Boss Babes at splash! Mag Give Us The 411

Fizzy Mag caught up with the MVP's of the German Hip Hop Magazine splash! mag, the brain child of Miriam and Nina. We talk music, female empowerment and this summer's music festivals. 

Hey guys, how's it going?

Miriam: Thank you, we’re fine.

Nina: Yeah, stress keeps us happy. (LOL)

Let's get straight into it: What's splash! Mag's mission statement?

Miriam: We want to spread good music to the world without being cringy, clickbaiting the shit out of a topic and supporting problematic artists. In exchange we’ll provide you with all the nerdy information we have.

And, We have a huge heart for female, queer and underground artists.

Nina: That’s true! We try to provide a varied alternative to all the common German rap magazines. We’re woke, we don’t give a shit about genres and we support a lot of national and international underground artists.

Tell us a bit about yourselves – who's making a splash behind the scenes?

Miriam: I’m Miriam, 26, hiphop fan since ever and editor-in-chief of splash! Mag. Sometimes I’m also djing.

Nina: I’m 24 years old and kind of the fashion victim in the office. I take care of all the fashion topics, brand communication and the whole marketing of the magazine.

You've been rap media revolutionaries for just over a year now. What have been your best moments so far and what are you looking forward to achieving with the magazine this year?

Miriam: It’s hard to pick one certain moment, but I’m happy every time someone acknowledges that they learnt something after reading an article or that they just enjoyed watching an interview.

Our goal is to make hiphop more diverse and to encourage more girls to deal with hiphop or even work in the music industry by starting with ourselves. We just hired a girl to write about graffiti, we engaged our lovely new intern who will hopefully have a remarkable time with us and speaking of content, we want to start an all-female roundtable.

Nina: I can’t really name a few best moments, I think the journey as a whole is the best thing. Miri and me started to work at splash! Mag not really knowing each other, now we’re best friends with one of the most interesting hiphop magazines in Germany hehe.

It’s enough to know that girls are encouraged because of us and to show the whole media landscape that two girls can rule the rap-media game.

What's your number one piece of advice to anyone looking to start their own mag?

Miriam: splash! Mag is ten years old, so we can’t tell much about actually launching it. But it’s always about bringing in something different. splash! Mag started with being the number one magazine when it comes to nerdy knowledge about underground artists and the one being most critical, which is an image we built on.

I personally think it’s really important who you do your magazine with. Nina became one of my best friends and without having her encouraging me all the time, I would probably be in jail right know for beating some rapper’s ass up or dramatically crying on my keyboard every day.

Nina: That’s probably the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard <3 But yeah, I totally feel the same. I think it’s super important to work with somebody you can always rely on and have not just a work based relationship, but also a real connection. We cry together and we support each other – without each other there wouldn’t be such a wonderful magazine :)

Spotify search bars at the ready, which artists should we be listening to right now?

Miriam: Atm I listen to Tierra Whack and Jelani Aryeh and I really love the Kids See Ghosts project. I just came back from Jamaica, so I’m learning a lot about Dancehall. Female Dancehall artists like Lady G, Spice, Ce’Cile, Tifa, Patra, Lady Saw, Pamputtae and so on are so underrated.

Nina: I could name thousands of artists right now, but I think the most interesting upcoming rapper right now is slowthai – he’s sick!!!! But there are so many more: I have the best Spotify playlists – just listen to them and you know what I’m listening to!

Can you name a favorite person that you've interviewed lately?

Miriam: That would be Eunique. I knew her music for a long time but have never really dealt with her personally. Meeting her in person made me really appreciate her music even more. It’s not easy being a woman of color in the music industry (and actually in the world lol), so I really respect her for her strength and for empowering others with her art.

Nina: I talked to so many inspiring people over the last few years, but I think the most impressive moment for me was when I met Yung Lean. I was in London with Converse and we only had a Q&A session with some other journalists but he’s probably my all time favourite since 2013, so it was amazing to meet him in person.

Are you heading to any festivals this summer?

Miriam: Of course we’re going to splash! festival, haha. Maybe Melt and Spektrum, too.

Nina: Yeah, splash! will be sick. Melt Festival too. But I think that’s enough for me.

As fellow sneaker lovers, we have to ask, if you were a sneaker, what would you be?

Miriam: Maybe a Nike AF1. Plain and boring on the outside, but a true classic you can always rely on hahaha.

Nina: I think I would be a worn out Chuck – looking best wasted and super comfy, but in some special moments I would be a Gucci Sega Sneaker – chunky, shiny and super extra hahaha.

Great to meet you, guys!

Photography: Till Wilhelm

Hit up another Boss Babe Interview we did with Wendy Wang.