German-language rap is often perceived in public as apolitical and affirmative. We counter this perception with a five-part series featuring the best political albums of recent years, showing that German rap can also function as a social corrective, apart from the really big chart hits, and formulate a precise critique of the prevailing conditions. This time it’s about GANG, the debut album by Berlin rapper Takt32.
GANG: Street crime as a form of civil disobedience
At first glance, the debut album by rapper Takt32, who grew up in East Berlin, released in 2015, is about exactly what it says on it: about the GANG. But on closer listening, it quickly becomes clear that the gang, i.e. the ideally inseparable, closest circle of friends who stand up for one another, is constituted here in opposition to the majority society. It alone can help to get closer to the unfulfilled promises of capitalism – even if not on the path it intended.
Because poverty and a lack of prospects are the midwives of the criminal uprising. Loosely adapted from Brecht, who asked whether the banker or the bank robber was the greater criminal, leaning towards the latter himself, street crime on GANG is viewed as a form of civil disobedience. Just like graffiti and hip hop. As the only way out of the misanthropic low-wage sector in a country that is in the lower midfield in comparative studies on educational injustice in industrialized countries and that almost only empowers academic children to successfully complete a university degree. Only the cohesion of the gang makes it possible to play against the rules made by the others.
Against the bourgeois world of illusion
This has its downsides, because rules definitely have a reason. The gang does not distinguish between the various social actors. For them there is only themselves and the others. That seems selfish at first, but it may be a logical response to our elbow society. Therefore, the gang crashes parties, seeks pointless stress and would like to drive tourists out of the city. That’s not heroic, but it’s also an admission that there can be no heroes at all. It is the decision to reveal one’s mistakes and weaknesses instead of hiding them behind a fragile facade. Because little detests the gang as much as the bourgeois illusory world that is constructed as a contrary counterpart on the song “Keiner von Uns”:
“Not from alcohol, I got a hangover from you guys
No way: become a banker, dentist – nada
I don’t give a fuck about your illusory world
Even if mine comes up for it”
In part 1 of this series we dealt with Immigrated Masculine ALL AGAINST ALL, in part 2 with Disarstar’s GERMAN OCTOBER, in part 3 with Waving The Guns’ ONE HAND BREAKS THE OTHER. Part 4 was about Prince Pis REBELL WITHOUT A REASON.