German-language rap is often perceived in public as apolitical and affirmative. We counteract this perception with a five-part series with the best political albums of recent years and show that German rap can also function as a social corrective and formulate a precise critique of the prevailing conditions, apart from the really big chart hits. This time it’s about the album ONE HAND BREAKS THE OTHER by Waving The Guns.
Waving The Guns: First attention through scandalous song with fine cream fish fillet
The Rostock rap crew Waving The Guns (WTG) first gained notoriety when they accompanied the punk band Feine Sahne Fischfilet on tour in 2014 and a short time later recorded a song with the band that was supposed to make waves. Because on the song “Wut”, which is about deportations and the job of a police officer, Milli Dance from WTG raps the following lines in the second verse: “I’m warming up because nightfall is approaching / The nearest cop station is a stone’s throw away.”
While some recognized the line as an entertaining, pro-police pun, others identified the line as a blatant incitement to violence against law enforcement. Numerous politicians and media criticized the line, but didn’t realize that it was rapped by Milli Dance. Instead, they attributed the lyric passage to Feine Sahne Fischfilet in an attempt to delegitimize the band. However, the band Waving The Guns benefited from the resulting attention and was able to generate attention nationwide in the left-wing scene with their debut album TOTSCHLAGARGUMENTE, which was released in the same year. Two years later, EINE HAND BRICHT DIE ANDERE was released, the band’s second album, which is the subject of this article.
ONE HAND BREAKS THE OTHER: Permanent alert
In the middle of the debate about the supposed “refugee crisis”, the strengthening of the AFD and the discourse shift to the right that can be seen every day on German talk shows, Waving The Guns sent a clear message with their album: Without us! On their track “Zapfhahn” the lyrical self barricades himself in front of the public discourse in the “Kaltland”, disgusted with a telescopic stick for self-defense in a pub and drinks a good one – as a subversive gesture in the Federal Republic of Germany, which is characterized by a Protestant work ethic:
“Especially in these crazy times
In which everything seems possible
Seems to me “I’m soldering in”
To be reasonable throughout
It’s the subversive kind
to counter the enemies of life
From AfD to Islamic State”
Waving The Guns are on ONE HAND BREAKS THE OTHER on constant alert in the face of an imminent fascist seizure of power. This may be perceived as exaggerated, or in view of the AFD election results of well over 20 percent in state elections in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia as a very real danger.
Sound for the resistant civil society
On the song “Finally kicking again“ the Rostockers very much expose the scam of right-wing populist and right-wing extremist forces to channel the anger of precarious workers and people given up by the welfare state through anti-refugee and xenophobic rhetoric and to make it usable for their purposes:
“Greetings to Rostock’s igniting stocking mask cowards
At least for those who are bold enough to know that refugees are the wrong target of legitimate anger
You decide to aim down instead of up
You obviously prefer a seat at the government table
And you are a coward and not an honorable warrior”
With ONE HAND BREAKS THE OTHER, Waving The Guns provide the sound for all those who oppose Nazis in those areas that others have already written off as “dark Germany”. For those who, despite resistance, show commitment to civil society and thus make their area a little more liveable. And for all those who long for a musical corrective in the face of marauding Nazis, right-wing discourses in the evening program and rampant neoliberal dogmas.
In Part 1 of this series, we dealt with Immigrants Masculine ALL AGAINST ALL, in Part 2 with Disarstars GERMAN OCTOBER. Part 4 will be about Prince Pi’s REBELL WITHOUT A REASON.