Aesthetics of the Anthropocene: an Analysis of Ger- Man Rap’S Critique on the Surveillance System of Time
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AESTHETICS OF THE ANTHROPOCENE: AN ANALYSIS OF GER- MAN RAP’S CRITIQUE ON THE SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM OF TIME. Dissertation submitted to Universidade Católica Portuguesa to obtain a Master’s Degree in Culture Studies (Specialization: Performance and Creativity) By Lukas Maximilian Friedrich Faculty of Human Sciences September 2019 AESTHETICS OF THE ANTHROPOCENE: AN ANALYSIS OF GERMAN RAP’S CRITIQUE ON THE SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM OF TIME. Dissertation submitted to Universidade Católica Portuguesa to obtain a Master’s Degree in Culture Studies (Specialization: Performance and Creativity) By Lukas Maximilian Friedrich Faculty of Human Sciences Under the supervision of Professor Joana Moura and Professor Peter Hanenberg September 2019 ABSTRACT Post-modernity is thought of as an era of contradictions. Mass media, the Web 3.0, and cor- porate governance cause an increasing level of insecurity regarding the validity of infor- mation. Furthermore, liberty is renamed into freedom to legitimize polluting and exploitive actions which appear altogether grounded on managerial interests. In Marcusian thought, this dissertation contributes to the function of the arts as means of knowledge production, while focusing on German rap as one of the most consumed forms of post-modern popular culture. The work at hand argues that to keep society under control, the metaphysical element of time has been gradually turned into a tool of surveillance. Drawing on Kutschera’s con- cept of aesthetics, a critical, textual analysis of eight contemporary German rap lyrics is conducted. The two-sided argumentation firstly focuses on a vertical time axis of post-in- dustrial society, in which time has become the object of a trade-off calculation between physical and digital control and one’s individual material wealth. The second part argues along a horizontal time axis. Physical control mechanisms have been in place since the days of imperialism, as the principles of colonialism moved through time and space to secure the current hegemony of Western nation-states. Hence, climate change and the refugee move- ments were caused and are fostered. The dissertation closes with a change of perspective, which is achieved through two affirmative rap lyrics. In turn, possible lines of further re- search are generated. Keywords: Rap – Aesthetics – Surveillance – Anthropocene – Capitalocene – Digitalization – Labor – Warfare II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing a thesis like this cannot be done without help. Therefore, I would like to take the chance to express my grateful appreciation to those, who contributed to the process of writ- ing the following work. Firstly, I need to thank my supervisors Professor Joana Moura and Professor Peter Hanenberg of Universidade Católica Portuguesa for the guidance through the complexity of the writing and the many, many useful suggestions, remarks, and critique throughout the entirety of the process. I thank Professor Moura for taking me on as her first student of hopefully many productive supervisions throughout her academic career and Professor Hanenberg for his willingness to assist as a co-supervisor. Furthermore, I express my thanks to Cristiana Robalo for the uncomplicated support in every bureaucratic issue and a special thanks goes to Clementina Santos, who invested a lot of time and effort to make sure that I would be given the opportunity to participate in an exchange semester with Pontifícia Universidade Católica in Rio de Janeiro, where this work was written. In that regard, I also like to include the staff of PUC-Rio, who made sure that the transition to Brazil was as smoothly as possible. I want to thank my parents, Gisela and Frank, for their unconditional support, although I certainly gave them more than enough reasons to lose their mind and faith. My brothers, Fabian and Philipp, who more than once sacrificed, so I could pursue the path, I aimed for. My grandparents for being the save haven if everything ran out of control. I want to thank my friends at home, especially Christian and Martin, who kept their patience and backed every move I made over the last four years, knowing that we would not be seeing each other a lot. Lastly my deep gratitude goes to my dear Roxana, who gives me a home away from home, took care of everything that I could focus on the writing, and edited this thesis. Finally, I need to express my appreciation to the artists, which are part of this work and everybody, who contributes to make Hip-Hop and Rap, besides all their contentions, such a fascinating realm. This work would not have been possible without you. Lukas Friedrich Lisbon, September 2019 III Table of Contents ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................ III Table of Contents ............................................................................................ IV Part I .................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework ................................................................. 12 2.1 The Object of Study and Methodology of Analysis ...................................................... 13 2.2 Formalism and Ausdruckstheorie – The Analytical Tools ............................................ 15 2.3 The Aesthetic Characteristics of Rap ............................................................................ 18 Part II ............................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 3 The Surveillance System of Acceleration ...................................... 22 3.1 Breaking-Up the Vertical Time-Continuum .................................................................. 22 3.1.1 The Neo-Liberal Paradigm as the Foundation of Surveillance .................................. 22 3.1.2 The Education Apparatus’ Failure of Preparation ...................................................... 26 3.1.3 The Constitution of the Workplace ............................................................................ 33 3.1.4 The Surveillance State 4.0 .......................................................................................... 44 3.2 The Break-Up of the Horizontal Time-Continuum ....................................................... 53 3.2.1 The History of the Commerce-Surveillance Apparatus ............................................. 53 3.2.2 Collateral Damage Part I: Society .............................................................................. 61 3.2.3 Collateral Damage Part II: Nature .............................................................................. 75 3.2.4 Rebuilding the Wall .................................................................................................... 82 Chapter 4: Conclusion ..................................................................................... 87 4.1 Review ........................................................................................................................... 87 4.2 Outlook .......................................................................................................................... 92 Bibliography .................................................................................................... 98 Appendix ....................................................................................................... 110 IV Part I Chapter 1: Introduction “Zeiten ändern dich Junge ob du willst oder nicht […] Also denk‘ an mich, wenn ich dir sag Zeiten ändern Sich1“ - Bushido Rumblings surged through the German media. Celebrities from all kinds of profession did not hold back their indignation. It was quite a shocker when back in November 2011 Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi, alias Bushido, was awarded a ‘Bambi2’ – for integration. The outrage among former awardees went so far that schlager singer Heino returned his trophy from 1990 to the awarding publishing house (Pittelkau, 2011). How could it happen that the rapper about whom “one must know that he created the nastiest lyrics in his career, in which women and gays were treated like waste3” (Hoff, 2011: n.p.), was given a price for every- thing his craft apparently disguises? While every major music prize contains categories like rap or urban music, the 2011 Bambi awards entered new territory, because for the first the previously relatively isolated category of rap, became directly linked to what would become Germany’s pre-eminent societal issue of the second half of this decade. About seven years later, in April 2018 the peculiar relationship of rap and award ceremonies hit another mile- stone, when Farid Hamed El Abdellaoui, alias Farid Bang, and Felix Blume, alias Kollegah, won the Echo4 in the category of Hip-Hop/Urban national. Their album contains conten- tious, antisemitic lyrics, for which the aftermath of the ceremony led to the Echo-Award being abandoned, with questions about artistic liberty starting to come about (Struzh, 2018). Rap music in Germany is no phenomenon of the new millennium, in fact “there has been rap in Germany for about thirty years5” (Wolbring, 2015: 21). Thereby, the adaptations of the American pioneers cannot be denied (Bennett, 1999; Dirke, 2004; Dietrich and Seel- inger, 2013; Wolbring, 2015). That is because “[hip hop] in Frankfurt,