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 the DJ team The Transformers, released some solo tracks through Germany's underground mixtape circuit, and made his aboveground debut in 2000 with the "Napalm" 12" on Pelham Power Productions.



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