Ikkimel

Ikkimel is from Berlin-Tempelhof and has a combined bachelor's degree in German Philology and Social and Cultural Anthropology with a focus on linguistics from Freie Universität Berlin. After beginning her master's degree in linguistics, she started working in the Brain Language Laboratory in 2018.^[2] Following her father's death due to blood cancer, she started making music, taking on the name Ikkimel.

„Ich hab immer gern Rap gehört und Party gemacht, gerne gefreestyled mit Freunden etc. Anfang Corona ist mein Vater gestorben an Blutkrebs. Das war nach Jahren der Pflege dann der Punkt wo ich dachte man lebt nur einmal ich Scheiß jetzt auf alles und mach einfach das was mir Spaß macht.“

[“I've always loved listening to rap and partying, freestyling with friends, etc. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, my father died of blood cancer. After years of caring for him, that was the point where I thought, you only live once, so I'm going to say screw everything and just do what I enjoy.”]

In 2021, Ikkimel managed to obtain funding from Initiative Musik. She released her first singles in 2022 and followed up with her first EP Aszendent Bitch on May 5, 2023.^[4] Her provocative lyrics contain clearly sexualized language; common themes include being a bitch, partying, drugs and sex, and she often includes subtle wordplay. She makes fun of macho behavior.^[5] Musically, she uses hyperpop and Jersey Club quotes with choppy beats and trance and house samples.^[6] She also describes her music as "Fotzenstyle", meaning "cunt-style".^[7]

In 2023, Ikkimel was signed by Four Music (Sony Music), after which she debuted with the single Keta und Krawall, produced by Barré, and reached number 89 in the German charts.^[8]

The track Bezahlen from the EP Hat sie nicht gesagt, released in 2024, was used in the same year by Die PARTEI in a radio election commercial for the 2024 European elections. The broadcast on its radio program You FM was refused by Hessischer Rundfunk because it suspected that the song contained content that was harmful to minors. The broadcaster lost the subsequent court case initiated by Die PARTEI before the administrative court in Frankfurt am Main, so the commercial was broadcast in the early evening program on May 15.^[9]

On February 14, 2025, Ikkimel released her debut album Fotze. The album was critically acclaimed and it was emphasized that sexist language was counteracted through her radical female perspective. The question of whether this reproduces the male gaze of female sexuality is answered by reference to the text of the piece Jetzt erst recht, in which she raps: "Is Ikkimel still feminist at all? Suddenly the little pissers pretend that it is important to them." Ikkimel described her own political stance as “definitely feminist.^[10] The album also references other musicians such as Lady Bitch Ray, SXTN and Shirin David in its content and musical design.^[11][12][13]

In 2024, Ikkimel made her relationship with fellow rapper Ski Aggu public.^[14] In June 2025 they announced they had separated.^[15]