Single-handedly (album)

Single-handedly
Studio album by Shiml
Publication (s)	2009
Label (s)	Self-made records
Format (s)	CD
Genre (s)	German hip-hop
Title (number)	16
running time	59:59
production	Alper, Mauvais Garcon, Shiml u. a.
Studio (s)	Selfmade Studio (Düsseldorf)
chronology Beyond the Horizon (2006) Single-handedly Generation Zero (2010)

Single-handedly is the second solo album by the Bremen rapper Shiml . It was released on January 30th, 2009 on the Düsseldorf label Selfmade Records . The songs on the album can be assigned to German-language hip-hop music. Most of the titles, which thematically deal with problems of everyday life, are presented in a melancholy way. The musician Alper was responsible for most of the production. Alone was ranked at 86th place as the first publication Shimls in the German charts.

Background and origin

Shiml, whose real name is Jan Viohl, signed a contract with the independent label Selfmade Records at the end of 2005 and shortly afterwards released the album Hinterm Horizont . This was followed by numerous concerts with the rapper MontanaMax , and in 2007 the publication of the sampler Chronik 1 , whose songs were contributed by the rappers Kollegah , Favorite , Slick One and Shiml. Apart from Chronicle 1 , there was no further publication of the Bremer. Nevertheless, Shiml states that he recorded around forty pieces in the two years before the completion of his second album.

In addition to his work as a rapper, Viohl began training and studying advertising and communication in Bremen after his first album was released. This is important to him because he feels more secure with a degree and, in the event of failure as a musician, there are further career opportunities. Viohl also works for an advertising agency in Bremen.

The majority of the recordings for In Single Entry were made in the period from June to December 2008. Shiml's work in the advertising agency meant that time was limited, so that many of the pieces were only completed during the night. The release of the album was celebrated on January 30th as part of a so-called "release party", at which Shiml, MontanaMax and Favorite performed, among others, in the magazine cellar in Bremen.

content

Track list

#	title	producer	length
1.	first act	Alper	3:15
2.	Can you see him	Mauvais Garcon	3:40
3.	March Music (feat.Montana Max )	Alper	4:25
4th	Single-handedly	Alper	3:47
5.	3000 watts	7 inches	4:04
6th	time lapse	7 inches	3:46
7th	I rule it (feat. Casper )	Mauvais Garcon	3:05
8th.	Trueman show	Alper	4:10
9.	Bumfight	Awe	3:42
10.	you want more	Shiml	4:06
11.	panic	Mauvais Garcon	3:21
12.	Step by step	Alper	3:49
13.	Weeping Clown ( feat.Tua )	Alper	4:33
14th	tequila	Bjet	3:57
15th	Credits	Alper	3:58
16.	Outro	Rizbo	2:14

Texts

Shiml presents his texts as spoken chants in the form of a rap . The lyrics are made up of stanzas and a hookline , a characteristic melody phrase for a piece of music, similar to the chorus . Numerous texts on the album are shaped by the private problems and negative experiences of Shiml's circle of friends. As a result, the general mood of most of the songs is negative. The daily work that Jan Viohl does in addition to his work as a musician and the associated lack of time have also been reflected, for example in the text of the title Zeitraffer . Furthermore, according to Shiml, there are some pieces without content that can be assigned to the style of battle rap , on In Single Handed .

Can you see him deals with the desire to become a successful musician and perform on stage. Shiml gives his career by reporting about himself in the third person.

The titles 3000 Watt , Bumfight and Panik fall out of the scope, as they can be assigned to the above-mentioned variant of the battle rape. The rapper presenting himself in these titles is very positive and verbally attacks imaginary opponents. Shiml was encouraged, among other things, by his environment to add some battle rap pieces to the album. He also sees this style as a musical facet that runs through his work, as earlier publications by the Bremen artist were also influenced by battle rap.

Shiml

The song Zeitraffer deals with the topics of work and everyday life. As the narrator, Shiml describes excerpts from a man's day and his thoughts. The person's life is mainly characterized by monotony: “He walks in his office door, he endures this smell here 60 hours a week. And it doesn't stop, he sits down. Pension, he waits until he turns 60. " The nameless person suffers from his own aimlessness: " Now he is there, in a suit, where is the time? People came and went, but what he does not understand is why the colorful in his heart became grayer, why he lives sadly without a goal with deaf ears. ” A characteristic of the piece is that Shiml reproduces the perspective that the narrator takes: "Melancholy scene, rows of houses, perspective from behind, he is walking home right now, panning his eyes to the side, harmony, he is on his own." Shiml needed less than two hours to produce the time-lapse text . The title is one of the personal favorite pieces of the rapper Im Alone .

The title Truemanshow is a reference to the film The Truman Show, which starred Jim Carrey . At the beginning of the piece, an excerpt from the film is played. Shiml states that in the song, as in Weeping Clown , he deals with the "dark side of being known". He describes excessive alcohol consumption and the behavior of fans who visit him at home or send messages on the Internet. In his “Truemanshow” Shiml is, according to the text, “an extra and leading actor at the same time” . Despite the negative portrayal of the life of someone in public, Shiml emphasizes the urge to exist as a musician: “ No criticism from me, I don't hate it, I love it. But love is a sour apple that you eat up to style. And I grab it, satisfy my hunger and want more, always in with it, I throw up, come follow me! "

The title Tequila can be assigned to the genre of storytelling . Shiml describes his experiences at parties with regard to alcohol consumption and women. After he has slept with the woman, he waits until she falls asleep and then leaves again. In the hookline , the sequence of an evening is briefly reproduced: “ I never met her again, never saw her again, filled her with tequila last evening at the bar . She has her eyes closed, but I have to go on, I'm sorry. It was a good time, but tonight you sleep alone. “The first stanza describes the rapper's experiences on“ Monday ”, the second stanza deals with the day before and the last stanza deals with the musician in the present. Shiml is playing a concert in Bremen and meets the woman he slept with the day before. She introduces him to her friend, whom he identifies as Monday's woman. The song ends with Shiml being beaten up by the woman he met on Monday: “I can still see her fist and then I hit her again, I saw her again, fell to the ground after a well-aimed blow on my jaw . ” Tequila was created on the same evening as Time Lapse . According to Viohl, this shows that hip-hop musicians are able to switch between different moods in a short time.

Guest Posts

Shiml collaborated with the German rappers Tua , MontanaMax and Casper for his second solo album . MontanaMax, with whom he had already released the joint album Nach uns der Rest in 2005, was involved in the recording process for On It alone , as he is also a long-time friend of Shiml. The native of Bremen had also previously worked with Casper, who was involved in the creation of the song I rule that . The contact with Tua, whom Shiml had met at a festival in Hanover, was only marginal. He was asked for a guest post because the rapper appreciates Tua's music.

In interviews, Shiml states that he would only like to have a few guest rappers represented on his albums, whose pieces often deal with the music's personality. During the recording, songs were also created with the other artists of the Selfmade Records label , but these were not selected for In Solo , as the Bremen native wanted to use the contributions of Tua, MontanaMax and Casper for his second album due to his personal preference.

production

The texts presented by Shiml are underlaid with beats, the musical background typical of hip-hop , which were contributed by various hip-hop producers. When choosing the producers for the album, it was important to Shiml that he knew the musicians' work and that there was a physical proximity to them. Alper, a hip-hop musician who comes from the same Bremen district as Shiml, produced a large part of Im Solo . Act One , marching , single-handedly , Truemanshow , step by step , Weeping Clown and credits are the pieces that are attributable to the Alper. Shiml also used numerous Alper beats because, from his point of view, they create a “mood” and “atmosphere” that are rare in hip-hop music.

Mauvais Garcon contributed three productions to the sound carrier with Can you see him , I'll fix it and Panik . Furthermore, time lapse and 3000 watts were produced by 7Inch, Bumfight by Awe and Tequila by Bjet. Shiml, who has also produced some of his pieces himself since he started working as a musician, was responsible for the background music for the title You want more . In interviews, he stated that this song was one of the titles he personally liked best, as the recording process reminded him of the beginning of his career as a hip-hop musician.

In contrast to the albums Anarcho des Rappers Favorite and Kollegah by Kollegah , which were released in 2008 via Selfmade Records , the producer Rizbo , apart from the outro , has no participation in Shiml's album. The man from Bremen states that although he received good beats from Rizbo, these did not fit into the concept he had in mind. However Shiml highlights the lack of involvement Rizbos out to be advantageous, since single-handedly thus more of the previous releases of Self Made Records , which had been mainly produced by Rizbo, differs. Rizbo states that his beats are primarily intended to create a positive feeling in the listener and that melancholy, deep beats are not his style.

illustration

On the cover, Shiml's head can be seen against a black background. The man from Bremen wears a hood and only a section of his face, which includes the eyes and part of the nose, is recognizable. The booklet shows a number of photos depicting the rapper and, with the exception of the titles Marschmusik , Ich Regel das and Weeping Clown , the lyrics of the pieces.

The photos of the booklet, which also serve as press photos, were shot by Lars Henning Schröder. Subsequently, the processing of the photos and the design of the artwork was taken over by Jacob "D139" Roschinski. He had previously designed the covers of the albums Kollegah and Schläge for Hip Hop .

marketing

Video shoot for the title Can you see him

On December 18, 2008, the song 3000 Watts was released as the first audio sample from the album. The title, known as the “pre-single”, can be downloaded free of charge. Another piece that was posted for free is Bad Outlook . This appeared exclusively on the Hip-Hop.de website. In addition, a snippet was published in which the title of the album is alluded to.

The piece Can you see him was implemented as a video. It was created under the direction of the media agency Famefabrik and was shot in a former indoor swimming pool in Heidelberg . In addition to Shiml, a boy appears in the video who is supposed to represent Shiml as a child and is played by Jan Viohl's cousin. Shiml states that he originally wanted to shoot a video for the title Time Lapse . For this he had also thought about camera settings. Can you see it wasn't recorded at the time.

Customers who ordered the album on the Mzee.com website also received a free T-shirt.

reception

Charts

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Single-handedly   DE 86 02/16/2009 (1 week)

Going it alone is the first publication Shimls that could get into the charts. The album was in the eighth calendar week of 2009 position 86 on the album charts. Elvir Omerbegovic , who runs the Düsseldorf label, later stated that the album had sold well in terms of expectations. Shiml is not a polarizing artist and, due to his three-year absence from music, he was unable to trigger any hype , so the label considers the placement in the charts and the sales of the album a success.

criticism

The album was received mainly through media that deal primarily with hip-hop music. Outside of this framework, Im Solo received little attention from critics. The editors who wrote reviews received Shiml's album very differently, which becomes clear when comparing the reviews from the e-zine Laut.de , the website Rap.de and the hip-hop magazines Backspin and Juice . While the editorial team of Juice awards the album four out of a possible six "crowns" and praises Shiml showing "his best side", Rap.de criticizes that the rapper is a "normal boy" and therefore "not interesting enough." According to Laut.de editor Dani Fromm, the musician's lyrics generate “powerful images” and the editorial team at Backspin also underlines the “stories rich in images that clearly represent his view of things”. In the review of the Juice it is pointed out that Shiml deals with various topics without appearing “artificial”. In contrast, Rap.de criticizes the insignificance of the texts, which makes the listener tired. Furthermore, the statements are "vague and phrase-rich."

Shiml received four out of a possible five evaluation points from Laut.de, with the atmosphere of the pieces being highlighted as a particular strength of the rapper. The title Zeitraffer, for example, creates a frightening effect through the description of “creepy monotony of uninspired everyday life”. The Juice praises the "pleasant, unspectacular life circumstance Description" of the text. Against this is the Rap.de editorial team, which considers Shiml's intention to present the monotony of everyday life to be understandable, but emphasizes that this is not enough "to sweep listeners away".

According to Juice criticism, the pieces Weeping Clown and Step by Step appear “bulky due to their confused content”. The pieces Panik and 3000 Watt are also rated rather negatively for lack of irony. Rap.de accuses Shiml of disbelief in the case of tequila and songs that can be assigned to battle rap, as he is “not a macho” and if he tries to do so, as in the examples mentioned, the listener does not buy the result from him. Furthermore, you want more is dismissed as a "hideous number", whereas the juice evaluates the song positively.

Most of the beats on the album are rated positively. Dani Fromm praises the "harmonious instrumentation" and the juice emphasizes the versatility of the beats, whereas Rap.de describes the instrumentals as annoying, but acceptable. Shiml's rap technique is also only “average”. The Juice editorial team, on the other hand, praised the musician's "lightning-fast, precise flow". Overall, according to Backspin , the album is too “difficult to digest” to give Shiml a media presence similar to Favorite or Kollegah. In a final conclusion, the Juice states that Shiml shows himself "as an intelligent, innovative copywriter who actually does not need the usual display behavior."

Leaderboard

The editors of Laut.de voted Ein Einzelhandlung at number 5 of the best hip-hop albums of 2009. This makes Shiml the only German rapper who is among the five best albums. In another list of the 20 best hip-hop songs of the year, Shiml's title 3,000 watts was selected at position 5.

Web links

• Homepage of Selfmade Records

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Laut.de: Shiml - "People just hate each other"
2. ↑ January-February issue of Juice (2009) - page 33
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Mzee.com: Shiml in an interview - “Single-handedly” (page 1) ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ 16bars.de: Shiml - “Alone Entry” release party ( memento of the original from January 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Rap.de: Criticism of In Single Entry ( Memento of the original dated February 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Laut.de: Biography of Shiml
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Booklet of the album
8. ↑ ^{a b} Hip-Hop.de: Shiml - The Interview ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ Interview with Rizbo ( Memento of the original from October 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ Blog on Going it alone - page 3
11. ↑ Hip-Hop.de: Schlechte Aussicht ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ↑ Mzee.com: Snippet for “ Going it alone ”  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ↑ Mzee.com: Video for Can you see it  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
14. ↑ Blog on Going It alone - Page 1
15. ↑ Mzee.com: Shiml “Alone” / Snippet + Video ( Memento of the original from January 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
16. ↑ Charts DE
17. ↑ Musicline.de: Chart tracking from Im Ein Einzelingang ( Memento of the original from November 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
18. ↑ Hip-Hop.de: Das Große Chronik 2-Interview - Selfmade Records in Conversation - Page 4 ( Memento of the original from April 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
19. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} 116th edition of Juice (March 2009) - page 111
20. ↑ ^{a b c} Laut.de: Assessment of in single-handedly
21. ↑ ^{a b} 100th edition of Backspin (March 2009) - page 110
22. ↑ Laut.de: Hip-Hop-Charts 2009 - The best albums - Places 5 - 1 ( Memento from December 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
23. ↑ Laut.de: Hip-Hop-Charts 2009 - The best songs ( Memento from January 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive )