Marcel Winatschek

The Backyard King of Neukölln Has Assessed You and Found You Lacking

Karate Andi calls himself the boss of the backyard, and the man has opinions about Berlin geography. Friedrichshain: for pussies. Mitte: for failures. Kreuzberg: for hipsters. Neukölln: your new ruler, your new overlord, accept it and move on.

He’s already thrown a handful of sorry challengers off the stage at Rap am Mittwoch, Berlin’s weekly rap battle night, and his whole identity is built around two fingers held tight against his face at all times—both signature and, presumably, the weapon he uses to defeat his various high school groupies by the end of the evening. The logic is unclear but the commitment is total. Likeable guy, likeable district, likeable backyard king.