Germany is home to an up and coming rap scene that is establishing its own sound: it’s Black, female, diasporic, but distinctly German-speaking. AMAKA introduces our favourite women dominating stages in Germany and soon beyond.
Ace Tee
Ace Tee popped up on the international music stage with her instant runaway hit "Bist du down?" (Are you down?) back in 2016. The 90s aesthetic à la Missy Elliott was inspired by her Ghanaian mother’s hair salon in Hamburg, where she worked at the time. Speaking to Crack magazine, Ace says, “When I started making music, I started with trap. I loved listening to garage, UK rap, a lot of Memphis stuff. I was more inspired by dark music, dark beats. It was a way to express myself in a different way. I’m a Gemini, so I’ve got two sides.”
From the retro hip hop vibes in “Bist du down?” and “Bounce in den Jumpa”, Ace ventured back into trappy, dank music and dropped tracks like “Steez” and “Also Bitte” (Oh Please). The visuals for her second LP Ace X are dark and lacy, accented by neon colours and leatherwear. She often describes the album as her way to release her “rage energy”, both artistically and politically. Ace knows that she plays a vital role in the German rap scene. “It’s important to be out there and inspire people”, she says. “In my art, I also want to express my Blackness. I want to get loud. I have a lot of struggles here in Germany, but we’re working on it.” In her music video for “Hunnies”, she is seen confidently rapping in an auto mechanic workshop while white German men are working away, an unusual sight to the European eye. Ace wants to create space for young Black musicians to claim their rightful place in Germany. In the aforementioned interview with Crack magazine, she asks, “How can we create something bigger than what we have right now?”, rage shining through. “Like what the fuck? Where is Black music and entertainment? Why are there so many dope artists out there not popping off?”
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Eunique
“I can talk ‘eloquently’ when I want to, but it makes me feel like I’m hiding under a mask. Rap freed me, liberated me to be myself. It’s my art, my safe space and who I really am”, Eunique explains to deep und deutlich. A Ghanaian-African-American German rapper from Hamburg, Eunique's mother had her at only 20 years old and chose for her daughter to grow up in a German host family. “That mix, my German upbringing, my American drive, and my African heart are what make up Eunique”, she smiles. She describes the beginning of her career as being among “the first generation of Youtube-rappers” that freestyled to beats they found on the internet. At 18 she rose to fame by recording herself in her bedroom, signing a record deal under which she released her first album Gift (Poison). Releasing hits like “Giftig” (Poisonous) and “Wer ist so nice” (Who’s as nice), she was listed as one of the most promising rap acts for 2017 by PULS before being forced into a two-year hiatus during which her label legally restricted her from most creative work. Eunique pushed through endless legal battles to cut herself free and continue making music the way she wants.
Now Eunique is back and ready to release her second album, SPLIT, which she describes as a “message to everyone who is about to give up and a reminder that we’re all blessed”. Her songs confront experiences of sexual violence, shame and authenticity. In “Bobby”, she talks about realness and trusting her talent. In “Cut” — originally slated for release on the LP FREE EUNIQUE, written as a rebellion against her manipulative management — she warns everyone not to underestimate the power of her 13 women-led cartels. “Lost”, the third song she released ahead of unleashing SPLIT, addresses toxic masculinity and calls out men who uphold rape culture. Emerging from personal hardship and exploitative music moguls in a genre dominated by men, Eunique is back stronger and more determined to leave her mark, building an army of women who support and celebrate each other along the way.
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Layla Boe
“I look good, so I like it with the lights on” is how Layla Boe begins on “Dichter” (Poet). The 23-year-old German-Gambian powerhouse is establishing herself as German rap’s queen of sex ed, turning heads internationally from her base in Berlin. Inspired by the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Junglepussy, and Bbymutha, Layla started her career in 2020 by self-releasing her first single, “Choppa”. Followed by “24/7”, a soulful R&B love song, and “Hustla”, her music offers a fierce and hypnotic 2000s soundscape, sometimes a badass rap tune à la “Trick Daddy”, sometimes a dreamy ballad like “Nicht erlaubt” (not allowed).
Layla is not afraid to be explicit about sex and desire. On her social media, she talks about how men still need to learn a lot about female sexuality, especially considering the way they talk about it in rap genres — that’s why she wants to give hip hop and her male listeners a lesson in sex ed. Layla is not concerned with stereotypes; she’s here to teach us what she — and many other women — want sexually, and how good sex can make them feel. From singing about nights in which you can never get enough in “So Smooth” to romantically lying in a lover’s arms in the aforementioned “24/7”, Layla’s music draws listeners into the kaleidoscope of emotions that we can experience if only we let ourselves.
In conservative Germany, her confidence and openness are provocative, refreshing, and deeply uncomfortable for many who don’t know that they’re in need of serious education yet. Talking to Chaospin, Layla shares, “growing up in Germany as a Black girl, I didn’t really have a lot of idols that I could identify with to look up to, so I am really happy to be representing Black women in my visuals and videos. Black skin, afro-hairstyles or even African currency, I try to represent as much as I can, and I feel like that’s also part of my calling and my responsibility as a Black artist, considering the platform that I have.“
Nura
"I became a rap fan because rap made a difference", Nura tells DW media. She is one of Germany's most successful rappers, being in the game since 2014. "Rap is a political language." Nura's first musical role model was Aaliyah — "she was super feminine, but still wore baggy pants, and somehow managed to remain neutral — and then her voice of course!" This might come as a surprise to German audiences who have been following her provocative career as part of Berlin rap duo SXTN, infamously known for their outrageous lyrics and visuals, like in "Ich bin schwarz" (I am black) and "Fotzen im Club" (C*nts in the Club). Nura often employs cliches and prejudices about women and queer people to cast them into a new light, most recently in "Backstage" ("Mama, I'm sorry but your son is a hoe"). She calls out nazis and mocks German patriotism in "Niemals Stress mit Bullen" (Never in Trouble with the Feds) and "Fair". From vulgar to romantic, Nura covers the whole spectrum to the extreme. Now making a career as a solo artist, her most recent album Auf der Suche (Searching) offers a softer, more vulnerable side of herself, singing "free and alone, I'm searching for myself".
Nura is a complex character with an unparalleled story of displacement and self-empowerment. Born in Kuwait to Saudi and Eritrean parents, her mother fled the Gulf war to Germany when Nura was only two years old. Germany is Nura's home, but she has been living there as a refugee for 31 years now. The question of successful integration has been a constant companion to Nura's life experience. Unhappy with her mother raising her children according to her Muslim values, Nura voluntarily moved into a youth home as a teenager. "If children are supposed to integrate, they must be allowed to live a Western life", she writes in her 2021 autobiography Weißt du, was ich meine? Vom Asylheim in die Charts (Do You Know What I Mean? From the Asylum Seeker's Centre to the Charts). "I feel as if I have been studying racism and sexism for 31 years'', says Nura. "It seemed completely normal to carry these things around with me. It is still normal. But I hope that this has changed by the time I die."