Bushido: Evolution Into a Rap Star
Bushido's Critics Now Seeing Deeper Lyrics from German Rapper
Mar 10, 2008
Germany's most successful rapper has spent time in an Austrian jail for an alleged assault on an innocent man, been harshly criticized for producing misogynistic and violent lyrics, and accused of attracting neo-Nazi followers through his nationalistic lyrics. At the same time, he's managed to sell 5 gold albums, including 2 platinum, since his career began in 1999. Much of this success can be attributed to a shift in lyrical content over the past 5 years. His first 3 albums went seemingly unnoticed, while the following 5 recieved awards. His latest album, 7, went gold based on fan subscriptions before it was even released.
The majority of his songs contain content that is reflective of his life in the Tempelhof district of Berlin, as a half-Tunisian youth struggling to integrate into German society. His words reflect the social and economic struggles of the immigrant lower-class in Germany that is rarely represented in popular music. Often, they do promote gang violence, drug-dealing and a sometimes degrading view of women, but a rap star can’t achieve such success by simply expressing beliefs that prove his critics right.
The following song examples summarize the more recent subject matter of Bushido’s lyrics that have earned him the love of fans and even praise of critics.
Romantic Poetry
In Schmetterling (Butterfly), Bushido references a woman as the central desire of his life. Throughout the track, he refers to this woman as his angel and treasure, and describes her as the epitome of a man’s life. The song was voted as one of 2004’s top love songs in Germany and adored by female listeners.
Bushido followed this track with Ich Regele Das (I Rule This) two years later, where he tells the story of a girl that he loved before he was taken away by the police. He tells of his desire to begin a family with the girl despite her mom’s dislike for him, and finishes the song with “how many times do I have to tell you that I respect you?” Again, female listeners responded positively to the lyrics despite critics portraying him as strictly misogynistic one year earlier.
Relation to Troubled Immigrants
In Bushido’s 2006 track Kein Fenster (No Window), the half-Tunisian rapper tells of his experience in jail, and the tendency of inmates in German prisons to be immigrants. He sarcastically says “this is prison rap, I’m looking at a board of chess; every third person’s name is Yusef, Ali or Achmet,” all obvious foreign names. In this song especially, he gives voice to the immigrant prison population, concluding one verse with “I hope Merkel (Germany’s Chancellor) hears this song.”
Lower-Class Lifestyle
Bushido is well past his days of living in Berlin’s housing projects, now often expressing admiration for his 7-series BMW and the fame he’s earned throughout his career. Still, the majority of his lyrics stay true to his earlier life as a drug-dealing high school dropout living in poverty.
In Alles Verloren (Everything Lost), from Bushido’s last album, he takes a strong social and political standpoint regarding the struggle of lower-class citizens. He directly addresses critics, accusing them of trying to censor him as he releases a powerful opening verse that addresses the tendency for German police to target low-income citizens and immigrants as criminals. He claims that the 100,000 buyers of his album that made it a gold record are criminals, daring critics to compete against his power over the lower-class. The second verse concludes with “you can wish death upon me but I’ll still demand control.”
Bushido has dropped song titles such as "Gangbang" and "Bitches", which were featured on albums before 2005, to create more politically-driven sociocultural tracks. His fanbase as a result has widened, and so has his success.
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