The track by Berlin rapper Quio (“Qu for quatsch, I for Eisbein, O for Otto-Motor”) tells of national belonging, cultural representations and essentialist notions of “German” culture – and of how crumbling it all is. In addition to Quio, African-American author Darius James, Finnish-born artist Kaisa Kemikoski and German musician Antye Greie serve as producers for this multi-track, 03:40min twisting machine:
I ve just come home to berlin
my head spins like I m hurling off a Walther slingshot
MY GOD WALTHER!
My German soul seems unessential – its depressing
(…)
My cultural disconnection? A permanent infection
My heritage? My image? I threw it in the sewage
The track was released on Quio’s album
Phiu
from the year 2007. Music sociologist Johannes Ismaiel-Wendt writes about bratwurst in his study tracks’n’treks :
“The breaks, broken beats, the collapsing bass sound, the speech difficulties and the sound snippets offered in ‘Bratwurst’ – all this expresses skepticism about stability and security. The instituted ‘German soul’ is presented, made available, and at the same time it is dissolved into stuttered-together, heterogeneous scraps. (…) Despite the destructive influences, the very meaningful, productive track emerges.”