PaulK

Having grown up in the grey-shaded prefabs of Tannenbusch right in the north of Bonn, PaulK has no illusions about what life is like. Instead, he creates tracks that massage the grin off the face of the social status quo and sound like musical diary entries - with poetry instead of shaky posing, and highly atmospheric productions instead of soulless hipsterism. As the new melancholy soul in German rap, the MC and producer picks apart life on the streets here, the seductive mirages of the social-media post-Covid desert and the decay of our ethical values with an astuteness that is frequently fascinating and painful all at the same time. The tone was already set with his debut ‘Diamond in the Dirt’ (2023), the cinematic trap beats already up to international standard, but the lyrics deeply personal. Many can identify with the disillusioned messages. The fact that PaulK prefers to rap about his grandma's Bolognese, the yearning for an ideal world and the feeling of isolation in the city instead of cars and hookers is not just his trademark. It also revives the idea that rap music echoes and visualises the attitude to life of the marginalised and discriminated against. In this respect, his new work “Drown im Traum” (2025) can also be seen as a contribution to a new generation of German hip-hop that won't swallow the fairy tales of a sick world in order to change it once and for all.