Excerpt:
Germany’s biggest music awards ceremony is set to take place on April 12, but this year’s festivities have already been stained by an anti-Semitism controversy.
Rap duo Kollegah and Farid Bang are nominated for two awards including “Album of the Year” for the record “Jung, brutal, gut aussehend 3" (“Young, brutal, good looking 3").
Echo’s organizers announced the nominations, which were based on the album’s commercial success, in early March.
But Echo and the rappers, who are both Muslims, drew criticism after German daily Bild reported on an anti-Semitic lyric from one of the album’s bonus songs.
Auschwitz comparison
In the song “0815" the duo sings: “My body is more defined than those of Auschwitz inmates.”