BUSHIDO (RAPPER)

'Bushido' (September 28, 1978 in Bonn, Germany), born 'Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi', is a German rapper whose style is strongly influenced by American Gangsta rap. He also uses the pseudonym 'Sonny Black'.

Contents

Early life

Musical career

Discography

Solo albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Notes

External links

Early life

Bushido was born to a Tunisian father, whom he never came to know, and a German mother, with whom he grew up in the Tempelhof district of former West Berlin. He left school early, the German Gymnasium, and accumulated a criminal record for drug possession and vandalism. A judge ordered him to attend vocational training as a painter or face a jail term. During this training he met future Aggro Berlin partner Fler.

Musical career

In 1999 he began his musical career as a rapper. His first release was on the ''Frauenarzt-Tape'' with King Orgasmus One for "I Luv Money Records". Soon he released his first tape ''King of KingZ''. This led to him moving to a new label Aggro Berlin, where he worked with Sido, B-Tight, and Fler. The album was later released on CD in 2003 as ''King of KingZ (Digital Remastered)'' and in 2004 as the ''King of KingZ 2004 Edition'' with some remixes. In 2002 he released the album ''Carlo, Cokxxx, Nutten'' under his pseudonym, ''Sonny Black'' (arguably in the same manner as Eminem), in which he worked with Fler. The name would appear to be a nod towards his American musical influence; in that country, Sonny Black was the mafia nickname of notorious Bonanno crime family mobster Dominick Napolitano. In 2003 he released the solo album ''Vom Bordstein bis zur Skyline''. It was an enormous success for what was still basically an underground release.
Because of artistic differences regarding his future solo career, he left his label, Aggro Berlin, in the summer of 2004 and was taken under contract by Urban/Universal. In 2004, together with DJ Ilan, he produced a remix of the industrial metal group Rammstein's song ''Amerika''. In October 2004 he released his third album ''Electro Ghetto'' which reached number six on the German charts. On April 4, 2005 he released his fourth LP in two and half years, ''Carlo Cokxxx Nutten II'', once again using his alter ego ''Sonny Black'' and working with Baba Saad (his cousin) in replacement of Fler.
At the beginning of September, his new LP was released. The name of it is Von der Skyline zum Bordstein zurück (meaning From the Skyline back to the Curb) It contains no features and the Singles are: Von der Skyline zum Bordstein zurück (which was released at the 18th of August), Sonnenbank Flavour (which was released at the 27th of October) and Janine (which will be released at the 9th of February). The Sampler "Vendetta" was released the 1st of December. It features artists who are signed to his Label "Ersguterjunge". The only single of the Sampler is called Vendetta and features Bushido, Eko Fresh and Chakuza.
In the winter of 2004/2005, he played a central role in a dispute with the rapper Eko Fresh and also made the song "FLERräter" against his former colleague at ''Aggro Berlin'' Fler (a play on the word ''Verräter'', which means ''traitor'').
Bushido won an ECHO(German music award) as the "Best Live Act" and a MTV Europe Music Award in the category best German Act in 2006. In 2007 he won another ECHO-award as best hip hop/rap artist.
Bushido's admirers include both immigrants and Germans, which has drawn caution and criticism in Germany. He is often criticized in the media for his allegedly sexist, nationalist and racist lyrics and for refusing to reject some of his controversial fans. However, some point to his partial North African ethnicity and collaboration with minority artists, like Azad, Eko Fresh, and Cassandra Steen, as evidence Bushido is not racist.
The Controversy was magnified by the line: "salutiert, steht stramm, ich bin der Leader wie ''A''" (''salute, stand to attention, I am the leader like A'').
The ''A'' is interpreted by many as referring to Adolf Hitler. According to Bushido "salutiert, steht stramm, ich bin der Leader" is a citation from a rap by Azad and ''A'' stands for Azad, who often calls himself ''A''. Bushido also called this a "welcome chance to provoke" ("''eine willkommene Provokationsmöglichkeit''").^[1]
More legal trouble found its way into his life following a party in Linz, Austria on July 30, 2005. Upon discovery that his tires had been slashed, he and two of his bodyguards were involved in a physical altercation with a 19 year old Austrian male from Linz, who was left with severe head injuries. Bushido blames the victim for damaging all tires of his BMW 7 Series. Bushido spent 15 days (August 3rd-18th) in jail before being released on €100,000 bail. He ended up paying 20,000 Euro to the Austrian government and another 1,000 Euro to the victim.
Bushido also garnered some press coverage when his record company, Universal Music Group, sued EMI over an alleged copyright violation that derived from similarities between the cover of Deutschland Gib Mir Ein Mic and Music Is My Savior, an album by American rapper MIMS.^[2]
His latest album, "7" will be released on August 31st, 2007 in Germany. As of August 24th, "7" has already pre-sold 100,000 copies in Germany, making it a gold record. ^[3]

Discography

Solo albums

★ 1998 - ''030'' (with King Orgasmus & Vader)

★ 1999 - ''Demotape''

★ 2001 - ''King of KingZ''

★ 2003 - ''Vom Bordstein bis zur Skyline'' ("From the curb to the skyline")

★ 2004 - ''Electro Ghetto''

★ 2005 - ''Staatsfeind Nr. 1'' ("Public enemy Nr. 1")

★ 2006 - ''Von der Skyline zum Bordstein zurück'' ("From the skyline back to the curb")

★ 2007 - ''7''

Compilation albums

★ 2002 - ''Carlo, Cokxxx, Nutten'' (Under his pseudonym ''Sonny Black'' with Fler alias ''Frank White'')

★ 2002 - ''Aggro Ansage Nr. 1'' (with Sido & B-Tight)

★ 2003 - ''Aggro Ansage Nr. 2'' (with Sido & B-Tight)

★ 2003 - ''Aggro Ansage Nr. 3'' (with Sido & B-Tight)

★ 2006 - ''Bushido präsentiert ersguterjunge Sampler Vol. 1 - Nemesis''

★ 2005 - ''Carlo, Cokxxx, Nutten 2'' (Sonny Black with Baba Saad)

★ 2006 - ''Bushido präsentiert ersguterjunge Sampler Vol. 2 - Vendetta''

Singles

★ 2004 - "Electro Ghetto"

★ 2004 - "Nie wieder" ("Never ever")

★ 2005 - "Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt" (feat. Cassandra Steen) ("The hope dies last")

★ 2005 - "Nie ein Rapper" (Sonny Black & Baba Saad) ("Never been a rapper")

★ 2005 - "Worldwide"

★ 2005 - "Endgegner" ("Final enemy")

★ 2006 - "Augenblick" ("The moment")

★ 2006 - "Gheddo" (Eko Fresh feat. Bushido)

★ 2006 - "Von der Skyline zum Bordstein zurück" ("From the skyline back to the curb")

★ 2006 - "Sonnenbank Flavour" ("Sunbed flavour")

★ 2006 - "Vendetta" (with Chakuza & Eko Fresh)

★ 2007 - "Janine"

★ 2007 - "Eure Kinder" (Chakuza feat. Bushido) ("Your children")

★ 2007 - "Alles Verloren!" ("Everything lost")

Notes

1. September 2005 interview in Welt Online [1]
2. Universal lawsuit against EMI[2]
3. Kingbushido.de News for 24.08.07 [3]

External links

★ Germany's Rap Music Veers Toward the Violent, New York Times, August 8, 2005

★ Official Homepage

★ Polish FanPage about Bushido