closer to my own city (Basel/Switzerland) are KOKA, Psycomatic's
King Ov Kingz Armee (army), composed of mainly MCs from the south of
Germany, especially from Baden. Inspired by the dirty south movement
as well as horrorcore rap a la Esham and with some metal and
medieval style music in the mix, Psycomatic and his crew have
everything to offer from a diss track to a track dedicated to his
late grandfather.


the compilation double cd UNIVERSAL SOULJAHZ also features MCs,
singers and crews not only from Germany, but also from the US -
including David Banner and South Park Coalition, who are also
featured on P-matic's second album, "Im Angezicht des Bözen" (he
often substitutes the letter S with Z, not unlike many US MCs), as
well as US KOKA member Mista MC from San Diego. On the compilation
KOKAin DIZZ BIAAATCH, rapper Str8 Outta Control from Norway is
representing for KOKA.

If you're not into that kind of hip hop (ie, dirty south, midwest,
west coast/gangster), then you'll probably find something on the OG
ALLSTARS & FRIENDS compilation. OG in fact doesn't stand for
ORIGINAL GANGSTER, but for the city of Offenburg. The CD features
both KOKA MCs from Offenburg as well as boom bap style hip hop from
Offenburg, for example "wollt ihr noch" by 365 crew (commin with a
ragga twist), "Italia-Germanya" by Claudio ft Le iene & One Mic from
Turin/Italy and the dope "Streethop" by P-Vers, sampling from the
opera William Tell by Rossini.

And speaking of the country of the idioma gentile (the gentle
idiom): in the north of Italy, close to Venice, there are a crew of
MCs and producers who are - like Sa Razza/Malos Cantores and La
Fossa from Sardinia - fascinated by Chicano Rap: Continuorilasso is
their name, and their new trilingual album "no hablar con extraños"
features many guest appearances by the Chicano rapperos from 805
Underworld crew... as well as Hispano-French MC Flendo from
Strasbourg (also very close to my hometown) and Sardinia's La Fossa
and Françoise, a singer who appeared on their earlier
effort "Soultanto attimi". Their first two albums are actually just
as good as their new CD, with more R&B and electronica influences
while staying 100% hip hop.