Pape

25. April 2021

Nelleke Schmidt

Autorin

Henrike Ott

Illustratorin

Christina Bakaj

Autorin

For the Pape duo things really take off. Tif is 25 years old, Lea only 21. When their paths crossed while studying at a university in Frankfurt, they probably would not have expected that two months later they would have their first joint single ready and shortly afterwards would be on stage with rapper Nura. But sometimes everything happens faster than you think.

Lea and Tif met in 2018, but already on their own they made their very own musical experiences. Lea took piano and trumpet lessons at an early age, later learned to play the ukulele autodidactically and wrote her own songs. At the age of 15, she picked up a producing program for the first time and started making music with two friends who were to play a decisive role later on.

At the same time, Tif also learned to play guitar and piano in her youth, wrote her own songs and gained her first experience performing in cafés or at singer-songwriter events.

The paths of the two young women crossed in Frankfurt, where they met while studying musicology. They both quickly realized how their ideas complemented each other. With Lea’s producer friends Paul and Niklas by their side, the perfect foundation for Pape emerged from one second to the next.

The sound that defines Pape combines a wide variety of influences. Lea takes most of her inspiration from FLINTA*[1] rap artists like Haiyti, Schwesta Ewa or SXTN, while also bringing pop influences à la Taylor Swift, Girl in Red or Alli Neumann. Tif complements it all with her love for R&B and soul or artists like Lolo Zouaï. Mixed with the trap style of their producers, who call themselves YP (Paul) and Melo M (Niklas), diverse genres come together in song production, allowing the two to try out new styles with each song.

Two months after they met, in December 2018, they already had the song “Lost”. Initially only represented on Soundcloud, the two quickly gained attention from Nura, who pushed the song. Also, Mois responded to Pape on YouTube, therefore giving them an immense boost of attention. But the highlight of these unexpected occurrences may have been, above all, Nura’s invitation to perform at the Batschkapp in Frankfurt on Nura’s tour.

So far, five singles have been released by Pape, and their hit song “Lost” has now racked up almost a quarter of a million clicks. Only in March they released their single “dunkelgrün (wasted love)” and made again curious about what the two have planned in the near future. In the meantime, Tif and Lea have moved in together and are planning their first tape for 2021. It remains to be seen whether this will be of as much importance to both as their first single.

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