With their long-play debut »Fliegende Fische« (2014), Spion Y, Marie Curry, Captain Gips and Johnny Mauser have swum free. Their draft of hip hop is versatile, melodic, varied, playful – and skilfully and light-footedly makes use of pop, electro and indie elements. As an explicitly political crew, the co-founders of the TickTickBoom collective have succeeded in meeting the high expectations calmly: In many songs the difficult topics of the social present, they nevertheless succeed in creating an overarching attitude of nonchalance and a spirit of optimism. For »Metropolis«, the Hamburg-based company has generously polished up its smart approach and sensitively refined it in detail. With a proud 17 tracks, whose beats come mainly from their proven partner Ulliversal, but also from Monroe (production and mix) as well as Farhot, Jakob AMR and Chaozz beats, Neonschwarz easily span the arc over an hour of playing time. Under the thematic bracket of the city (from place-to-be to Babylon), Curry, Mauser and Gips rap, shout and sing in widescreen mode, while Spy Y shines with his cuts and scratches. In the opener »Dies Das Ananas«, an edgy grooving rock bass surprises, reminiscent of Beastie Boys and R.A.T.M., the poppy numbers such as »Kennenlernrunde«, »Atmen« or the title song, which also achieves immortality through Curry's wonderful vocal hook, unfold pure hit quality. On the other hand, tracks like "Check Yo'self" or "Die Eskalation" are idiosyncratic, emphasizing club and electro aesthetics. Thematically appropriate, the "Sweatpants Day" is celebrated in a dubby reggae downbeat, "Das Goldene Ticket" stages an ironic business reflection with cheerful acoustic guitars in uptempo mode, thematically related to the dramatic "Rapstars". With »2015«, the sequel to »2014« becomes a central political track that describes the intensification of the social debate on the complex topic of flight and asylum without tolerance for the wrong side. » "Double-decker bus" with its ironically over-the-top city tour perspective plus a lot of local subculture folklore probably explains the term gentrification much better than any well-intentioned leaflet. More than ever before, left-wing and emancipatory politics take place casually, between, above and next to the lines, never completely absent, but less concentrated than before on certain "theme songs". "Metropolis", a dream place as well as a horror vision, has the quartet firmly in its grip: the escape with the raft has failed, with their new album Neonschwarz have returned more serious, more confident and much more determined. It was a stroke of luck that they were able to improve enormously in all disciplines.