First they launched David Hasselhoff’s singing career, now German speakers have found another way to invite the world’s ridicule. Meet Money Boy, an Austrian (at least he’s not from Germany—you have no idea how happy that makes me) “rapper”.
When I first saw this video, I thought (for obvious reasons) that he’s just some guy who made a rap video in his spare time, doing a unique (by which I mean ridiculously bad) remake of Soulja Boy’s Turn My Swag On (a song I have to admit I’ve never heard myself; and never will thanks to both the name of the song and the name of the artist)…and that’s what he was.
Yet, somehow this song got him on MTV and that led to a contract with Sony Music Entertainment. Unfortunately, Money Boy “raps” in German. Everyone can enjoy the laughable look and amateurish sound, but only German speakers get to appreciate the real genius that is Money Boy: the lyrics.
After writing that, I searched a bit online and found a site that has a transcription of the German lyrics to Dreh Den Swag Auf (link removed; unfortunately, the site with the lyrics seems to have disappeared) with an automatic translator underneath. It’s not perfect, but it does a surprisingly accurate job for the most part. What it doesn’t (and can’t) capture, however, is the heavy use of bad English in the original German lyrics. Still, it’s better than nothing.
Ich bin auch jetzt so dope.