The six most influential arrest warrant albums at a glance – from AZZLACK STEREOTYP to THE BLACK ALBUM. A look back at 15 years of German rap history.
When an artist’s life story is told in a Netflix documentary, it becomes clear what influence he must have on the music world. And so it is with the arrest warrant, which will be seen in a film from the streaming provider from October 28th – personal and in previously unknown depth, as the trailer for “Babo – The Arrest Warrant Story” promises. The controversial rapper from Offenbach, who has been rapping for over 15 years, has written German rap history with anthems such as “069”, “RADW” and “Chabos knows who the Babo is” and with eight study albums. We have selected the most important Hafti albums for you – here we go.
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AZZLACK STEREOTYPE
“Gangsta, Gangsta” – these are the first words of arrest warrant’s debut, which hit the German rap game like nothing else. On October 29, 2010, arrest warrant’s first solo work was released: AZZLACK STEREOTYP. It entered the German album charts at number 59. At the time, the newly minted rapper was still under contract with Jonesmann and his label Echte Musik. Arrest’s debut album is considered the rapper’s rawest and most groundbreaking work with Turkish roots. It tells stories of the street, paints short films in your mind’s eye of a migrant identity shaped by crime, lack of prospects, drugs and fighting spirit. It really talks about cocaine and drive-bys, concrete and tattoos in block letters in the most merciless, vitriolic way.
Today it is clear: AZZLACK STEREOTYP has set a precedent in German rap. In 2010, the 21 tracks opened up new perspectives on what German rap can sound like. Fans speak of a whole new rap language – a language shaped by gray street corners, coked nights, deals in shiny black Benz, multicultural apartment blocks and red lights.
AZZLACK is considered a hip-hop milestone – and shortly afterwards gave its name to arrest warrant’s own label Azzlackz, which, in addition to the Frankfurters Celo & Abdi, also includes his younger brother Capo as well as Milonair, Hanybal and Dú Maroc.
RUSSIAN ROULETTE
In 2014 – a year after arrest warrant signed a contract with Universal Music – the record RUSSISCH ROULETTE was released. It is Arrest Warrant’s fifth album and was mostly produced by German music producer Bazzazian, who was involved in twelve of the 14 songs on the standard edition. RUSSISCH ROULETTE was awarded a gold record in Germany in 2024 for more than 100,000 units sold. This makes it his most commercially successful record.
The work was an ambitious project – one, even the harshest critics agreed, that proved that German street rap has artistic standards. RUSSISCH ROULETTE clearly establishes German rap as an artistic format that thrives on wordplay, lyrical images, classical references and countless accent and language variations.
Today, tracks like “1999” Parts I to III or “Schmeiß den Gasherd an” are considered classics of German rap.
THE BLACK ALBUM
THE BLACK ALBUM was released in 2021 and makes it a contrasting reference to the previous work THE WHITE ALBUM. The record addresses hopelessness and, even more than previous works, shows the trauma and tragedy of a life on the street. The 13 songs are dark, oppressive, at times depressive and depressing in view of the social injustices that arrest warrant highlights.
Conclusion: At times sexist, at times primitive, THE BLACK ALBUM is nevertheless a lyrically convincing expression of a tragic way of life.
BLOCKPLATE
In 2013, arrest warrant’s third studio album was released under the name BLOCKPLATIN. It is divided into two pages, the Block page and the Platinum page. As the rapper said in an interview with “Vice” at the time, this also marks an artistic division: The block side should contain classic street rap in the style of AZZLACK STEREOTYP, while the platinum side is based on contemporary American rap. Arrest Warrant cited DJ Khaled, Drake and Rick Ross as influences.
The record’s themes typically range between urban crime, prostitution and drug use – partly fictional, partly biographical. Arrest warrant raps menacingly, harshly, unorthodoxly. Exaggeration and self-irony allow the album to escape the boredom of a genre master who has long since entered the mainstream.
While the album is largely convincing musically, it is also criticized in the media for its anti-Semitic statements. The “taz”, among others, wrote that arrest warrant on the album “can still gain new and interesting aspects from the worn-out genre à la gangstarap”, but also deals with inappropriate anti-Semitic clichés.
The arrest warrant had already attracted attention with previous song lines that were derogatory towards Jewish people. The rapper himself always rejected accusations of anti-Semitism. In an interview with “Spiegel” published in April 2021, arrest warrant distanced himself from the conspiracy theories he had expressed in the past – which also included the so-called “Rotschild theory”, which he referenced several times – and apologized.
KANACKIŞ
Arrest warrant’s second studio album KANACKIŞ was released in spring 2012. It reached the top ten of the German album charts and contains guest contributions from artists such as Jan Delay and Sido. With the record, the rapper showed that he has already given up his newcomer status. The record was the platform for arrest warrant’s statement, which is now perceived as legendary: “This is not German, this is Kanackisch” – a sentence that is as important for the album as it has become the motto of a new German rap culture.
KANACKIŞ refines the flow and beat compared to the debut album AZZLACK, but basically tells the same stories – tales of fat cars and expensive hotel rooms, lessons in cocaine routes and money laundering.
THE WHITE ALBUM
THE WHITE ALBUM is arrest warrant’s fifth solo album. It was released on June 5, 2020 via Azzlackz, six years after RUSSIAN ROULETTE. It includes the classics “RADW” as well as a continuation of the “1999” series.
The LP delivers strong beats with a tough attitude. However, arrest warrants regularly cross the fine line from criticism of the system and do-it-yourself to sexism and degradation. The album is as controversial as most of the lines that come out of arrest warrant’s mouth. It is offensive, unadorned, sometimes ugly – and in that sense an all the more merciless painting of a lifelong borderline experience on the streets of Frankfurt.