German rap finally has the book it deserves. Davide Bortot and Jan Wehn’s oral history of the genre, “Könnt ihr uns hören,” is a joyous, expertly concocted ride through three decades of hip-hop in Germany. It’s an excellent read that fits on your shelf right next to “Please Kill Me,” “Meet me in the Bathroom,” and “Klang der Familie.”
Davide, Jan and Julian have known each other since the glorious run of Juice Magazine in the mid-2000s. Davide used to run Europe’s biggest rap fanzine between 2003 and 2008, before he started to run other important and often music-related things (pun slightly intended: his marathon time is impressive, too.) Jan Wehn is a fellow music scribe veteran who worked as a staff editor for De:Bug, Spex, Juice, and Das Wetter. You might remember him from Juice mag’s last page, rocking a way too loose button down (his words), but surely from his beloved podcast series for All Good, the rap-centric online mag that he co-founded.
In this episode of Calling in a Favour, Jan & Davide interrupt the press tour for their Spiegel-sticker approved bestseller to discuss the things that really matter: Did a rogue graphics guy help Feinkost Paranoia to their 6 Crown Juice Mag review? Was “Kapitel 1” the first non-embarrassing rap song auf Deutsch? And does dublab.de even have a turntable (s/o Fast Forward)?
PLUS: Spiritual guidance courtesy of STF & Rude Poets-legends Scope and Tuareg. 808 ist die Macht.
