Berlin.
Rap has become an integral part of the charts. What do young people love about this genre, which used to appeal to a niche audience?
Rap is well received, worldwide: “The popularity of rap is a global phenomenon,” says Hans Schmucker from GfK Entertainment, who determine the official German charts every week. “We see that again and again in the charts, which we also determine in countries such as Italy, Austria or Switzerland.”
Rap music has made a huge leap in popularity, especially in the last five to ten years. This is also related to music streaming platforms like Spotify, says Schmucker. “Young music fans in particular stream a higher percentage than the older ones, and hip-hop is enormously successful there.”
The most-listened-to artist on Spotify is a rapper
Via the playlists of the streaming platforms, users can easily discover new songs and artists over and over again. On Spotify, the playlists in Germany with the most followers even include two rap playlists: “Modus Mio” (1.8 million) and “Deutschrap Brandneu” (1.5 million), says Conny Zhang, head of the music department at Spotify. The most-listened-to artist on Spotify in Germany in 2023 is also a rapper: Luciano. The 29-year-old has 6.9 million monthly listeners.
But why is rap music so popular, especially among young people? “I think authenticity plays a big role, especially for young people who are looking for orientation – and then someone comes along who just speaks plain language,” says Schmucker.
Pop without a political stance
That is also the difference to other genres, emphasizes music journalist Falk Schacht. “Rappers want you to know exactly what they’re thinking, with little room for interpretation.” For example, when Herbert Grönemeyer sang “Children to Power”, it was a criticism of the prevailing conditions and the government of Helmut Kohl in the 1980s, says Schacht. But Pop has totally given up on this political criticism. “The exciting thing, i.e. the criticism, whether direct or indirect, that’s what rap music offers.”
That could be thought further, because hip-hop offers people a kind of “action world of experience”. “You can compare it to gladiator fights,” says Schacht. Many people are very interested in the rap world, even though they don’t actually hear the music.
“If you go back in music history, then these functions used to have rockers,” says Schacht. So you asked yourself: “Who are they? Why do they take heroin? Why are they throwing the TV out of the hotel room?” Today, rock is harmless “like ‘Pur’,” says Schacht. The reason for this is that the kids who used to listen to rock or punk are now the parents. “And who still delivers that today? – the rappers.” All other cultural and musical genres have become well-behaved.
Mixed cultural movements
“Sex, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll” is now “Sex, Drugs and Hip-Hop”. But what does that mean for the future? “I think there will always be a mixture of these major cultural movements,” says Schacht. “The cultural techniques that hip-hop started with are of course also used and implemented in other areas – is that something unique or is it a further development of hip-hop?”
The famous sentence: “I think rap sucks, but I think this form of rap music is quite good” is quite typical and another reason why the genre is so popular: “In the end, hip-hop can be anything – how a chameleon,” says Schacht. (dpa)
Info – successes in the charts
of Germany longest chart hit is by a rapper: Apache 207. His song „Roller“ (2019) has 162 weeks, the Christmas hit that has been placed again and again „Last Christmas“ by Wham! from 1984 obsolete. Also occupy Apache 207 and Udo Lindenberg with their song “Komet” currently number one in the German charts.
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