Macchiavelli - Rap and Politics

Let’s not kid ourselves: the world is in crisis. It’s been this way for a few years now, and to quote Danger Dan, “I think we’ve got a few more years of trouble ahead of us.” How do we cope? What answers have we found for society—but above all, for ourselves? How has the role of artists changed in recent years and months? Among the younger generation of artists, there seems to be a new sense of identity when it comes to music and politics. Even mainstream music, with artists like Apsilon or Ikkimel, is more political than ever before. At Kosmos Chemnitz, two generations of political artists come together on stage: Mariybu and Jonas from OK Kid rap in the studio and on stage, and in interviews and on social media, they talk about the world, its fractures, and how we might mend them. Do the two see themselves as political musicians, and how do they define that? In what tradition do they see themselves? And how do they still manage to make music that makes you feel so good that you just switch off your brain and dance?

And, of course, we’ll crown the best political song of all time.