Male dominance, national strength, devaluation of ‘weakness’: in German rap, masculinity is often negotiated through violence, possession, and exclusion. Pop cultural self-empowerment and reactionary ideology are increasingly colliding—opening up a space for right-wing narratives. How can this shift be better understood? What are the lines between cultural criticism, defending the scene, and political co-optation?
NNOC, Sookee, and Miriam Davoudvandi discuss ambivalences in German rap, the appeal of reactionary images of masculinity, and why certain attitudes have become acceptable in rap lyrics as well as the wider mainstream.

This also raises the question of what role education can play: how can teachers, youth workers, and educational institutions learn to understand the pop cultural codes of their students—and respond to them with conviction?