Taby Pilgrim

In the organizer's words:

The Essen-based rapper, dubbing artist, sound designer and producer Taby Pilgrim is known above all for her clever, humorous lyrics and the outstanding use of her unmistakable voice. In 2024, however, she takes a plunge into the deep end with her second album "Nest": on eleven songs, most of which she produced herself, she takes her listeners inside her head and impressively presents the parasite that has taken up residence there. Emotional outbursts between hypomania and depression open up a broad spectrum of feelings that hardly fit into a single category thanks to equally contrasting sounds. Taby speaks more honestly than ever before about self-doubt but also exaggerated self-confidence, her position as a woman in the music industry and society as well as the will to better understand herself and her own diagnosis - and incidentally sets new standards for approachable and authentic German rap with a knack for captivating soundscapes.

As the daughter of a pianist and an author of children's musicals, Taby grew up in a household that gave her the opportunity to realize herself creatively from an early age. She first presented her skills as a rapper to the internet around 10 years ago, launching her career as a musician: her viral YouTube video, a cover song medley by rapper Alligatoah, now has almost 2 million views. More covers, medleys and original songs followed. At the end of her first career chapter, the rapper, already celebrated thousands of times at the time, celebrates with her first fully produced song: "Hauptsache Content" (2019) is an ode to the exaggerated fangirl image that Taby has embodied in her music up to this point and also marks the start of a new era. Around four months after her first single, Taby Pilgrim announces her debut album "Pilgrimage". During her master's degree in film production and sound design in London, she created an album that she humorously describes as a "self-produced 'German' 'rap' 'album' recorded in a student hall of residence with bought beats and uninspired lyrics full of bad puns". In truth, she performs clever lines that are representative of the humour of a youth socialized on the internet, with more skill and charm than many of her scene colleagues (deliberately not gendered), who have been flexing their supposed rap technique skills for decades. Around 100,000 monthly listeners have come to appreciate this and German rappers are also

German rappers are no longer looking the other way. Feature tracks with MC Smook, The toten Crackhuren im Kofferraum, Peat, Thizzy, Kora Winter, Bluthund and CONNY, for example, as well as a joint project with Cologne rapper Liser ensure a steady output that keeps the rapper in the conversation. As the pandemic subsides, live shows are also playing an increasingly important role in Taby's career: as a support act on tours by Juse Ju, Fatoni & Edgar Wasser and Peat as well as at various festivals, including FUSION, and solo shows, Taby Pilgrim is proving that she can also live up to her excellent reputation in real life despite her roots on the internet.

As successful as the live business is, at some point Taby is drawn back to the home studio, where she produces her second album "Nest" herself. The driving force behind "Nest": the diagnosis of bipolarity. During the album process, Taby finds herself deeper in therapy than ever before, automatically making the album part of this therapy. The leitmotif of the parasite acts as a symbol for the diagnosis. Whether on artwork, music videos, in lyrics or in musical stylistic devices - the vermin accompanies Taby throughout the album. "My head is its nest and it lives there and chews on the walls, but somehow it also belongs to me and is at home there". However, "Nest" is not a cry for pity, but a differentiated examination of old thoughts and stories that Taby has rediscovered in recent years and is now working through. Hypomanic phases and depressive episodes are juxtaposed not only lyrically but also musically, so that each symptom has its own place in a song. Rap songs with experimental influences that tell stories of overconfidence and self-awareness stand in direct contrast to calm songs about self-doubt and fears. The stylistic cut in the middle of the album is nothing less than an authentic representation of Taby's innermost feelings. For "Nest", Taby Pilgrim has not only completely reoriented herself musically, but also ventured into a new honesty. The album itself is part of her therapeutic progress in understanding and forgiving herself and at the same time the opportunity to say to her listeners: your favorite artist is struggling too, but that's okay. And yet the last song flows seamlessly into the first, just like the phases of bipolarity itself. But people are more than their diagnosis, they are individuals with complex experiences and stories - and if anyone knows how to tell that story, it's Taby Pilgrim.