Rapping the Shoah: (Counter-)Narratives and Judaism in German Hip-Hop

• Published in: Music & politics Vol. 15; no. 2; p. 1
• Main Author: Köhn, Thomas Sebastian
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Ann Arbor Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan Library) 01.12.2021; Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library
• Subjects: Autobiographies; Hip hop music; Holocaust; Judaism; Narratives; Rap musicians; World War II
• ISSN: 1938-7687; 1938-7687
• DOI: 10.3998/mp.9460447.0015.204

The Berlin-based rapper Ben Salomo has been disseminating hip-hop tracks that engage with collective memories and family memories of the Holocaust and World War II since 2016. He has also published an autobiography that addresses the subject. These memories are interwoven with various historical, political, and religious discourses with references to the ancient world, Jewish liturgy, and contemporary processes of othering. Focusing on the track "Identität," which was released in 2016, this article examines how memory narratives are negotiated differently in the track, in the autobiography, and in an interview conducted in 2019. Using a combination of music analysis, narrative analysis, and ethnography, the author elaborates how the track, in comparison to the autobiography and the interview, enables the negotiation of memory-related counter-narratives that not only abandon a victim-centered view but also question and criticize aspects of contemporary institutionalized memory culture. The inquiry shows how hip-hop serves as a medium for combining different musical elements and bringing a future-oriented yet reflective post-Holocaust perspective into a musical memory practice.