Shindy - NWA

The unexpected success of German rapper Shindy's debut album "NWA" (for "nie wieder arbeiten", meaning "never work again") was revolutionary for the history of German speaking hip hop in the 2010s. Until it topped the charts, mostly due to a controversial guest verse by German gangsta rapper Bushido about killing politicians, Germany's popular rap music was all about drug traffic, gun violence and misogynic/homophobic slurs. The music tried to sound dark and rough, whilst the lyrics did their best to sell profitable rappers who grew up in middle class surrounding as street thugs. Little of them actually were. This once was refreshing and atmospheric in the early 2000s, when the German rap scene rose to mainstream success, but got tiring about 7 years or so.Shindy, however, was more up to date. Unlike his tutor Bushido, his heroes were contemporary American rappers like Drake, Lil Wayne or Kanye West.He didn't try to sell himself as street gangster, he openly rapped about how easy his life is and always has been. His lines weren't meant to sound menacing, they were meant to be funny. His clever puns were something that the German rap scene needed. The douchebag moments on the album - and there are many, as Shindy boasts about being better than each and everyone in the world, in any aspect, he even is able to uninstall the alarm app on the iPhone, according to his lyrics in "Arbeit ist out" - are delivered with wit and irony. Speaking of delivery, the flamboyant and sometimes gender bending flow he uses were unthinkable to be taken seriously a few years ago (he still raps about having sex with femals A LOT).Musically, the album consists of catchy trap beats heavy on the synth lines, with occassional piano samples. The biggest flaw of this fun album are the many guest verses by Bushido, who gets no less than 7 guest spots, mainly due to promoting the newcomer (Bushido is the best selling German rapper of all time).Note: there are two regular versions of this album, "NWA" and "NWA 2.0", each edition contains 4 tracks the other one ommits. The 2.0 edition furthermore includes 3 bonus tracks that are also featured on the Deluxe Edition of the "NWA" album. As of September 2015, there is no version that includes all the tracks.