Taktloss & Abstract Rude - On The Level

4th track on Taktloss' and Abstract Rudes 2004 EP "These Walls".

Taktloss began rapping in the mid 1990s and from the start everything about him was special (you could also say irritating or even offputting): His voice, his rap style and his topics. The first thing he ever released was a collabo album with Kool Savas in 1997 as "Westberlin Maskulin". That shit was hardcore, especially considering what rap music in Germany normally sounded like back then. Savas and Taktloss (which translates to "indelicate" but can also be understood in a musical way, i.e. having no rhythm) rapped about murdering whack MCs and fucking other rappers moms and girlfriends in endless variations. They were the ones who put Berlin on the map, which would later on become Germanys rap capital.

While Savas became very successful and is (or was) even considered Germanys "King of Rap", Taktloss always remained underground (by choice - I would add). The closest he came to popularity was a legendary appearance on german music televison, where he freestyled for one hour straight. In my opinion, what he did there is almost unwatchable, even for rap enthusiasts. Nevertheless it was hilarious - something like that never ended up on german TV again. And whatever you may think of Taktloss (the range goes from "that's not even music" to critics who called his work "avantgarde"), he always stayed true to his style of rap music: all his solo albums are called "Battle Rhyme Priority", only the number changed. And most of the songs are about murdering whack MCs.

Abstract Rude is one of the pioneers of LA underground rap music and (together with Aceyalone) co-founder of the famous "Project Blowed". To those who don't know: Project Blowed is an open mic workshop in LA that was founded in 1994 and has helped aspiring hip hop artists (not only MCs, but also producers, sprayers and dancers) grow. Over the years it became home to countless renowned artists such as 2Mex, Busdriver, Mikah 9 and Abstract Rude and Aceyalone themselves. According to an article in LA Weekly the open mic sessions were also attended by artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Ice Cube or Snoop Dogg. The impact Project Blowed had onto the LA hip hop scene (or even the hip hop scene in general) probably cannot be overestimated.

So, considering the importance of the two artists Taktloss and Abstract Rude in their respective countries (and their hip hop scenes) it shouldn't be surprising that their paths would eventually cross, which they did in 2004. Although it's notable, that this wasn't the first (and not the last) intercontinental cooperation between Project Blowed artists on the West Coast and Taktloss in West Berlin. LA rappers Riddlore and Rifleman already did features on Taktloss' BRP7 in 2001, Busdriver and the Visionaries followed later on.

However, the result of Abstract Rudes and Taktloss' collaboration is an EP with six tracks and a bunch of feature guests, most of them from Germany. I personally love the different styles of Abstract Rude and Taktloss and would call their collaboration a good match. While Abstract Rude seems to have a very "refined" rap style, Taktloss makes his mark by not having that. Both are entertaining in their own way.

I especially like the last track "Beat IlL", every rap part kills it and the beat is extremely enjoyable.

I hope the german language is not scaring my english speaking followers away. I personally like listening to foreign rap music, although I don't understand much (or even nothing). A-F-R-O just released the second part of an insane posse cut with more than 50 guest MCs, some of them rapping in polish or spanish - and it's still dope.

Like always, I do not own any rights to this, I just see it as my duty to upload the rap music gems no one has ever heard of. Peace.