Dipset rapper Juelz
Santana is featured on a new German rap single, titled "Gangzta Mucke"
("Gangsta Music"), a track from the album Trendsetter by rapper
Fler.
Trendsetter
is a CD/DVD released by Aggro Berlin, one of Germany’s top rap labels.
which has distribution by US-based distribution company, Caroline.
The project, which
features a DVD of 20 videos titled "Aggro Videos," comes amid efforts
to ban rap overseas.
Aggro Berlin has
become a target of the ban the German government, as six of its albums have
been currently "flagged" due to what is deemed in Germany as "explicit
language" addressing sex, drugs, crime and violence.
The lyrical content
of the music has prompted the federal German agency known as "Bundesprüfstelle"
to "index" Aggro Berlin’s six albums on its official list.
"Bundesprüfstelle"
is responsible for examining media works that is allegedly harmful to young
people and entering these works onto an official list.
The process is
known as Indizierung (indexing) in German
Under German law,
once an item makes the list, artwork of any kind can then be banned at any time.
Despite the concerns,
Aggro Berlin says it supports the music’s expression because the artists
are intimately familiar with codes, violence and stories of the streets.
"I grew up
in a bad part of Berlin which I would describe as a typical German ghetto,"
German recording artist Fler told AllHipHop.com. "The neighborhood was
really bad and most of my childhood I spent hanging out with my homies in the
streets instead of going to school. I saw a lot of crazy things happening in
the streets like thefts, murders, rape, etc. and I also did a lot of crazy things
myself.
"The government
has forgotten about us long time ago, though most of the immigrants in our hood
were invited in the 70s to live and work here," Fler continued, citing
a life of crime as the end result of neglect from school teachers and others
looking down on lower class citizens.
"Thus, much
like that of the birth of Hip-Hop in the United States, rap music still stands
for a way to speak out not only against oppression but also in many cases to
demonstrate to the mainstream consistently the types of citizens it has created
when it elects to marginalize people according to race and class. Whether Germany
or the United States, there will always be those who are considered "outside"
and then even limited in their expression of that exclusion.
Trendsetter
by Fler will hit stores in October and a variety of digital retail outlets.
