Lyrical standouts at Raptext-Roulette
Rap-Text Roulette is Lea-Wons attempt to shift the Spotlight in Munichs Rap Scene back onto lyricism - an ambitious goal in a scene where the beats are loud, the crowds are wild and, if you're a small artist, people haven't heard your song before.
And since picking out Songtext on a first listen is hard, Lea-Won decided the solution was simple: let them hear the lyrics first.
At Rap-Text Roulette, all performing artists send the organiser their lyrics and their beat.
The show then proceeds as follows:
1) An artist pulls a lyric sheet out of a bag
2) The artist reads the lyrics out loud to the crowd
3) The artist who wrote the lyrics gets up on stage and performs the song to the crowd. During the performance, the lyrics are projected onto a screen in the back.
Sound confusing? Here's an example where Leolexikon pulled my Lyrics:
What it meant for Me
I performed at two Raptext-Roulette Events so far, with these two songs:
As an english-language artist, getting my message to really resonate with the primarily german-speaking rap community is a challenge - this super-accessible, borderline Poetry-Slam type format really helped with that.
The whole Evening I had friends slapping me on the back saying things like "you know, I always wanted to understand your songs, I liked the flow, but now I really really get what you're talking about".
And that's... beautiful.
Now personally, I've always been someone who picks up on song lyrics very quickly - I can usually sing along to most of the chorus after hearing it once.
So for me, hearing other rappers performances was less about finally understanding what they were saying, and more about watching the brotherly dynamic between readers and rappers that developed as the evening went on.
At times, Artists would get a text in a language other than their mother tongue, these indomitable lyricists suddenly seeming very vulnerable when pushed out of their comfort zone (I had to read a verse in Turkish!).
Other times, you'd see what a huge difference delivery makes - reading a text slowly then hearing it rapped quick or vice-versa. Rhymes hidden during the reading emerging during the rapping because of how the lyricist emphasised the words. Conjuring humor where others only see words.
A special highlight here was Krähe reading a text by Organic in an over-the-top Frisan dialekt.
With all that in mind, here's 3 verses that really stood out to me:
LeoLex - Pegasus
I'm very proud of myself because I recognised that this was a Leo Lex song before the Chorus came - just from the flow and cadence.
LeoLex is a top-tier lyricist in the Munich Rap Scene, but I've known that for a while... seeing him in a format that allowed me to pay more attention to the text helped me appreciate a lot more of the political, rebellious messaging inherent in his underground sensibilities.
Photocredits: @jonas_wakewood
Krähe - Elster (Third Verse)
This dude is a goofball and a skilled lyricist and I'm so glad I met him through this event. Lea-Won ended up being the one reading it aloud, and you could feel the respect in his words as he rattled off punchline after punchline.
And then seeing Krähe (which means "Crow", by the way) tear into it with a mix of aggression and humorous detachment was a whole other experience.
Image Credits: @prajwal_is_my_name
Lea-Won: Ecken-Rap
People have compared my lyrical style to Lea-Won before and I didn't really understand it before I heard this Song. Hearing it read aloud first lent focus to the subtle nuances of his cadence (pay special attention to how he pronounces
Py-tha-GO-ras).
The edge mixed with the self-reflection and Humor over a plonkcore bouncy beat delivered with an immaculate flow makes you stop and think, then smile, then think again.
Lots to appreciate here.
