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Understanding German Rap isn't very easy: It usually involves a lot of slang & obscure cultural references. But there are also some easy German rap songs! Ready?
In this post, we'd like to talk a little about German rap for language learners. Many blogs either recommend old school German rap groups like Die Fantastischen Vier or Fettes Brot, or very popular rappers like Cro, Bushido or Materia.
While those are all worth checking out, we'd also like to show you some lesser known German rappers / hiphop artists.
That's why we'll start with some more obscure German rappers that aren't so popular. However, if you are more interested in the more popular German rappers of today, then just scroll down. We've also included a section on old school German rap - in case you're interested in the beginnings. Enjoy!
We lied to you: We told you these were going to be easy German rap songs for beginners, but none of the songs here are actually easy.
The rap songs in this list might be a little easier to understand than other German rap songs, but at the end of the day they're still German rap songs: full of slang, cultural references & rap is also not usually that slow.
Let's start with Tua - Magst du mich auch? (MDMA). When you listen to this song for the first time, you might think that it's a song about unreciprocated love (and a lot of drama) - and maybe, that's what it is about.
If you listen more closely, however, you'll notice that it can actually also be understood in a very different way. The clue is in the title...
To be totally fair, Yung Hurn is not so underground anymore (though in terms of popularity, he's still not comparable to Cro or Bausa). We include him here anyways!
He's an Austrian rapper who could be said to make German cloud rap, with topics ranging from sex over drugs to ... just some more sex & drugs. Still, it's well produced and a lot of the times just super weird & very ironic.
I don't know much about Haiyti and her music, but I do know that this song is pretty atmospheric:
What's great for German learners is that her pronunciation is pretty clear and that she also doesn't generally rap too fast - though as a German learner, you'll probably still need to have the lyrics nearby.
Next up is Tightill - Sexroboter. This song is pretty retro and really quite funny. The pronunciation is generally okay, although sometimes maybe not ideal for beginners.
However, the good news is that the vocabulary in this song is pretty easy, especially compared to other rap songs that use a lot of slang.
Rin is another up and coming German rapper who we really enjoy. He has quite a few nice songs out by now and is also featured in the Yung Hurn song we presented to you above.
Rin's pronunciation is clear enough, but there's also is quite a bit of slang in his lyrics. If you like his music enough to work through these hurdles, you can learn quite a bit (though your German teacher might not agree with everything you learn here).
Let's now look at some easier German rap songs from the olden times: Which, in the case of German rap, is the 90s and early 2000s.
Whilst Fanta 4 were one of the
very first German rap groups, die absoluten Beginner were the first
rap group that was actually kind of cool (ok, that's subjective, I guess).
What's really great about "Liebeslied" for German learners is that it has a very slow pace and the rap parts are also really quite slow. The bad news is that Jan Delay's nasally voice and his unclear pronunciation ruins all that again. Well, you can't have everything. Try anyways and let us know how much you were able to understand!
Samy Deluxe's old rap stuff is old but still really good.
You can also check out this album by Dynamite Deluxe - track 4 (Grüne Brille) is a classic. Oh and ignore the chorus, that's Jan Delay's nasally voice again. Oh man.
Deichkind is a very old German rap group that is still active. One of their most famous songs is "Remmi Demmi" - a song about throwing a party at a friends house and trashing it completely.
Not bad for German learners, as the lyrics are not sung very fast and with long break between them.
One of our favourites - a very old Deichkind song - is this next one:
The video was pretty epic at the time and, in our opinion, still is. This one, however, is not super easy to understand for learners.
There is so much more German rap, so if you're interested, you might also want to check out Kool Savas, Sido or Haftbefehl.
This Haftbefehl song was pretty big here in Germany at the time, but is rather difficult to understand. To be honest, as a native German speaker, I don't really understand much of the first verse. Thinking about it, this song should really not be included here... oh well!
We've included 4 of the most popular German rappers here, but of course there are quite a few more. There Cro, Capital Bra, Kollegah
This next song is actually pretty good for German learners: The vocabulary is really easy, the pronunciation very clear and it's also not too fast.
What's even better is that the YouTube video comes with English subtitles - though it would be better for German learners to have the German subtitles as well.
We gotta be honest: We are not super big fans of Casper. The guy seems nice enough, but his music is more pop than rap and just a little bit too cheesy.
Nevertheless, Casper is one of the most famous German rappers and if you are into a mix of pop & rap, this might be for you. The great thing is that his pronunciation is very clear and his lyrics are generally quite simple.
Although a very different kind of rap (compared to Samy Deluxe, die absoluten Beginner or Deichkind), Bushido deserves the oldschool label when it comes to German rap.
We could have also included him in section 3, which is on just very popular German rap, since Bushido is one the best selling German rap artists ever. He is quite often on German TV and talked about by the yellow press, so if you're already consuming German media, you might have already come across him.
We already presented Seeed in the old school German rap section, but Seeed's lead singer, Peter Fox, is worth a separate mention. Fox is a German musician whose music is a mix of all kinds of genres, but his primary influences are probably rap & dancehall.
In this podcast episode, we'll share our tips on how to endure the bitter German winter. Topics include taking part in traditions like Christmas markets and Krampus walks, winter food and cozy indoor activities.
