Top Ten Songs from Kollegah's & Farid Bang's "Jung Brutal Gutaussehend 3"

(The album was released on December 1st, 2017. It’s December 11th as I write this, so certifications, chart positions and similar information might change in the future. For example, the Austrian and Swiss sales and chart positions haven’t been officially revealed yet.)

“Jung brutal gutaussehend 3”, often shortened to “JBG3”, is a 2017 studio album by German rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang. It is their third collaboration album, the first two installments were released in 2009 and 2013.

The album topped the German charts and was certified gold more than a week before its release. It received mostly positive critical reviews. It was universally regarded as the best installment of the series, mostly because Farid Bang and Kollegah are equally great in terms of lyricism, charisma and flow, while on the first two albums it was felt that Kollegah steals the show. The popular opinion was even more euphoric, and the album was insanely hyped months before its release. Every little announcement and interview went viral and was talked about, and when the album was finally released, it was praised by the public. Like most other German rappers in the 2010s, Kollegah and Farid Bang released a big deluxe box of the album. It is made of steel and velvet and consists of the main album, an EP (again, these two discs came in a separate steelbox with velvet), a CD with instrumentals, two DVDs, a tanktop, stickers, gloves and a poster. There was also a code you have to enter to take part in a raffle where four people can win a car or a watch. Let’s see if I’ll win. The box received positive reviews for its high quality content and was sold out before the release date.

Lyrically, “Jung brutal gutaussehend 3” consists exclusively of battle rap and hardcore hip hop. The tone is highly aggressive throughout and the lyrics are exceptionally violent (like its predecessors, it will mostly likely be indexed). There is an high amount of clever word play including homophones by both artists, as well as almost constant multisyllabic rhyming. It contains a higher amount of doubletime rapping as usual for the two artists. There are also references to their previous works and what impact they had on German hip hop since their initial release. The album is furthermore noteworthy for its excessive dissing against many big names, mostly German hip hop artists. While chart topping rappers such as Sido or SpongeBozz, as well as other trending artists such as Sierra Kidd or Bibi H. are targets, the most aggressive and extensive attacks are aimed at rappers of the ersguterjunge label, such as Ali Bumaye, Shindy, Laas Unltd. and Germany’s most successful hip hop artist Bushido. This was a very bold move due to the fact that the label has ties to the Mafia-like Abou Chaker Clan. Overall, 46 celebrities have been dissed on the album, many of them several times. Even though trap hip hop is panned in several lines, Fler, who established the trend in Germany and was once one of Kollegah’s biggest enemies, is not mentioned on the album, as their feud ended in 2017 when Farid Bang became friends with him. Interestingly, Kay One, a rapper that has become unpopular in the hip hop community due to his poppy sound and a feud with Bushido, is mentioned positively on the album.

Musically, the album is based around very heavy and overproduced beats. It often uses hard, stomping drum kits and orchestra and choir samples. Neither the album nor the bonus EP contain any featured artists. A variety of producers worked on the beats.

Three singles were released from the album so far: “Sturmmaske auf (Intro)”, “Gamechanger” and “Ave Maria”. The first one topped the German charts, the other two peaked at number 6 and 5, respectively. Even though not released as singles, the songs “Rap wieder Rap” and “Es wird Zeit” entered the German top ten at number and 7 and 8. All songs of the album entered the German Top 40 (Note: Germans prefer physical album purchases, but singles are usually downloaded, and so it was possible for non-single songs to enter the charts this highly). For both rappers, it is by far the album with the most successful songs to date. Farid Bang never entered the German top ten before with a song, and Kollegah’s only previous top ten hit was 2014’s “King” which peaked at number 10. Both had other chart topping albums though.

The Top Ten

1 Sturmmaske auf (Intro)

Both the intro and outro are full songs. Their build up is more epic than the rest, so they kind of frame the album by starting and ending very soundtrack-ish.

Congratulations to Germany's best rapper (Kolle) and another great rapper (Farid) for their first number one hit. Very well deserved.

2 Jung Brutal Gutaussehend 2017