Music Video: Samy Deluxe - Feuer, Verbrannt, Asche

I've probably mentioned this before, but I often find songs and artists that I like by spidering out from songs and artists that I already like.  It's kind of the six degrees of separation approach to music appreciation.

So, late last night, I was sitting at home minding my own business when I get an e-mail from Amazon.de telling me that one of my favorite German artists, Jan Delay, is coming out with a new live album/DVD set called "Hamburg brennt!!".  Excellent! I think, as I quickly log on to find out more about it.  Well, it turns out that this new album is being released to stores on May 11, 2012, and it features guest appearances from a long list of German hip-hop and rap artists.  While Amazon is the Borg of internet retail, and has - in cahoots with iTunes - absolutely decimated the traditional retail music business, one nice thing that they do is post relevant videos to many albums that they sell.  In this case, they posted a video of Jan Delay performing his classic song Füchse with artists Denyo and Samy Deluxe.

As often happens, this got me interested in what else Denyo and Samy Deluxe have done independently, which led me to Samy Deluxe's recent free promotional tune Feuer, Verbrannt, Asche.  Now, I was never a huge rap fan, although I can certainly see the artistry of the genre, but this tune blew me away.  Regardless of the language barrier, Samy Deluxe's verbal virtuosity is undeniable.  Set to the beat of another Jan Delay tune Feuer, Feuer, Verbrannt, Asche really only uses it as a launching pad for his own unique rhythm, thoroughly transcending the original.  Samy Deluxe has, for the past decade, been considered by critics and listeners alike as one of Germany's top rap artists.  It is not hard to see why.

Jan Delay on Sesamstraße

From it's very beginning, Sesame Street has attracted remarkable musical talents to its show.  Artists ranging from Harry Belafonte and Tony Bennett to James Taylor and Stevie Wonder have contributed their musical talents to this show that appeals to both kids and their parents.  But in addition to the American version of the program, Sesame Street is also locally produced in 20 other countries around the world.  So the question is, do they also attract the latest and greatest musical talents?

You bet they do!

Open World Music favorite, Jan Delay, recently sang his German hit Klar with Bert and Ernie on the German show Sesamstraße.  Needless to say, this is now one of my all time favorite TV clips.

Music Video: Blumio - Meine Lieblingsrapper

As I have probably mentioned already once or twice, the German rap scene is pretty hot these days.  You've got artists like Toni L., Xzibit, Samy Deluxe, Eko Freh, Massive Töne, Jan Delay (back before Disko No. 1), Harris, Curse, Massiv, Sido, Azad, D-Flame, and many others.  Then you have artists like Japanese-German rapper Blumio, who can mimic all of them in a single video.  If you want a primer on modern German rap, you can't do any better than to check out Mein Lieblingsrapper.  Of course, Blumio turns out to be a pretty good rapper in his own right.

Music Video: Jan Delay - Feuer

I have a huge backlog of videos to post, so I'll just get underway with Jan Delay and his song Feuer.  This is one of the fist songs of Jan's that I heard, and I really like how he has made the transition from hip-hop to more of a soul/funk.