Azad

German rapper and hip-hop artist

Born January 1, 1974 in Sanandaj, Iran, in the Kurdistan province. Azad Azadpour, better known as Azad, is a Kurdish/German rapper. He is of Kurdish orgin, rhymes in German, and his birth name translates to "Free, Brave and Strong". Azad came to Frankfurt a.M., Germany in the early eighties, and In 1984 came in contact with hip-hop for the first time, starting with breakdancing, followed by developments in the graffiti area, in beatboxing, cutting and producing. Together with A-Bomb, Combad and D-Flame, he starting performing in 1988 as the Group Cold-N-Loco, which was eventually renamed the Asiatic Warriors in 1990. Rhyming in a harsh mix of German and English, the group gained local acclaim, and by 1994 the label Ruff-N-Raw published their EP "Told Ya!". Over the years, however, internal differences between the artists, split up the group. In 1999, Azad signed with the label Pelham Power Productions. Making guest appearances on mixtapes and albums of his labelmates, Azad gained back more attention on the scene. Together with his years of success with his Turntablist/DJ crew "Transformers" (with DJ Dragon, Twister and DJ Release), they won the 1998 "Da Swing DJ Battle" competition. Azad now runs his own independent label Bozz Music, and has worked with severval national musicians, such as Kool Savas, Gentleman, Curse and Samy Deluxe, he has also worked with other international musicians, such as Akon, Rakim and Серёга.