MEGALOH - Schwarzer Lotus Tour 26

In the organizer's words:

"Among the Shaolin there is a style that belongs to the past and which is now mastered by one man in our entire country" - with this film snippet from an anachronistic kung fu movie, Megaloh introduces his new record "Black Lotus", which will be released in October 2025. Although Megaloh's martial art is not a physical one, his punches have been blasting like machine guns for over two decades. The Moabite with Nigerian-German-Dutch roots is a verbal assassin with a flawless reputation - a true MC. Megaloh has regularly lifted the German scene to the next level and relentlessly humiliated it in the same breath. He has always communicated his quarrels with the snake pit of the music business transparently - because he has a strong attitude, because he is constantly searching for meaning, because he is too honest to be a suitable pop star; and because he has understood rap for years as a martial art, challenge, culture and - incidentally - as his life.

Megaloh, that's "changing the flow, but not breaking a word". That's inimitable stage presence despite a modest attitude, that's tearing down the splash! mainstage with two broken arms. Megaloh, that's a schizophrenic pendulum ride between light-footed champion level and head-scratching thoughtfulness. It's a high degree of self-reflection - and in depressive phases, it's a self-preparation of songs. Megaloh, that's an eventful biography between red carpet and camp job; that's "Herb & Mango" and "Spätes Erwachen"; that's a bulging feature list that bundles names from Schmyt to Celo&Abdi, Joy Denalane to Gringo, Samy Deluxe to Majan and Luvre47 to Trettmann or Gentleman. Megaloh is also an artist who has never stopped growing, improving, reinventing himself - not least in the role of producer - swimming free and emancipating himself further and further from the industry. The best proof? His latest work "Black Lotus" - a remarkably stubborn, consistently challenging concept album that deliberately disregards current trends in the music market. If you want to understand it, you have to take your time - and understand "Schwarzer Lotus" as a self-contained work of art that doesn't pander to the singles charts or pop rap playlists.

To put it in context: "SchwarzerLotus" is Megaloh's fifth studio album - and the first in his career to be released on his own label Chinonso Records and based mainly on the productions of a certain Oga Beats. It means the world to him - because it is a monument to his independence and at the same time the result of a tough, grueling discovery phase. "Schwarzer Lotus " wouldn't be what it is if Megaloh hadn't been alone with himself for the most part at the beginning of 2024. And: "Schwarzer Lotus" would not sound the way it does if his search for inspiration on the production side had not driven him deeper into the Golden Era bit by bit. Experiments with soul samples and warm drum sounds were followed by a Megaloh-typical vision: producing and rapping an album himself that largely consists of drumless beats. The most important source of inspiration? Megaloh's childhood heroes RZA and Ghostface Killah from the Wu-Tang Clan, who were already rapping drumless soundscapes in the mid-nineties.

If you listen carefully to "Schwarzer Lotus", you will sense that it is not least an album that has become a promise. A promise to maintain integrity regardless of success. A promise never to give up again. A promise that the dance will never end - and that every failure will be followed by moving on and getting better.

Megaloh has kept this promise time and again throughout his career. It has seen him grow from an underground talent from Moabit to a seasoned "Live MC", from a seasoned "Live MC" to your favorite rapper's favorite rapper, to a scene heavyweight, to a family provider, to a self-sufficient all-round artist. Time jump: Megaloh's first solo album "Endlich Unendlich" made it into the top 10 of the German album charts in 2013, and its classic follow-up - "Regenmacher" - even reached number two. Instead of pushing for quick success, Megaloh released the political concept album "Platz an der Sonne" with Musa and Ghanaian Stallion in 2017. The "HOTBOX" EP was followed by the "21" LP during the pandemic - at the same time, Megaloh began to get his producer alias Oga Beats in shape. In 2022, "Drei Kreuze " marked the end of a chapter that had lasted since 2011 and the biggest break in Megaloh's career to date - it was the last album to be released under the major contract constellation created by the Nesola deal. Instead of throwing in the towel, Megaloh - true to the motto "becoming independent is a major step" - then reinvented himself. He founded his own label, Chinonso Records , and returned in July 2023 with the self-produced EP "AFROV1BES". This was followed a few months later by the successful venture "Megaloh und das Deutsche Filmorchester Babelsberg LIVE", which was consequently immortalized on vinyl .

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