Continent-devouring German rap: did we survive?
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[3.14]
Thomas Inskeep: I like Andreas Bourani’s chorus, but Sido sounds like Eminem with some humanity. Which is better than sounding like Eminem without humanity, but it still means he sounds, boringly, like Eminem.
[4]
Alfred Soto: “Sido is a rapper from Berlin. His real name is Paul Würdig. He sometimes wears a metal mask (much like Madvillain), and his rapping style is akin to a slower version of Eminem or a more aggressive version of Coolio,” that critical luminary Chuck Klosterman wrote in 2008. He’s right about Eminem, wrong about Coolio, but the backing track is like slow Coolio and the piano tinkle is out of bad Eminem.
[5]
Patrick St. Michel: The theme of “the world stinks but uhhh actually it’s also good” isn’t an immediate deal breaker, but paired with this music, which turns “rising above” into such a glum thing. Either say something interesting or at least have good music to cushion it.
[2]
Brad Shoup: Had no idea Macklemore was a German name.
[4]
Jonathan Bogart: God save all of us from German moralizing.
[1]
Edward Okulicz: So cheery and well-meaning that it goes past being too nice to hate to being more or less completely hateful. Everything is so neat and pat and smooth and friendly that you can’t grab onto a mood in the absence of meaning. I like the little tinkles of piano, that’s about it.
[3]
Iain Mew: A song about the perspective provided on the world’s problems by going into space and getting away from it all, which is singly unhelpful as a solution. The dull, over-familiar sound at least lines up to agree that the answer is written in the stars.
[3]