Reyhan Şahin
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Reyhan Şahin (born 1980), known professionally as Lady Bitch Ray or Doctor Bitch Ray, is a
Turkish-German Turks in Germany, also referred to as German Turks and Turkish Germans ( or ''Deutschtürken''; , also known as ''Gurbetçiler'' or ''Almancılar''), are ethnic Turkish people living in Germany. These terms are also used to refer to German-born ...
rapper, author,
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
and former radio host.


Biography

Şahin was born in
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
, West Germany. Her parents are Alevis and come from
Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...
, Turkey. Before Reyhan was born, her parents immigrated to Germany and she grew up in the working-class neighborhood Gröpelingen in
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
. Her father is a dede and worked as a welder in a local shipyard after his arrival in 1972. Şahin began rapping at the age of twelve. She completed high school with the
Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
(the high school diploma in Germany qualifying students for university).


Academic career

Şahin studied
Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
and German Studies at the
University of Bremen The University of Bremen () is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 18,400 students from 117 countries. Its 12 faculties offer more than 100 degree programs. The University of Bremen has been among the top 50 European rese ...
and graduated with a master's degree in linguistics in 2005. Her master's thesis on "Jugendsprache anhand der Darstellung der Jugendkultur Hip-Hop" (Youth Language based on the Representation of the Youth Culture of Hip-Hop) was published in an anthology edited by her department chair with Brockmeyer University Publishing. She then completed her doctorate in 2012 with a dissertation on "Die Bedeutung des muslimischen Kopftuchs in Deutschland" (The Meaning of the Muslim Hijab in Germany).Interview with Ines Pohl and Enrico Ippolito
"Ich bin ein moralischer Mensch"
taz.de, 28 January 2012; last access: 21 February 2013.
During this time, she taught the course "Introduction to Dress Semiotics" at the University of Bremen as an adjunct lecturer in the winter semester of 2007/08. For her dissertation she received a second prize in the subject group Humanities and Cultural Studies at the Deutschen Studienpreis (German Study Award) 2013. Her doctoral supervisor was Wolfgang Wildgen. Şahin was a member of the Research Center for Media and Communication starting in June 2012, and in this framework was a post-doctoral fellow of the
University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...
's Young Researchers Initiative through December 2013 In her new project she is researching the representation of Muslim women in the social networks.


Media career

Şahin worked for four years at the public radio program Funkhaus Europa as a freelancer and moderator. She was terminated in May 2006 by Radio Bremen which produces Funkhaus Europa together with WDR, because they believed her rap lyrics had "pornographic content."Buettner, Julia: "Die Parallelgesellschaft von nebenan: Wie mit den Mitteln des Fernsehens versucht wird, die starren Migranten-Klischees der Deutschen aufzubrechen", ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...
'', 12 February 2007, S. 17.
Şahin had posted a song entitled ''Hengzt Arzt Orgi'', which is about a fictional sex orgy with the rappers King Orgasmus One, Bass Sultan Hengzt and Frauenarzt, on the internet for free. After the radio station found out about this, Şahin was given the choice of removing the song from the web or leaving the station. This fact was popularized by ''
Bild ''Bild'' (, ) or ''Bild-Zeitung'' (, ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...
'', among others. In contrast, ''
the New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'' and ''
The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...
'' reported the collaboration was terminated because her style of dress was too skimpy. According to the ''
Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...
'' and ''
Spiegel Online ' () is a German news website. It was established in 1994 as ''Spiegel Online'' as a content mirror of the magazine ''Der Spiegel''. In 1995, the site began producing original stories and it introduced ''Spiegel Online International'' for artic ...
'', Şahin fought the separation from Radio Bremen through legal means. In May 2008, the Bremen Regional Labor Court, presided over by Judge Waldemar Reinfelder, ruled in favor of Radio Bremen. Subsequently, Şahin released the track ''Ich hasse dich'' (I hate you), in which she makes insulting remarks about pop stars Jeanette Biedermann, Sarah Connor and music producer Melbeatz. In her third rap release, ''Ich tret' dein Arsch'', she insults the Berlin rapper Kool Savas. In the song, the rapper used the beat of Savas' single ''Komm mit mir'' (come with me), which had been already released. The hip-hop magazine Juice reported on Lady Bitch Ray in 2006 and she then released the song ''Deutsche Schwänze'' (German Dicks) on a Juice CD. Şahin initially marketed her products mainly online. In 2006, she hosted the pay-per-view talk show ''Große Fische, kleine Fische'' (Big Fish, Little Fish) in which she interviewed guests such as B-Tight, Henning Wehland and
Jan Delay Jan Phillip Eißfeldt (born 25 August 1976), known professionally as Jan Delay, is a German rapper and singer whose stylistic range includes mainly hip hop, reggae, dub and funk. An accomplished solo artist, he became known to the public as ...
. On 8 March 2007 Lady Bitch Ray founded her own label, Vagina Style Records. The first releases, distributed exclusively on the internet, were the EP ''Vorhang auf'' on 30 March and the single ''Mein Weg'' (My Way) on 7 December 2007. Her website on
Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
got 3.7 million views by April 2010. Şahin first became known to a broad German public in late 2007 through an appearance on ''Menschen bei Maischberger.'' As Lady Bitch Ray, Şahin was a guest on an edition of the Austrian late-night show ''Willkommen Österreich'', which aired on January 10, 2008. There, she poured a glass of water over Ulf Poschardt, who had also been invited and had previously criticized her. Poschardt then left the show prematurely. At the time of the elections in Hessen, Şahin wrote an article for the ''
Spiegel Online ' () is a German news website. It was established in 1994 as ''Spiegel Online'' as a content mirror of the magazine ''Der Spiegel''. In 1995, the site began producing original stories and it introduced ''Spiegel Online International'' for artic ...
'' site on the controversy over juvenile delinquency that had been initiated by Prime Minister Roland Koch in January 2008. However, much of the text did not deal with youth violence, but with the controversy surrounding her person and dubbed Şahin's critics "garden Nazis." Şahin made her debut as an actress in the 2008 German feature film '' Chiko'', in which she plays a prostitute. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the 2008 Berlinale. On 24 April 2008 she promoted the film on the entertainment program Schmidt & Pocher. After the first broadcast of the edition, MDR and BR dropped the usual replays of the program. ''
Spiegel Online ' () is a German news website. It was established in 1994 as ''Spiegel Online'' as a content mirror of the magazine ''Der Spiegel''. In 1995, the site began producing original stories and it introduced ''Spiegel Online International'' for artic ...
'' suspected the reason for this cancellation was the artist's scandalous choice of language and subject matter: Şahin gave Pocher a can in the broadcast that allegedly contained her vaginal secretions. The broadcast then came under criticism and was ended after the end of the year. In June 2008 Şahin made a guest appearance in the 7th episode of MySpace's internet soap opera '' Candy Girls''; with reference to the protection of minors, parts of Şahin's spoken contributions were initially faded out, and later the entire episode was taken off the air. Her agency announced in May 2009 that Şahin would be taking a career break due to health problems. The reason for this was a breakdown at the university library in Bremen on 18 August 2008. In an interview with the daily newspaper Die Welt in September 2012, Şahin announced that she was suffering from severe depression. Şahin took part in the show in summer 2014 and won it. In 2015, she starred in ''Newtopia'', a German reality TV show. In 2019 her book ''Yalla, Feminism'' was published.


Reception

Şahin is received differently in the mass media: the ''
Turkish Daily News Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...
'' characterizes her as "controversial"; Bettina Lehnert said on Rundfunk '' Berlin-Branderburg online'' that she "provokes" with "pornographic" texts. Ursula Moreno suspects in the Spanish '' El Mundo'' that she has made a name for herself primarily through obscenities. According to the ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...
'', guestbook entries on her website range from "You're a disgrace for every Turkish woman" to "She's full of power, sexy, I'm scared of her. Respect!!!"" The Bremen city magazine ''citybeat'' attests that she is a woman who "suffers from a penetrating urge to present herself and ..desperately wants to make a career, no matter what the price." The Hamburger Abendblatt criticized her internet broadcast as "tasteless," and ''the taz'' objected that her "coarse, revealing appearance ..hardly triggers discussions about integrations" but "rather about emancipation and taste." The online magazine ''Europolitan'' even denies her any feminine emancipation effect. In mid-2008, Şahin's accusation that Charlotte Roche had plagiarized Şahin's literary style in her debut novella Feuchtgebiete was prominently discussed in the German print media. About her taboo-violating lyrics, the rapper says she is concerned with Turkish-female emancipation; Şahin sees herself as the antithesis of male-chauvinist rappers like Sido or Bushido. She expressed her displeasure with how German-Turkish women are viewed in Germany in an interview with ''the taz''. Sonja Pohlmann and Caroline Fetscher from the '' Tagesspiegel'' agree with her insofar as they see Lady Bitch Ray as a representative of the "alpha girls," a new generation of hedonistic feminists. Sociologist Paula-Irene Villa sees her as a "successful example of women's empowerment." Şahin's appearance on ''Menschen bei Maischberger'' was met with a particularly broad media response. In the course of the broadcast, Şahin explained that she propagates the emancipation of women and a "vaginal self-determination" in her songs and sees her self-deprecating designation as a bitch as progress in terms of emancipation. Spiegel editor Christian Buß saw in her appearance a justification for Şahin's emancipatory criticism of her male rap colleagues. Peer Schader of the ''
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...
'', on the other hand, described Şahin in the arts section as a "poor provocative sausage in a golden glittery bowel" with "poisonous narrow-mindedness." The '' Tagesspiegel'', which praised her music as "professional," noted that she was not concerned with demonstrating mechanisms of provocation and marketing – rather, she used them quite openly. They also said her strategy of attracting attention to herself therefore works. Markus Löning, a member of the Bundestag, stated that it was a "scandal" because of what he considered to be the low standard of the show. Reviews of Şahin's musical works are rate. Alexander Rudolph complained in the Tages-Anzeiger that Şahin's academic career meant that her appearance as a gangsta rapper was inauthentic.Alexander Rudolph: Playlists und Shuffle. In: Tages-Anzeiger. 7 May 2008, S. 66 In 2008, rapper Schwartz released an album called Lady Bitch Gay, which contains several diss tracks against Şahin.


Discography

*"Ich hasse dich" ''("I hate you")'' (release date unknown) *"Du bist krank" ''("You're sick")'' (unknown) *"Suck It" (unknown) At this time released
EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
*"Fick mich EP" ''("Fuck me EP")'' (2006) *"Vorhang auf!" ''("Curtains open!")'' (30 March 2007) *"Mein Weg" ''("My way")'' (6 December 2007)


References


Literature

* Şahin, Reyhan (2006): "Jugendsprache im Hip Hop", in ''Possession, Quantitative Typologie und Semiotik: Georgisch, Irisch, Türkisch'', edited by Thomas Stolz, Bochum: Brockmeyer.


External links


Lady Bitch Ray Kezbahn Blok Yorumu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahin, Rehan German people of Turkish descent German women rappers 1980 births Living people Mass media people from Bremen (city)