Swiss hip hop
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The Swiss hip hop scene began in the early nineties. Early Swiss German rappers started rapping in English, but after the bilingual track "Murder by Dialect" by P-27 featuring Black Tiger, rappers switched to their native Swiss German dialects. Rappers from the French-speaking part (where the traditional dialects died out in most parts) and from the Italian-speaking part (where most people mix dialects and Standard Italian freely) only rap in the standard languages. The issue of language choice has become a major influence in the Swiss Hip-Hop scene: As author Pascal Hofmeier notes, the creation of "Mundartrap" (dialect rap) has enabled Switzerland to develop a unique scene that, due to the lingual choice, is immediately identificable as a distinctly Swiss product.[1] The importance of language in Swiss hip-hop can also create tension, however: Although the members of the Italian speaking group Stoffunita live in Switzerland and consider it their home, their choice of language combined with their lack of Swiss citizenship earmark them as "Secondo", a term used to indicate people of foreign descent born in Switzerland.[2] Given Switzerland's particularly strong opinions on who is "Swiss" and who is "other", it is easy to see that groups such as Stoffunita make use of the fact that hip-hop "is still considered a voice for the oppressed"[3] as hip hop scholar and author Jeff Chang notes.
The European Music Office's report on Music in Europe claimed that Switzerland's hip hop scene is "particularly innovative and advanced", featuring Unik Records (the first European indie rap label) [1].
- ^ Hofmeier, Pascal. “Identitätskonstruktion im Schewitzerdeutschen Mundartrap: Lokalpatriotische Wohlstandshiphopper?” [“Identity Construction in Swiss-German Dialect Rap: Prosperous Hip-Hoppers with Local Pride?”]. Facharbeit, Universität Bern 2005.
- ^ Italian Rap | Guests: Castilian in Italian Music
- ^ Chang, Jeff. "It's a Hip Hop World". Foreign Policy 163, Nov/Dec 2007, 58-65.
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