Alligatoah
Imagine standing at the top of the German-speaking music world for a decade now. You have shaped a style, passed through the rap scene and pop landscape equally, and performed on the biggest stages in the country. Your trophy case is bursting at the seams, every shot is counted as a hit, and every new album seems to further accentuate your legendary status. Market researchers, label representatives, and managers advise you to just keep doing what you’re doing - no experiments that could shake the throne. And then you go into the studio, consciously ignore the tried and tested formula for success, take an unnecessary risk, and produce... An album filled with screaming vocals and howling guitars that crosses genres. Alligatoah has done exactly that. His new record “off” confronts the spirit of the times with ear-splitting edginess, resembling a wrecking ball on the pop Olympus.
“off” is the “Hybrid Theory” in Alligatoah's discography. It marks the most consistent musical break in his nearly twenty-year career on several levels. It is a realized childhood dream, a logical consequence, an ambitious challenge, and an unexpected reinvention. Let’s be clear: Alligatoah has continually surprised himself over the years and across all his albums and mixtapes. He has always strived to grow, to dare, to learn - as a rapper, as a singer, as a lyricist, as a producer, as an actor, as an instrumentalist. What's new is that this time he risks a crossover balancing act on a full album; a crossover that could hardly clash more ignorantly with the mainstream sound of our time, and yet refreshes it.
“off” is a loud, explosive mix of different styles of heavy metal and hip-hop typical beat patterns, blending 90s nostalgia with futuristic elements and Alligatoah's distinctive pop appeal. Howling electric guitars and three-dimensional double bass hammering exude a nu-metal aura and a band feeling, with trap drum elements bursting into the scene at times. “off” sounds incredibly full, powerful, and largely analog; it is a twelve-part tug-of-war between two contrasting sound worlds. For the first time ever, Alligatoah involved co-producers in an album process, relinquishing minimal control in favor of sound, contrast, and experiment. To sharpen the metal aesthetic in colossal walls of guitars and organic drumming, he brought in his trusted live guitarist Hannes Kelch. German rap platinum producer Gee Futuristic is responsible for the 808 riffs breaking through the tracklist.
To understand the underlying vision of “off,” a look back at the 90s - and into the childhood room of the pubescent village youth Lukas Strobel, who began to develop a love for hard-hitting music at that time - can be helpful. With most of the songs on the lengthy tracklists of burned Bravo Hits CDs, he couldn’t do much. He constantly skipped to the same songs by System of a Down, Limp Bizkit, and Guano Apes - they sounded wonderfully explosive and angry, significantly shaping Alligatoah's understanding of music. The first CD he bought with his own pocket money? "Proud like a God" by Guano Apes. Twenty years later, now at the age of thirty-four, Alligatoah sends out an idiosyncratic homage to the heroes of his youth with “off.” Surreally, he managed to enlist both Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst and Guano Apes in their complete band lineup for feature parts - this is German music history, an unparalleled accolade, the fulfillment of a long-standing career dream.
Speaking of career: At one point, Alligatoah had announced it was over. At least, he made it look that way. At the end of his sold-out tour finale concert at the Cologne LANXESS arena last November, Alligatoah disappeared behind a wide curtain emblazoned with “Gern geschehn - Alligatoah 1989 - 2023.” With the release of the first “off” single “SO RAUS,” he quickly returned with a musical sign of life, but officially remained missing, leaving his legacy to be managed by his comrade BattleBoi Basti. According to the symbolic narrative, Alligatoah has withdrawn - or rather, retreated behind the moon. He will observe the release of his new record from a safe distance, staying there for a while. Taking a page from Chinese concept artist Ai Weiwei, he shows the earth on the album cover in smartphone format with an extended middle finger. Sounds like a completely wacky play full of meta-levels? It is, that’s Alligatoah-style.
Despite the vast change in scenery, it is worth mentioning that one thing remains the same: When Alligatoah writes songs, he writes Alligatoah songs - sharp, clever, witty, self-ironic. His distinctive and theatrical phonetics are as present on “off” as his penchant for changing perspectives, his preference for sharpening contrasts and skillfully expressing the banal. Alligatoah questions perceived normalities, pushes contrasts to the extreme in battle rap style, navigates through precise thematic songs, and celebrates dialectics. The fiery and driving “NIEMAND” is a philosophical anthem on atheism with a bitter undertone: "You say, ‘Who do you think you are?’ / I say, ‘Who are you to believe?’”. The wildly energetic "WEIßE ZÄHNE,” a duet with fellow rapper Bausa, targets exaggerated self-optimization mania and boring bank staff conventionality.
“PARTNER IN CRIME” with Tarek K.I.Z may seem deceptively poppy but is actually a love song formulated from the perspective of a mass murderer. The darkly whipping metalcore creation “WER LACHT JETZT” can be described as the protagonist's diss track against himself. The glam rock reference “ICH ICH ICH” with its guitar solo performed by thrash metal legend Mille Petrozza is, well, the exact opposite: “Who gets a prize for modesty? I, I, I!”. And so on. We can summarize: Clashing polarities form a leitmotif in the lyrics and compositions of “off,” giving the album a significant amount of its impressive intensity. In between, there is “SCHEIßDRECK” aka three minutes of absurd nonsense in classic Alligatoah style: “'Do you have pain in your body?' is what I hear the masseur ask.” It's essential, as we've loved since 2006.
Back to the beginning. The thunderous opener “ICH FÜHLE DICH,” where metal and hip-hop drums elegantly wrestle with each other, speaks of the spooky attraction related to being in love. The monumental “KÜSSEN” delves into a similar topic, examining the questionable cultural practice of tongue crossing. In “ES KRATZT,” Alligatoah exaggerates the painful world view of an oversensitive hypochondriac; while in “MENSCHLICHES VERSAGEN” - as previously mentioned, a feature with Guano Apes including a German (!) part by singer Sandra Nasić - describes the universally recognized moment when one realizes they’ve made a mistake. What unites these pieces is the intention to transform intense split-second moments into lavishly detailed art - colored snapshots in song form, if you will. And, of course, there is “SO RAUS,” a tongue-in-cheek rejection of the zeitgeist, for which Alligatoah enlisted Fred Durst. And, of course, the grand finale: A furious reimagining of the No Angels classic “Daylight in Your Eyes,” where the metal band setting erupts radically one last time.
Alligatoah has headlined the “Rock am Ring” main stage multiple times, has gone gold, platinum, and even diamond. He has several million monthly listeners on Spotify, has consistently enriched the German-speaking pop landscape with unique masterpieces for years, and pendulates like a superstar between Nadelhorst and the moon. When the master of confusion feigned the end of his career a few months ago, many thought he had already achieved everything and could rightfully draw a line under it. In fact, he has indeed achieved everything... but by no means has he done and said everything that needed to be done and said - as “off,” his seventh album scheduled for release on March 22, 2024, proves.
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
