Expression of Dominance and Sexuality
Not all German-Turkish rap revolves around, or even references, the German-Turkish identity. Much of the music written by successful German-Turkish rappers contains the same, often trivial, hyper-masculine, and overtly sexual content as popular American rap. There are two elements to this which tie back to the German-Turkish identity: one rooted in power and the other in history.
The song featured on the right (Tamam Tamam by Summer Cem) is a prime example of common modern rap and hip-hop lyrical themes. The chorus emphasizes the party life through mention of drug use, expensive cars, and hot women while the second verse focuses on Summer Cem's own fame.
No matter where I go, I get recognized
Ask why, 'cause I'm famous
Egal, wo ich hingeh', ich werd' erkannt
Fragt mal, warum, weil ich bin bekannt
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Much of the earliest German-Turkish rap spoke heavily of the German-Turkish experience, and their successes allowed artists to profit off of their discrimination, difference, and complex sense of identity. While subject matter has largely turned away from discussion of German-Turkish themes—though often continuing to reference them—the profitability and recognition brought about by success in the industry raises German-Turks to positions of power (Kaya 2007, 495). The global nature of this recognition serves to legitimize and advertise this identity which does not belong to one country. It can also bring forth respect amongst the German population which would likely not have been offered to modern rappers’ parents or predecessors. One need not write about the explicitly German-Turkish experience in order to engage with the cultural relevance of the genre within the community.
The use of standard or known rap themes also serves to develop intertextuality between German-Turkish rappers and successful rappers elsewhere in the world. Themes shared by different works of the same genre can be placed in the same comparative field to be understood in relation to one another (Bauman 2004, 7). This serves German-Turks in that even without mentioning topics such as discrimination, their texts exist in a genre which holds the works of other marginalized artists across the globe and through history. Many popular rap songs, such as the one featured above, while apparently conceited or trivial, function as proclamations of status. To rap about fame or the possession of luxuries is to advertise the success which has found these marginalized people.
Power in the Music Industry
Turkish
Boys'
Child
hood
rhyme
duels
The rise of German-Turkish rap can definitively be attributed to the spread of the hip-hop culture growing in the United States at the time of the Turkish worker migration (BeÅŸer 2021). Rap groups which first formed in Germany were heavily comprised of second-generation immigrants. The absence of a sense of belonging drove many German-Turks to seek an identity of their own in this rising music culture (BeÅŸer 2021). However, while American rap undoubtedly had a major influence on the rise of rap as a musical genre in Germany, Turkey has its own independent history of rap battles which goes back much further than hip-hop and rap music as a genre. Though not referred to as rap battling, it was a frequent pass-time of Turkish boys to engage in rhyming duels (Dundes, Leach, and Özkök 1970, 326). These duels perpetuated the traditional Turkish gender roles of men as dominant and women as submissive by likening one’s opponent to a woman or proclaiming “phallic aggression” against his female relatives (Dundes, Leach, and Özkök 1970, 326). This tradition can be traced back to northern African Arabic cultures and similar rituals can be found in East Africa, Greece, and Mexico (Dundes, Leach, and Özkök 1970, 343). While modern German-Turkish rap very much reflects the African American music which birthed hip-hop culture and brought rap into the musical world, the vulgar nature of much of rap music does in fact have roots in Turkish boys’ childhood rituals.