Music and interests

Music is a big part of Stefan Preu's identity; he has said so himself. This page summarizes a dated snapshot of his listening and his own music background. It does not say what he is listening to right now.

Music matters to Stefan

Stefan has described music as a big part of his identity and personality. His taste centres on hip-hop, especially soulful, jazz-influenced and independent rap, with substantial neo-soul and R&B and a real side branch in reggae, ragga-jungle and drum and bass.

A short everyday summary: mostly soulful, jazzy hip-hop, plus a lot of underground rap, R&B and some reggae and jungle.

Listening snapshot, September 2026

In a September 2026 snapshot of Stefan's lifetime artist rankings from a listening-statistics app, Mac Miller led by a wide margin, followed by Smino, Saba, Anderson .Paak and J. Cole. The rest of the top ten were Jay Prince, Felly, Chance the Rapper, Kota the Friend and GoldLink.

Jay Prince and Felly are worth naming: they rank above many more famous artists. Other prominent names in the snapshot include Joey Bada$$, Isaiah Rashad, Mick Jenkins, Madlib, Blu, A Tribe Called Quest, Kendrick Lamar and Masego.

The wider picture of his taste

Beyond the top ten, the September 2026 snapshot shows several branches:

• the Chicago and St. Louis alternative rap and soul scene around Smino, Saba and Noname
• sample-based jazz rap and boom-bap, such as Madlib, Knxwledge, Apollo Brown and The Pharcyde
• neo-soul and alternative R&B, such as NxWorries, Tom Misch and Frank Ocean
• dance-leaning crossover, such as GoldLink and KAYTRANADA
• reggae and ragga-jungle, such as Bob Marley & The Wailers, Serial Killaz and Benny Page
• Austrian artists Skofi and Skyfarmer

Harder-edged and mainstream rap are present too. The centre is warm and melodic, but that is not an exclusion rule.

What the snapshot does not tell you

Lifetime artist rankings show what Stefan has listened to over time. They do not establish his favorite songs or albums, what he is listening to now, what particular music means to him, or how he discovered it.

Descriptions such as "soul- and groove-led" are interpretations of the pattern, not his own words. An artist missing from the list is not evidence that he dislikes them.

Making music

Stefan's CV lists music production in drum and bass, jungle and techno among his interests. It also records that he played in a local brass band in Lower Austria from 2009 to 2015 and took part in the Austrian youth music competition prima la musica, with first places at the Lower Austria state level in 2010 and 2011 and a second place at the national level in 2011. The CV does not name an instrument.

These are his own CV entries and have not been independently verified.

Music, film and community

Stefan's involvement with music goes beyond listening. He has volunteered with youth-culture associations that organize local music events in Lower Austria, and he has worked on film crews for music productions, including a verified camera-operator credit on Camo & Krooked & Mefjus — Live From A Boat. See the background page for details.

Other interests

Stefan's CV lists LLMs, Docker and running a home lab among his digital interests. His public tools reflect that: several of his command-line tools target self-hosted services such as Home Assistant, Jellyfin, SearXNG and Monica.