Azad

A Kurdish refugee from Iran who moved to Germany in 1984, rapper Azad entered the German hip-hop scene in his teens, first as a breakdancer and later as a graffiti artist. He began rapping when lyricists A-Bomb, Combad, and D-Flame asked him to join their crew, Cold-n-Locco, in 1988. They were renamed Asiatic Warriors two years later and soon their streetwise lyrics -- delivered in a mix of German, English, and Kurdish -- along with their hard beats made them one of the most popular German hip-hop acts until 1999, when they broke up to pursue solo careers. Azad hooked up with ...