Now 46 years old, Puello is considered one of Spain’s most popular female rappers. Throughout her career, Puello has used her music and rapid-fire delivery to confront the racism that she has faced as a Black female migrant in Spain.

Her 2003 track, for example, “Así es la negra,” or “That’s what the Black woman is like,” tells the “ignorant racist” that “You’re going to have to put up with me, / If I am born again I want to be what I am now, / of the same race, same sex and condition.”

Puello’s music is successful beyond Spain. She has had several tours in Latin America, the Caribbean and throughout Europe.

But for Puello and other European rappers, hip-hop is not only about international tours and commercial success.

“Hip-hop is a way of transforming pain, the darkness of life, into art,” Puello explained. “Instead of picking up a knife, a gun, and going out to shoot, you pick up and write, and your mind turns into philosophy and you turn the reflection of the street into something beautiful.”

Since the early 2000s, Ekrem Bora has been a hip-hop sensation in Germany. Born in Cologne in 1983, Eko Fresh, as he is known, has rapped about his Turkish-Kurdish ancestry and the social stigma that his family endured in a country divided over the treatment of immigrants.

In his 2021 track “1994,” he describes his family story that starts with his grandfather leaving Turkey to work a blue-collar job in Germany. At the time, the grandfather only knew one word of the German language – “ja” or “yes” – and, as a guest worker, was not considered a German citizen.

Despite such meager beginnings, his grandchildren are now German citizens with full voting rights, and Eko Fresh thanks his grandfather for that. “Grandpa kept saying ‘We came here for you’,” he raps. “Because he didn’t come here with anything, his grandson can now have a say.”

In his 2018 track “Aber,” Eko Fresh explains how he uses his citizenship and specifically addresses the AfD, the right-wing political party in Germany that opposes immigration:

“I’m working hard and don’t even get a loan for a home
You’ve got big cars, I’m still using the tram
But on election day I’ll punish you, then
I’ll take matters in my own hand and you will all see
I stand for my country because I vote AfD.”

Despite his ability to vote, his life as an immigrant in Germany is complicated.

Much like Black M, Eko Fresh laments his treatment as a second-class citizen in German society.

“We love Germany from the heart like crazy,” he writes in “Gastarbeiter,” or “Guest worker.” “But unfortunately it does not love us back every time.”

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts, from an independent nonprofit. Try our free newsletters.

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Armin Langer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.