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German Rap is shaking up the cultural landscape of Germany. It is street rap from the vibrant migrant communities that co-creates an urban youth culture characterized by thrilling sounds, a capitalist lifestyle and heavy sociopolitical views. In the middle of the epedemic of trap beats, word games and the mixture of different languages of the migrant circles, Celo & Abdi – two conscious rappers from Frankfurt – show that German rap is an ultimative way not only to express their street stories and emotions, but to criticize the system without missing to have fun.

I am still living in the same flat since I have been a child, still in the same children´s room. What has changed? My wardrobe is full of Gucci clothes

Notorious as illustrious: Celo & Abdi are one of the most important rappers in Germany who consider themselves as conscious rappers. Their lyrics are sociocritical. The rap duo is controversial. They are authentic. The everyday survival in the jungle of the metropolis Frankfurt while running an illegal business is a main topic of their lines. Celo & Abdi are drawing sympathetically the migration story of their parents while they are offending politicians and police officers aggressively. Like many German rappers they do not glorify violence directly, but telling with their music that violence has been part of their life. Before there was music, there was violence. State power, police violence, street violence and structural violence in form of discrimination. Is it a cry for help? Not at all. They had to learn to accept, they learned to resist, they learned to attack. They use a sexist language and violent metaphors in their lyrics, but they think about criticism rather than shoot it down. It is worth to read between their lines, to get to know their personalities without falling into the parternalistic or pedagogical trap.

I meet Celo & Abdi in Bornheim, the bohemian middle-class district of Frankfurt, the hometown of Celo, for which he is very proud. Local patriotism is an important attitude of German rappers with non-German roots. Frankfurt, Hamburg or Berlin. They love their cities and try  to represent their own stories which differ from those told by mainstream media and known by the dominant German culture. „Our stories are worth to tell“ Abdi says. „Snatched from life experiences“, Celo continues and refers to their song „Frankfurter Zoo“ where a drug dealer get robbed by his friend.

With their fourth album „Diaspora“ they place the migration theme in the middle of their artistic existence. And still, their music is not only wholehearted criticism on German society and discrimination against its daughters and sons with a migration story, but a homage on making the best of living in socio-economically weak districts and having less perspectives than a „Christian“. Their narrative style is not based on a „I am a victim“-habitus, but on a sober statement that accounts the complexity of life.

Celo & Abdi are Erol Huseinćehajić and Abderrahim el Ommali born and raised up in Frankfurt. They have met while working in a call center 9 years ago where they decided to make music together. Both parents immigrated to Germany as guest workers. Abdi is 30 years old and has Moroccan roots. Celo has recently turned 35 and is proud of his Bosnian background.

They suggested a Ćevapčići (grilled dish of minced meat from the Balkans) fast food place to talk. The diner is close to the stylish cafés and restaurants for which Bornheim is known, but it belongs to another world. Small tables with shabby chairs in a tight corridor. The smell of minced meat spreads all over the small diner accompanied by Bosnian words and a lot of laughter between Celo and the chef. Those, who want to escape the smell and the sound, can take a seat in the winter garden. A bit cold, but calm.

They see behind the curtains of our world

„Rap is for me a valve for every kind of emotion.“ says Abdi. When he does feel „shitty“, he can take a piece of paper, he writes „shit“ on it and develops a track out of it. It is not aggression, what drives them, but anger „against everything“, Celo says, „against the society“, he continues. As storytellers of their own worlds with their own words, they reach white middle class students as well as Germans with foreign roots with few chances for a brilliant future. Some of their tracks give support to their listeners during their hard times. The track „Besuchstag“ (visiting day) for example deals with the feeling of being imprisoned and the regret to disappoint the parents. They have received a lot of messages telling that this song has given their fans the strenght to overcome difficult times. Not only those who have been in prison, but this song meant a lot for their relatives. „My brother is in prison, my son is in prison, my father is in prison. But also people who have been imprisoned listened to this song and thought When I am released, I will directly go to my mother and kiss her feet.“ Abdi says with proud. And those who did not go through the same experiences they have? „They see behind the curtains of our world“ Celo says.

It is the shit we grew up with that made us to talented rappers

The path of life for young men with a migration story growing up in socially weak districts, their way to criminality and their inner struggle is the essence of the new generation of German rap. „It is the shit we grew up with that made us to talented rappers“, Celo says. „But it is also our talent“, Abdi opposes.

Their talent is to play with words from different languages, to connotate names, notions and metaphors.  The unique language of Celo & Abdi and their azzlackz family (azzlacks is the name of the rapper network around one of Germany´s most influential rapper „Haftbefehl“ in the Frankfurt region) is characterized by neologisms and the use of foreign languages such as Arabic, Kurdish, Hebrew, Turkish or Bosnian words they they know from their friends in a multicultural and multiethnic neighbourhood.  The German language is important for them as it is also essential to rap in Hebrew (shalom), Arabic (habibi) or English (on point). Although they do not define German as their mother language, they admit that they are speaking German more than they speak Bosnian or Arabic. „German is the commercial language and the language of our society“ says Celo. The slang of azzlackz has reached spheres beyond the hiphop and migrant community. A German politician for example used Celo & Abdi´s notion of „Hinterhofjargon“ (backstreet slang) in a political debate while criticizing another politician who expressed herself in an inappropriated way. „Our group did their bit on the society. That is beautiful. Whether it is important or not. It is there, it has happenend and that makes us proud.“

„We had a lot of James Bond moments in our life“

Celo & Abdi like other street rappers in Germany are criticized for glorifying violence and for romanticized street life. „Everything can be romanticized“ is a weak answer by Celo. But he admits that he makes a lot of efforts to stay away from bad habits of the hood. „When a rapper tells me that he makes music to stay on the street, he lies. You make music, to get on, to get away, to get away from problems.“ Of course, they kept their old friends. „But I do not have to put myself on the street corner to sell packages of hash, in order to prove myself.“ Celo adds. Their lines are based on stories which they went through. „When you have to run away from the police and to hide under trucks, in garbage cans, in front yards …“ Abdi says and Celo continues „… than you feel like you are in a movie. We had a lot of James Bond moments in our life“

„I listen to my heart. I make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. When I fall, I stand up again. What else do I need?“

It is their down-to-earth habitus that they do not want to give up. „I have my mother, I have my father. I am fine. What else do I need? I listen to my heart. I make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. When I fall, I stand up again. What else do I need?“
Influenced by French rap music, the sound of their music is often melancholic or stimulating. „We like it“, Celo says.

When Abdi called the leggings of the female German hiphop journalist VisaVie „saftig“ (juicy) and made it clear that he considers her leggings sexy (during an interview) -for them and Visa Vie a joke – a debate within the German hiphop media community has launched. Since than female music journalists received a lot of sexist comments with the word „juice“ or „juicy“. Although they are becoming more and more aware about what sexism means, how it functions and how hard it hurts, it is still an issue for them they cannot abandon easily from it. Sexist ideas and notions such as „Hurentochter“ (daughter of a whore) and „Fürsorgegen“ (gene for taking care of others) of women belong to the basic ideas of the biggest part of their social world. Celo & Abdi do not only belong to the male-dominated hiphop community where sexism is an everyday business. They are not only influenced by their traditional and patriarchal social environment in which they grew up. The rap artists are also challenged by those questions from mainstream media. They do not build a wall and stay in a comfort zone where they earn money, sell tracks due to the motto „sex(ism) sells“ and feel great and brave as „men“. They try to understand what it means to be a woman and to be faced with those offending comments. „Okay, as a Turkish girl you are more fucked up than a German girl while growing up“ Celo was commenting on the question whether being an adult in a migrant community in the German culture is more mischievous than being an adult as German with German roots.

The values that had an influence on Celo & Abdi were those from their religion. „With my faith I have learnt certain values, being human, being helpful.“, Celo says. But not only. For Abdi, German values are as important as those of their religion and culture. „German values such as punctuality together with those of our parents have formed us.“

The question of belonging and Heimat (homeland) together with the migration story has always accompanied their music. „To the question whether I am German, I can only say that I am gladly in Germany“ – this is Abid´s line in „Diaspora“ that was awarded as the „Line of the Year“ by hiphop.de. „Nador is the home of my father, but since I have been always welcomed there with open arms, I have recognized it as my home.“ For Celo home is where you feel good.

Are there any moments, in which you feel excluded? Abdi: Yes, when everybody around me was at home, but I wasn´t home for three days. When everybody comes fresh from home and I come from anywhere (laughing) … then I feel excluded. When my friends ask me „Have you also had a great breakfast, have you watched cartoons, then I feel excluded.“

But we are talking not about 15 years ago? Abdi: I am talking of few days ago. Watching cartoons? Abdi: Yes, watching cartoons. Of course. Celo: Do you see us as cartoon characters? Abdi: No, no, she says, watching cartoons means escaping from reality.“ Celo: Mhhm.

When talking about their concert in the internationally renowned exhibition hall „Schirn“ in Frankfurt, Celo & Abdi were swarming about that night. „Schirn was baba (in Turkish: father; German slang for something huge in a positive way)“ Abdi told us. „It was one of our best concerts. Our friends, my brother, all of them were there. Everything was perfect.“  They feel honoured when people around them, friends or fans sincerely like their music. The biggest recognition, for Celo, is when „people who have studied, academics and journalists are dealing with me. When people who have studied, listen to me.“

Celo was a student, too. He tried to study but then gave up, jobbed in the callcenter that changed his life. Both of them tried to get to the Gymnasium (advanced secondary school in particular preparing students to enter university) and their parents convinced successfully their teachers to qualify them for it. Celo & Abdi learnt French as their first foreign language and struggled at school. Both of them could not fulfill the high expectations. Celo could get Fachabitur (qualification college), Abdi could at least manage to sell drugs at his vocational school.

What expectations did their parents have towards them? „They parents want me to become what I want and they want more for me than they want for themselves.“, Abdi says. „Well, my father did not immigrated to Germany, so his son can become a rapper.“ Celo says and laughs.

Is there anything what your parents tell you to do or not do do? Abdi: Come home, where have you been, do not spend all of your money, what is about this receipt? Why do you sleep in hotels?

Do not sleep in hotels, do not spend all your money, bring less receipts home, save your money, think about your future, do you have a pension insurance? These kind of things.“

Celo & Abdi do not refuse to have certain roles such as a streetworker, a street psychologist, being integration ambassador who mediate between the worlds of migrant communities and those of the dominant culture. They use rap music to deal with their experiences and observations. Not only what happened to them, but to their friends, to people in their surrounding. „That affects us deeply.“

Although their music is political – more than the music of other German rappers – they tend to be leftists. „But“, Celo rejects „like it is said in Star Wars: As Celo & Abdi we have never had the luxury of political opinions.“

Nevertheless they are observe their social and political environment and they do social criticism. Not in an intellectual but smart way.  Not friendly but unsparingly. In their song „A.C.A.B“ of their first mix tape „Mietwagentape“ they say „No, because you hate other cultures. That is the reason why we remain among our own anyway“

We do what we do. We are who we are

They drink often their coffee at Café Ecke Konsti, a mix of an American whiskey bar and a oriental men´s coffee house. And we meet there, too. As passionate football fans Celo & Abdi are watching the African Cup, Morocco against Nigeria. With every goal for Morroco, Abdi cheers to his other homeland while Celo is taking a Instagram story about the football game.

They had a lot of Oprah-moments. When Abdi brought his Cartier sunglasses to the Cartier Store in Frankfurt to replace its glasses, one staff assumed that his sunglasses was fake. Another staff member checked the number in the system and told them that it was a vintage sunglasses of the 80s. That is why Celo & Abdi tend to spend their time in areas in which they do not feel discriminated. They do not only blame Germans with German roots, they can feel not being respected by anybody „who sits in a café in Fressgass and thinks that his father owns the street. Although the street belongs to Germany.“, Abdi complains.

Music is not their salvation, but Celo & Abdi´s way to express their creativity, their thoughts. Music is their calling, their destiny – not less than an artist who was born in the upscale district Westend and who studied at Städel. „Our art college was the street.“ Celo once said.

To criticize the system and the use of a certain language was the main base for rap music. „We want to criticize the system in our slang. We want others to understand street life, our world view, our language. That is Celo & Abdi. That is our essence. Packed with sympathy. That is why people likes us, because we do not play-act. We do what we do. We are who we are.“

Celo & Abdi are on their Germany tour. Here you can check their concert dates.

 

Credit: Ondro