Bella Diabolo

31. January 2021

Nelleke Schmidt

Autorin

extended.experience

Illustratorin

With a mixture of High German, Linz slang and her Vietnamese mother tongue, Bella Diablos lyrics are as diverse as the female rapper from Upper Austria herself. She has always been inspired by a whole range of artists and genres until she finally found the sound she feels comfortable with in recent years. Nonetheless she doesn’t want to attribute herself to a particular rap subgenre, because “my projects are equally diverse as my taste in music.”

Already at the age of 14, Bella Diablo dared to debut on an open mic stage – being one of only a few Austrian female rappers at the time. However, she wasn’t deterred by that and roved around all kinds of jams in Austria, gaining as much stage experience as possible. It is clear what kind of rap inspired her at the time, because Bella has been an early fan of the big names of the scene like Lauryn Hill, 2pac, Busta Rhymes, Torch and Kool Savas. While for quite some time, rap had been her only passion, she later on developed affection for a variety of other genres from Dancehall and Reggae to Jazz and Funk. Right now, she calls Stormzy, Lady Leshurr, Bad Bunny and Ama Lou, among others, her major sources of inspiration and by that underlines that she emancipated herself from all genre categories.

Like other Austrian rappers portrayed on 365 Fe*male MCs, in Bella Diablo’s story the city of Linz turns out to be the Austrian capital of rap. According to herself, Bella made lasting friends and acquaintances that are central to her career by moving there in 2007. Apart from the relations with artist friends like Snessia or KS Kopfsache, she most importantly met producer Def III there who produced her debut album “Smokeahontas” and still supports her in her productions.

Bella Diablo appears to be just as multifaceted in different areas of life as her taste in music and selection of inspiring artists. In addition to rapping, she taught herself how to play the sax in 2019 while her passion for sneakers and strength training plays an important role in her life as well. Bella Diablo especially emphasizes intellectually stimulating activities like Yoga or engaging in Astrology. For her, music is cognitively stimulating as well because it first and foremost has a therapeutic effect on her, helping her to reflect on and develop her personality. Nonetheless, the rapper isn’t focused on herself exclusively: “The most beautiful aspect about creating tracks is for me when I manage to convey a message, a vibe or a mood, generate emotions or have someone recognize themselves in their respective situation through my art.”

As impairing as the situation in 2020 was – especially in Austria with several lockdowns – it hasn’t kept Bella Diablo from pursuing her passion. Over the course of various phases she created, among other things, the mixtape “KLITTAPE – Straight aus der Lescoast”, which was freestyled entirely apart from two exceptions. Furthermore, she published the Free EP “Bellas beruhigende Bars” as a teaser of her second album “Bella ballert Bullets”, potentially to be released in 2021. Officially announced for 2021 are only vague releases in cooperation with her label C.O.C (Cabinet of curiosities), about which she doesn’t want to reveal anything specific right now. Therefore, it remains to be seen what exactly we’ll get to hear from her next, as it is hard to predict anything given her multiplicity.