A 15-year-old provides a stage for up-and-coming rappers

The Badi Openair festival takes place in Hünenberg on the 25th July. One of the highlights of this year's event is the rap contest, which is being organised by Rayen Abassi from Cham, who wants to give a platform to newcomers from all over Switzerland.
 

Rayen Abassi (15) from Cham says that the idea for a rap contest came to him in the middle of the night – at three in the morning. What started as just an idea has developed into a concrete project after many hours of work. The driving force behind the project was his disappointment at the scarcity of rap competitions in Switzerland, unlike those that take place in Germany. So he decided to create his own.

"I already knew the organisers of the Hünenberg Badi open-air festival; the environment was familiar," says Rayen Abassi. Last year, he produced social media content and conducted interviews for the Hünenberg youth centre (Jugendarbeit), which is organising the event. This allowed him to contact the organisers directly and present his idea.

Rayen Abassi discovered rap through his own taste in music. He has been interested in the genre for some time, attends festivals like Openair Frauenfeld, and sometimes even livestreams them for his community on the Twitch video platform, and has around 1,000 followers on Twitch and 56 on Instagram. But he doesn't make rap music himself, because he enjoys organising events more. He will start his final year of secondary school in August, after which he wants to do an apprenticeship, though he's not yet sure which one.

The contest is called "Rap 2 Star", which stands for the goal of the competition, as Rayen Abassi explains: the contest is not intended to turn up-and-coming artists into rap stars overnight, but to give them a chance to showcase their talent and receive professional feedback. He wants to give young artists from different regions of Switzerland a chance to shine.
The registration period has now closed, and a maximum of seven acts will perform – the entrants are not only from the Canton of Zug, but from various regions of Switzerland.

A jury assesses the quality.
The participants are free to choose and prepare their songs, but must perform them live without using the Auto-Tune vocal correction program. To ensure a respectful environment, all artists have also signed a contract: this is intended to prevent racist or otherwise inappropriate content, which sometimes occurs in the rap scene, from being performed.

The performances will be judged by a four-member jury consisting of rappers and singers. They will pay particular attention to the lyrics, the rhymes, the depth of the content, and the stage presence of the artists, as Rayen Abassi explains. The jury will then provide brief feedback after each performance. The winner will be announced in the second part of the event, and will receive a cash prize of several hundred Swiss francs. According to Rayen Abassi, assembling a suitable jury was one of the biggest challenges in organising the event. Many of the people he contacted were unavailable.

Although Rayen Abassi doesn't rap himself, he's committed to supporting the rap scene in Zug       Photo: Matthias Jurt
 

Rayen Abassi will host the contest himself, but will not financially benefit from the project. "My primary goal is to offer young musicians a platform, and give them the opportunity to develop their skills," he explains. He also wants to entertain people and make them laugh with his own social media videos.

He is supported by Kelvin Strüby, who coaches him as a hobby. The two have known each other for many years, the young organiser emphasizes. Kelvin Strüby has assisted him on a voluntary basis, in particular with general organisational and infrastructural matters. Good contacts are especially important in the event industry, he stresses. This is relatively easy in the canton of Zug, however, due to its manageable size.

Perseverance Pays Off
The road to the competition wasn't always easy. There were moments when he doubted whether he should continue with the project, and developing a concept was a constant challenge. In retrospect, however, the effort was worthwhile. "I've proven that a vision can become reality if you have enough discipline and perseverance."

These days, the 15-year-old is even occasionally recognised on the street, partly because of his Twitch streams and YouTube videos. "These moments show me that my commitment can really make a difference," says Rayen Abassi.

The Hünenberg Badi-Openair
The Hünenberg Badi-Openair festival will take place at the Strandbad Hünenberg (lakeside bathing area) from 2 pm to 2 am on Saturday, 25th July. Regional and national artists will perform on two stages, offering a diverse musical programme in the rap and hip-hop genres. Tickets cost CHF 25 for adults, CHF 20 for students and young people aged 16 and over, and CHF 10 for children and young people up to 16 years old. Children under six years old get in free.

Tickets are available online at www.eventfrog.ch and – while supplies last – at the box office.