cunt in my head" instead of the actual line "Too many words in my head". May then saw himself forced to take a position in a YouTube video and deny it. She says: "I imagined the word and wanted to hear it - I don't hear it!" But to be honest: we somehow hear the F-word (around minute 2.50)!

But be it. The result of the song was "only" number 33 in the charts, for Vanessa Mai the crossover still seems to have worked well. After all, a little later she teamed up again with rappers, for example with hip-hop veteran Moses Pelham for her common songMy homeor with sido for the pieceHappy End. Olexesh, on the other hand, was less convinced of the cooperation with Mai and said in an interview: "It doesn't bring much to a rapper."

But there are now also musicians who are very (self-declared) consciously called hit rappers like Tream-according to their own statement, the first hit rapper in Germany. His most successful song is so farLifelong, and at least he received a platinum sound plate for more than 400,000 units sold.

For the first time in 2020 Tream mixed rap with a hit when he was at the chorus of the pieceIn love, forget, forgive, forgivefrom Schlager-Koryphäe Wolfgang Petry. Together with Finch, Tream has the song againLove in the back seatPublished, which was also quite successful. And again one of Finch's most streams of songs is the pieceAdventure, for which he was based on the pure slot band of the same name. The rapper Alligatoah, which always falls out of the framework anyway, together with Schlager icon Alexander MarcusMusicpublished. And Alexander Marcus also has already with the Atzen on the trackFlorida LadyWorked together, whose second home in addition to Berlin was always the Ballermann anyway. So you can see: Schlager and rap have come together much more frequently than you generally suspect - or want to admit.

At this point, you cannot finally assess whether the crossover between the hit and rap could be a commercially interesting future model. The previous collaborations were often quite successful, but have not yet been able to prevail fully. But it is obviously continuing to work on it. With an abstruse mix of fear and anticipation, we are excited to see what else may come.