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“SO RAUS": Alligatoah presents brilliant feature with Fred Durst.

There is still no sign of Alligatoah. Nevertheless, a new single was released yesterday, Sunday, which makes his “last wish” a reality: A feature with world star Fred Durst. “SO RAUS” is an ode to falling out of time and surprises with its crossover attitude.

Alligatoah's fanbase has to prove that they have nerves of steel these days. Less than two weeks ago, at the end of his sold-out final tour concert in Cologne's LANXESS arena, their idol disappeared behind a large curtain with the words “Gern geschehn - Alligatoah 1989 - 2023” printed on it. On the same evening, all entries on Alligatoah's social media profiles went out - apart from a single post with the caption “FIN”, which referred to a newly released orchestral version of the song “Trauerfeier Lied”. The words “Alligatoah was a German-speaking musician (1989 -2023)” in the bio box of his Instagram account only seemed to add to the evidence of a possible end to his career. The result? A huge media response, exploding comment columns and an almost unmanageable flood of touching expressions of grief.

The tears of despair had just dried when Alligatoah's followers were sent on the next emotional rollercoaster ride. Yesterday, Sunday, a video appeared on the official Alligatoah YouTube channel, the content of which is likely to get the rumor mill churning again. It shows: A heartbroken BattleBoi Basti, who, touched, rummages through the legacy of his long-time companion and comes across a list entitled “Alligatoah's last wishes”. There is only one note on it: “Fred Durst Feature”. The BattleBoi promptly fires up his computer and generates a song with the help of state-of-the-art AI software - and it actually sounds like the result of a joint studio session between Alligatoah and Fred Durst. But that's not all: in the back of the video, BattleBoi Basti makes a second discovery by chance. He finds authentic footage on a data carrier showing Alligatoah with Fred Durst - in a studio room.

It's true: Alligatoah fulfilled a lifelong dream this summer and recorded a feature song with Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst - “SO RAUS”. As a music-creating member of Generation Y, Lukas Strobel has been a Fred Durst ultra since his tent camp days, zeitgeist or not. Speaking of zeitgeist: Alligatoah is basically more indifferent to it than ever ... And that brings us to the topic that “SO RAUS” lyrically circles around in a self-ironic manner. The piece is a solemn, tongue-in-cheek statement against the fashions of the fast-paced present - and at the same time the insight, cast in music, that the world has obviously moved on too fast to even begin to keep up. With the line “It's only a moment that separates me from the trend”, Alligatoah summed up this dilemma precisely in the summer of 2023. The good news: he seems to be able to live with it. Instead of panting after current trends, Alligatoah describes how he turns up the volume on his heroes' old albums in an act of stubborn nostalgia.

The old heroes themselves seem to be doing exactly the same, at least in the person of Fred Durst, who has also voluntarily bid farewell to the pulse of the times. In a surprisingly conciliatory, ironic tone, he sends lines à la “Ain't nobody gonna know why, and I won't explain” out into the world. In keeping with the theme of the song and the notorious work of the celebrity guest, “SO RAUS” surprises with its crossover attitude. Heavy metal borrowings and hip-hop elements merge into a hammering instrumentation with tons of heavy breakdowns. Alligatoah's penchant for howling hard rock guitars and clattering blast beats is no longer a secret, at the latest after his celebrated appearances at the Wacken Open Air and several stylistically confident reinterpretations of his own songs in a metal-esque guise. Nevertheless, “SO RAUS” is likely to astonish fans and critics alike with its heaviness. It is further proof of the enormous artistic and musical flexibility of the still-lost rapper, singer, guitarist and producer Alligatoah.