A voice actress who rose to fame with YouTube medleys by Alligatoah and now combines rap with songwriting sensibilities? Tabea Hilbert has been remarkably consistent in this unusual career path thus far, and on her 2020 debut, “Pilgerreise”, she clearly proves that hip-hop in Germany doesn’t always have to be accompanied by flashy fuss and battle bars. Indeed, there is another way: The Essen-based rapper prefers to rely on her eloquence and clever wordplay, which she dresses up in beats that lie somewhere between boom-bap, R’n’B, and pop. Sometimes outrageously intimate and vulnerable yet other times also relaxed and sarcastic, Taby Pilgrim displays a large repertoire of contemporary themes and musical influences, all of which she playfully integrates into her very own style. This year’s album “Nest” (2024) reveals Pilgrim to be an artist who can address the most diverse issues of our time and invent different compositional approaches to dealing with them, all while always remaining herself.