XOXO (album)

XOXO
Studio album by Casper
Publication (s)	July 8, 2011
Label (s)	Four Music ( Sony Music )
Format (s)	CD , vinyl , download
Genre (s)	Rap-rock , hip-hop
Title (number)	13
running time	48:22 min.
production	Steddy Dexter Tikay One Biztram Joshimixu Dash
Studio (s)	Beatlefield Studio
chronology Towards the Sun (2008) XOXO Hinterland (2013)

XOXO is the second studio album by the German rapper Casper . It was released on July 8, 2011 on the Four Music label . XOXO entered the German album charts at number one in the first week of sales , which is also Casper's first position in the charts. The album was awarded triple gold status for over 300,000 copies sold.

background

Almost three years after his debut album Hin zur Sonne and his move to the Düsseldorf label Selfmade Records, Casper announced his second solo album for autumn 2009. The release was postponed until the release date of XOXO on July 8th, 2011. In the meantime, the second album was almost finished, but was then discarded again because he didn't like the songs. The album was only finished after Caspers moved to the capital Berlin and switched to the Four Music label.

For Casper, XOXO is a summary of his musical influences. According to his own statement, a set of rules was drawn up during the production phase, according to which the pieces contained were designed. Neither cliché elements from rap nor compositions with crossover references were allowed.

“We had a lot of little notes hanging in the studio. Rule 1: 'Crossover is the enemy'. Anything that even remotely resembled a crossover was immediately thrown away. Rule 2: 'How comparisons are prohibited'. We wanted to completely remove this rapism. "

- Casper : in an interview in July 2011 on juice.de

Track list

1. The pressure rises (The Forgotten Pt. 1) - 3:30
2. Seeing Blood (The Forgotten Pt. 2) - 3:18
3. Up and away - 3:43
4. XOXO (with Thees Uhlmann ) - 4:03
5. Michael X - 5:00
6. Alaska - 4:37
7. The Grizzly Song - 4:02
8. So perfect (with Marteria ) - 3:41
9. The last corridor in town - 2:52
10. 230409 - 3:56
11. Purple Blue - 3:28
12. Arlen Griffey (Prelude) - 0:58
13. Control / Sleep - 5:21
14. So perfect ( Drunken Masters Remix exclusively at Amazon.de) - 4:50

reception

Chart placements

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	1 (53 weeks)	53
Austria (Ö3)	14th (12 weeks)	12
Switzerland (IFPI)	30th (5 weeks)	5

criticism

Professional reviews
source	rating
Rolling Stone
The gap
According to
Disk tests
CD starts
Music Express
Juice

Klaus Buchholz from The Gap writes: "With his second album" XOXO ", Casper explores the added value of hip-hop. His impressive self-realization between the genres is a great gesture of German pop music."

Lisa Wörner from laut.de rated the album with five out of five stars and praised it as a “lyrical and musical explosion”. The album is very personal and Casper's voice burns in his head and heart.

Tobias Nolte writes in the taz :

" XOXO is the result of a positive dialectic of hip-hop and hardcore, destruction and renewal, laughing and crying, leaving behind and finding again, love and anger, depression and hope, everything flows into one another."

- Tobias Nolte, taz

During that time , Thomas Winkler wrote:

" XOXO is actually a liberation that opens up new regions for chanting by consistently ignoring old camp thinking."

- Thomas Winkler, Die Zeit

Web links

• Casper's website
• Interview of the Süddeutsche Zeitung with Casper

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Casper Interview (JUICE cover story # 137). JUICE MAGAZINE - HipHop since 1997 -, accessed on November 17, 2011 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT CH
3. ↑ [1]
4. ↑ [2]
5. ↑ [3]
6. ↑ [4]
7. ↑ [5]
8. ↑ [6]
9. ↑ Klaus Buchholz: Self-realization with added value on The Gap
10. ↑ Lisa Wörner: Pathos and megalomania among youth ignite the lyric bomb. In: laut.de . Retrieved July 28, 2011 . 
11. ↑ Article in the taz
12. ↑ Article in the time