Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Ghetto Discourses and German Mediascapes
- 1 Ghettos and Feridun Zaimoglu's Textscapes of the 1990s
- 2 Ghetto Filmscapes and the Politics of the Ghetto Film
- 3 Ghetto Soundscapes: Performances of Nation, Gender, and Authenticity
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Ghetto Soundscapes: Performances of Nation, Gender, and Authenticity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Ghetto Discourses and German Mediascapes
- 1 Ghettos and Feridun Zaimoglu's Textscapes of the 1990s
- 2 Ghetto Filmscapes and the Politics of the Ghetto Film
- 3 Ghetto Soundscapes: Performances of Nation, Gender, and Authenticity
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Eko Fresh Ghetto Chef Junge denn es muß sein,
Köln Kalk Hartz 4 komm' in meine Hood rein.
Komm' und guck was es heißt im Block hier zu wohnen,
Wo man leben muß von Drogen oder Prostitution.
[Eko Fresh ghetto boss dude because it must be,
Cologne Kalk Hartz 4 come to my hood.
Come and see what it means to live in this block,
where one has to live from drugs and prostitution.]
Music, Imagery, Speech, and City Space
IN THE SONG “GHEDDO” rapper Eko Fresh asks the listener to join him on a tour through his hood so that he can demonstrate what it means to live in an environment dominated by drugs, prostitution, and social welfare. Bushido, one of the most famous and commercially successful German rappers, joins Eko Fresh in the second strophe as a tour guide. Their tour features Eko's and Bushido's neighborhoods in Berlin, images of concrete landscapes and graffiti art, and other urban and suburban sections of Germany. A young boy makes his way through this urban jungle. Repeatedly, the rappers address the potential listener and accuse him or her of not being able to understand since: “Ihr habt alle reiche Eltern und sagt Deutschland hat kein Gheddo” (You all have rich parents and say Germany does not have a Gheddo). The black-and-white imagery and the characters in this song are located in specific neighborhoods in Germany, but they reference global hip-hop cultures and cityscapes, images of crime, impoverished urban ghettos, concrete jungles, class struggle, and marginalization. Assertive macho postures and a claim to be echt, real, and authentic accompany these presentations.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Ghetto Voices in Contemporary German CultureTextscapes, Filmscapes, Soundscapes, pp. 129 - 181Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012