Bushido (rapper)

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

1 Early life
2 Musical Career
3 Controversy
4 Discography
- 4.1 Albums
- 4.2 Singles
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Early life

Bushido was born to a Tunesian 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.

[edit] Musical Career

In 2000 he began his musical career as a rapper. His first release was on the Frauenarzt-Tape with King Orgasmus 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.

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"(important German music award) as the "Best Live Act" and a MTV Europe Music Award in the category best German Act in 2006.

[edit] Controversy

Somewhat ironically, Bushido's admirers include both immigrants and extreme right-wing youth, 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 also set off by the line: "salutiert, steht stramm, ich bin der Leader wie A" (salute, stand briskly, I am the leader like A). A lot of people thought that the A means Adolf Hitler but he was talking about his friend Azad)

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 20 year old male, who was left with severe head injuries. Bushido blames the victim for damaging all tires of his BMW 7 Series. Bushido spent 15 days in jail before being released on €100,000 bail. He faced a 3 year sentence if convicted.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

1999: Demotape 1999 (Unpublished)
2001: King Of KingZ (Tape)
2002: Carlo, Cokxxx, Nutten, as Sonny Black with Fler as Frank White
2003: King Of Kingz (Digital Remastered Version)
2003: Vom Bordstein bis zur Skyline (DE: #87)
2004: King Of Kingz 2004 Edition
2004: Electro Ghetto (DE: #6)(Gold)
2005: Carlo Cokxxx Nutten 2, as Sonny Black with Saad (DE: #3)
2005: KoK / Demotape -extended version-
2005: Staatsfeind Nr. 1 (DE: #4)(Gold)
2006: ersguterjunger Sampler Vol. 1 - "Nemesis" (DE: #4)
2006: Deutschland, gib mir ein Mic! (Live-CD/DVD) (DE: #10)
2006: Von der Skyline zum Bordstein zurück (DE: #2) (A: #3) (CH: #15) (Gold)