The Loudest Voice from Neukölln Goes Solo

SXTN was two women from Berlin making the kind of rap that gets played at 2 AM when everyone’s too drunk to argue about the playlist. Juju and Nura built their whole thing on the street—on parties, on Döner at four in the morning—and their songs sounded exactly like that: raw, funny, occasionally disgusting, and completely honest about what being young and broke and alive in Berlin actually feels like. For a few years they were the voice of a generation that didn’t want a voice, which is exactly why it worked.

They’ve split to pursue solo projects now, and Juju—born Judith Wessendorf, from Neukölln, the part of Berlin that doesn’t show up in travel pieces—is going first. Her solo album Bling Bling is due May 31st, and she’s not modest about it: People won’t say: that’s female rap in German—they’ll say: this album destroyed everything. With her big mouth and asocial lyrics she’s already shown a generation of young women that German hip-hop’s boys’ club is something you walk into, not around. The gold records on her wall back it up: Von Party zu Party, Bongzimmer, Fotzen im Club from the SXTN years, and the number-one hit Melodien with Capital Bra since she’s been on her own.

The first single from Bling Bling is called Hardcore High, and it sounds like a statement of intent—not a gentle pivot, not a rebrand, just Juju at higher voltage. She’s announced a tour to go with it. I don’t doubt her for a second.