Over the weekend, Nura accused fellow rapper Haiyti of queerism over problematic statements in a 2020 podcast. As expected, this was followed by an outcry on social media, with many fans expressing their outrage and disappointment. Shortly thereafter there is a new excitement: German rap veteran Marcus Staiger explains in a podcast on Tuesday that he has not been vaccinated and does not intend to do so. Zack, Haiyti is forgotten, there’s the next sow that you can drive through the digital village with a raised index finger. There is no question: both cases can and should be discussed critically. The problem is how this happens.
The culture of discussion that we have been experiencing for several years is a very explosive one. The lines of communication are shorter than ever, but sometimes it seems as if an outraged tweet goes faster than a private message. At weekly, daily and sometimes hourly intervals, public figures are (often rightly) attacked on the Internet – sometimes with far-reaching, sometimes with negligible consequences. With all the shouting, you usually didn’t really get any closer to the core of the problem, while the populist opposite side is happy and can ramble on about “woke lunatics” and “cancel culture”. This way of dealing with explosive topics has long since caught on in the music industry. Here are two recent examples.
Haiyti expresses himself as problematic
Last Saturday, rapper Nura posted an excerpt of the Spotify podcast Talk-O-Mat via TikTok. The scene shown is from September 2020 and shows a rap colleague Haiyti in conversation with star chef Tim Mälzer. When it comes to homophobia, Haiyti refers to her 2018 song “Payback” and explains: “I also say in the text: ‘I think your money is gay until it’s mine.’ I don’t mean gays either. I’m like, ‘I think it sucks.’
Then why doesn’t she just say that? “Because it’s provocative and that’s what it’s all about. I don’t know why I’m saying it either. I find it more provocative because everyone gets upset about it, ‘Shit, she says gay.’ Ouch. Shortly thereafter, Haiyti puts what was said into perspective and pushes away any responsibility: “I can’t even know that some gays are so sensitive. Because someone intelligent knows that I’m not addressing them, that it’s art.”
video/7050567454799547653" data-video-id="7050567454799547653" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;">@nuraberlin Singer Haiyti babbling on the bullshit ???? Tim mälzer teaching ???? #queerphobia ♬ original sound – Nura
Yeah, of course that’s complete nonsense and a pretty unempathetic attitude that Haiyti should urgently reconsider. But: Perhaps this process has already been initiated. After all, the Talk-O-Mat episode in question is a year and a half old, and the song “Payback” mentioned by Haiyti is another two years old. With the gigantic output of the Berliner by choice, it’s difficult to keep an overview, but as far as I know, no further homophobic statements have been made in public or in songs since then. This is where the question comes into play as to how the rest of the scene is doing. As justified as Nura’s anger is and as important as it is to speak to Haiyti about her statements: Aren’t there many more male rap colleagues who regularly attract attention with sexist or homophobic crap?
Katja Krasavice draws consequences
On Instagram, Haiyti reacted to numerous outraged messages as follows: “Hi guys, I’m not anti-gay or anti-queer, but I’ve spoken stupidly in the past and didn’t mean to offend anyone and I’m very sorry. I’ll express myself better in the future, I promise.” Such words must of course be followed by deeds, but regret and the will to improve are something. Nevertheless, the cancel train has long since left and is leaving burning bridges in its wake. For example, musician Katja Krasavice updated the tracklist of her upcoming album “Pussy Power” and kicked the track “Tick Tack”, which would have featured Haiyti.
The next excitement comes from Marcus Staiger
All of this happened mainly from Saturday to Monday. On Tuesday there was promptly the next excitement in the rap and music world. Marcus Staiger, a German rap journalist and founder of the legendary label Royal Bunker, caused the next controversy on Twitter.
So friends. You’ve rumored long enough, but I’m actually not vaccinated and don’t intend to be. With my girlfriend @lowerclassjane I argued about it and explained my reasons. Here is the result: https://t.co/BLThcUYquG
— Marcus Staiger (@StaigerRoyal) January 11, 2022
Zack, there’s the next sow that you can drive through the digital village with a raised index finger. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve listened to the podcast and find a lot of what Staiger says is completely far-fetched. In this place, kudos to the interlocutor and DeutschrapMeToo activist Lowerclassjane, who listens to all of this very patiently and openly. But I am not writing this text because I want to talk about “Big Pharma” and the effectiveness of vaccines. I don’t write it either, because I think that Staiger should just be left alone. After all, the vaccination debate is not only a personal one, but not least a social and solidarity one, which one should definitely talk about.
But that’s the whole point: talk. Instead, what is happening more and more often these days is mindless bashing and vomit, an internet mob against an individual. Often the reaction of those affected is not waited for, instead one draws one’s own conclusions and consequences prematurely. The half-life of controversy seems to be shorter than ever and that takes some of the seriousness out of it for me. If half the German rap world was still upset about Haiyti yesterday, today there is a new buck. Is this about long-term improvements or is it more about the quick kick of indignation? Especially those who care about the subject complexes – in this case homophobia and vaccination – should not let go of the matter so quickly, but seek dialogue.
If you have been fans of Staiger and/or Haiyti for years, then give them a chance to improve and enlighten them instead of banning them from your playlists and podcast subscriptions for life. Both have done pioneering work in very different ways for years and have done a lot for the German rap scene. Is all this now void? I have to admit: I don’t always know how to deal with it when people whose work I admire suddenly babble stupid and dangerous crap, but the virtual dissent doesn’t get us any further, does it?
Have been a good few years. Bye Marcus!
— ccccccc (@geisterstadt87) January 11, 2022
For more informed arguments
Pointing out problematic statements is absolutely essential for our society and for our scene. But when the swarm of locusts moves on after two days (!) and pounces on the next topic, it has more of spiteful gossip and moral satisfaction than of well-founded discussion. At the same time, it just fuels all the more narratives à la “You can’t say anything more!” and of course the miserable battlefield term “cancel culture”, which has been used in recent years primarily by right-wing conservative and populist media and should actually be canceled itself.
The podcast by Staiger and Lowerclassjane already shows approaches to better dealing with sensitive topics. The whole thing unfortunately suffers from mediocre preparation and audio quality on Jane’s part. In addition, for the 45-minute runtime, Staiger’s share of speech is noticeably greater. All of this creates a certain gradient, regardless of the content. But: Staiger at least faces a critical conversation and a discussion partner who is contrary to his opinion. To be fair, the two are good friends aside from their disagreement over vaccination. Nevertheless, one does not have the feeling that anyone is treated with kid gloves here. Jane stands up to Staiger properly and doesn’t leave any half-baked statements uncommented. The two have an argument, but remain objective and try to reach a consensus or at least a compromise.
Forgive and not forget
I would like to be treated like this more often. I want a podcast in which an:e Expert:in sits down with Haiyti and explains to her why that is not okay at all, how she has dealt with the subject of homosexuality and homophobia so far. I want more room for forgiveness and second chances without giving a free pass to problematic attitudes. I want us to talk to each other and not about each other. If the person concerned then turns out to be an unreasonable or even dangerous complete idiot, at least you know that it wasn’t a stupid slip.
Nevertheless, it is of course clear to me: This charged form in which we conduct discourses and which recently caught Staiger and Haiyti is not a phenomenon unique to our music industry. The problem is bigger than our scene and pervades politics, culture and society in general on a global scale. We communicate more than ever, but the way we do it is mostly indirect and therefore open to misunderstandings and arguments. Who knows when this all started, maybe it really was that darn day Donald Trump created his Twitter account.
Either way, the ball has long been kicked off and is rolling at top speed. We can only try to work with the phenomena of our time and social media and co. use to our advantage instead of mutual dismemberment. As an industry, we cannot revolutionize how humanity speaks to each other. But we can set small impulses. So let’s pause and think for a moment on the next social media frenzy before we hit the keys. Not every blunder is one to get stuck in until the end of time.
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