Top Ten Songs from Apecrime's "Exit"
“Exit” is the second studio album by German hip hop trio ApeCrime, released in 2017.The album was a moderate success in Germany, peaking at number 17, which was significantly weaker than their 2014 debut “Affenbande”, which reached number 3.
Musically, the album is much less light hearted than its predecessor and featured very bleak yet melodious beats and raps. ApeCrime also croon throughout the album. The subgenre can be described as experimental trap or cloud rap. In comparison to the uplifting tone of “Affenbande”, “Exit” is much darker and more mature, often addressing the superficiality of the modern youth and their materialistic lifestyle.
The promotion of the album lead to a big backlash from fans and reviewers alike. ApeCrime became famous as a comedy trio on YouTube before making music, and were mostly associated with that output. On December 31st of 2016, they deleted all their videos and social media accounts for days, which lead to many rumors, including one of them having died. One week later, they uploaded the first music video off their new album along a statement that they wanted to be a full time music group from now on and end their YouTube career to be taken more seriously. After too much negative reaction they re-uploaded all of their comedy videos as well as some newly recorded material. There was also another statement in which they stated they met a fan who convinced them they could do both music and YouTube. This entire procedure was criticized so much because it didn’t feel very authentic and like a big promotional move.
It was also commented on how this promotion was a rip off: in 2015, Taddl and Ardy, now best known as the lead vocalists of the successful independent cyber hip hop trio Dat Adam, were known as YouTubers, but deleted all their videos in favor of a music career, waited a few months so their hype could stop and then released music as Dat Adam - to positive reviews and commercial success. There were a few differences: Taddl and Ardy actively did everything to prevent their YouTube success (Taddl was among the most subscribed channels of the country) to take over their music career. They did not immediately release their EP, their lyrics were aimed at an adult audience (not because of the language, but because of their intelligent and mature songwriting) im contrast to their young YouTubr audience, their work was never advertised with famous internet celebrities being in it, they entirely changed their looks and did neither re-upload their videos or record new ones ever again no matter how often people begged to. They even turned down a major label contract to have full creative control. In other words: it was completely authentic and believable that music is their major passion, and that’s why they became accepted, besides delivering quality content. Nowadays, Dat Adam is seen as a music group, not as a bunch of YouTubers. But with ApeCrime it felt extremely calculated. They surely also like making music and definitely put effort into their songs, but they never intended to stop YouTube, they just expected that they would be celebrated in the same way Dat Adam is. But it was simply too obvious that it was just a show, and many former fans felt tricked.
This was also the biggest reason “Exit” received negative reviews: much of the album deals with commercialism and superficiality, and the promotion of the record was mostly based around what they criticized. This was the center of attention around the album. Where Dat Adam truly managed to make some people think and actually stood for realness, ApeCrime’s “Exit” was seen as a purely commercial album and failed marketing campaign.
Since there are little professional reviews dealing with the album without bias, let me tell you my opinion: it is quite solid. And it gets better with each hearing. Their major musical inspiration is most likely Cro, next to Dat Adam, and those are great artists who managed to make it into the mainstream with an outstanding, extraordinary sound and deeply personal lyrics. I regard both artists as great, and ApeCrime have some of their traits but on a much smaller scale. They can rap, but still need to develop a gripping lyrical style. They are a bit too direct in their criticism and need more subtlety. But they can create an atmosphere, have a nice flow and perfectly interpolate monotonous indie-style singing into the music so it does neither overshadow the rapping nor feel unnecessary. Also, they got experienced producer Biztram who also produced for big music artists such as Casper and Prinz Pi for their beats. The fundament for a truly great album is there, but their lyrics need more care, and they need to find their own identity as musicians. Many other German YouTubers have tried making music as well, but the outcome was far worse, because they continued portraying their YouTube personas in their music (“I got famous through pranks” should never be something to brag about), but ApeCrime’s music is completely unrelated to their online fame, which makes them more likely than others to one day eventually establish themselves as musicians. For now, it’s a really decent hip hop album.
The Top Ten
1 Zombie
"Zombie", "Suckers" and "ISMA" are by far the most outstanding tracks of the album. Not only are the beats mind blowing, ApeCrime also manage to get their premises executed well. The three songs are actually far superior than the rest of the album.
2 Suckers
3 ISMA
4 On Off
5 Letzte Wolke
6 Stolz
7 Driften
8 Achterbahn
9 Yoda
10 Egal
The Contenders
11 Kanye Sagt
12 Träume
13 Birdane
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