“Mannschaft” by SCH (ft. Freeze Corleone)

European rap artists, even as far north as Russia, tend to adopt characters similar to their American counterparts. Indeed saying that stateside hip-hop has influenced that which has become popular in Europe would be an understatement. For just as rappers in the States are traditionally tasked with presenting themselves as bad boys, the European homeys are for the most part dedicated to doing the same thing. 

So despite the fact that this song (“Mannschaft”) is in French and we may not be familiar with all of the references contained therein, we still get the general gist of what’s being said based on being familiar with rap music in general.

SCH

For instance in the first verse, which is held down by SCH, we have a number of references to gun violence. He also gives a shoutout to Hennessey and possibly even, based on his own regional slang, dealing coke, a profession which a substantial amount of other rappers also claim to be or have been involved in. 

In fact him using the metaphors “sweat and grams” and “bodies under the sheets” in the pre-chorus pretty much confirms that SCH’s is asserting that he is a violent, dedicated drug dealer. 

And overall, at least in terms of sentiment, the song in its entirety comes off as the same type of rap you would expect from an artist from just about any part of the United States. Indeed the chorus is more of the same, with the vocalist acknowledging his “Glocks” as well as “the boxes and the ammunition” he has on hand to keep opps in check.

Freeze Corleone

Freeze Corleone’s verse, in contrast, is more lyrically-oriented. In other words, it isn’t so much about him being a killer as opposed to a talented lyricist. 

And again, there is a lot of regional slang contained therein. But conclusively whereas his stanza may be braggadocious, as is the general theme of this piece, it isn’t actually violent. As far as the more-violent sections go, i.e. those which are led by SCH, Freeze Corleone rather serves the role of an ad-libber.

“Mannschaft”

The only thing that may be missing from this track as far as the standard rap song formula goes are references to romantic conquests. But arguably the first half to the bridge features SCH addressing some ladies, possibly strippers or those of the like.

Then as far as the title goes, it is actually the name of the professional German football (i.e. soccer) team. As noted towards the end of this post SCH’s dad is actually from Germany. Furthermore, the rapper has apparently made a name for himself under a different moniker, Schneider, in said country. 

Meanwhile Freeze Corleone is someone who gives regular shoutouts to Deutschland in his lyrics. And apparently he’s a football fan also.

So it’s like the song is named after Mannschaft, and they get a couple of shoutouts in the lyrics. And in a roundabout way, perhaps we can say this song is intended to big up Germany in general. 

But overall the lyrics aren’t really about promoting the club nor the country. Rather they serve more as an insight into the artists’ own personality leanings, with SCH understandably getting the bulk of the spotlight. 

And at the end of the day he is your quintessential rapper/thug, a musician with “no emotion” and thus someone who should not be rubbed the wrong way.

Who is SCH?

SCH was born in a part of France known as Marseille. And whereas his mom is from France his dad is actually German, and apparently SCH is known in Germany also. 

He’s been professionally active since his teens but didn’t began dropping albums until the late 2010s, after he had already reaches his 20s. (He’s 27 years old as of the release of this track.) 

In fact between 2016 and 2019 he actually dropped four studio albums, all of which hit in France as well as neighboring countries Switzerland and Belgium. And his most-successful full-length thus far has been 2017’s “Deo Favente”, his second album, which topped the French albums chart.

Who is Freeze Corleone?

Freeze Corleone was also born in France, in an area called Siene-Saint-Denis. However, neither of his parents are actually French in origin. 

Rather his dad is from Senegal and his mom, Italy. In fact he has spent time in Dakar, where he co-founded a music clique called 667. And in addition to France and Senegal he has also resided in Montreal, Canada. 

Freeze has been rhyming for pay since 2009 and apparently dropped his first album, “In Search of Daillance”, in 2011. His most-recent project leading up to the release of this track was his 2020 full-length “LMF”. 

And Mannschaft, which was released on 19 March 2021, is the first collaboration between him and SCH. Also just to note, in terms of past references to Germany he has made in song, many of them read like shoutouts to the Nazis. In fact some of the lyrics of the aforementioned LMF got in him hot water with anti-Semitism organizations.

Information about “Mannschaft”

Mannschaft was written by SCH and Freeze Corleone. The track was produced by SLK who, as his name sort of implies, is a regular collaborator of SCH’s.

This track is featured on “JVLIVS II”, SCH’s fifth-studio album, which also came out on 19 March 2021.

The labels behind this track are called Rec. 118 and Maison Baron Rouge, the latter of which SCH has been associated with since around 2018.