Film Xatar

[Nella Mcnairy]

Xatarwas born Giwar Hajabi to Kurdish parents in 1981 in Sanandaj, Iran. His father is the music professor Eghbal Hajabi.[2][3] In the early 1980s, his parents fled with him to nearby Iraq.[4] At this time, the first Gulf War broke out between the two Middle Eastern states. After Saddam Hussein's regime attacked the Kurdish minority in Iraq his parents were also tortured and imprisoned. He himself was held prisoner for three months near Bagdad.[5]

At the end of the 1990s Hajabi began using the pseudonym Xatar, the Kurdish term for "danger", to rap and produce beats in the recording room of a youth center.[6][7] In 2007 he founded the label Alles oder Nix Records, which signed a distribution contract with Groove Attack. The first artists he signed were Samy and SSIO.[5] His first album, Alles oder nix was released at the end of November 2008.[5] In addition to his label colleagues Samy and SSIO, it also features guest contributions from La Honda, Azad, Jetsett Mehmet, Jamila and Jalaal.[8] Less than a year after its release, Xatar's debut album was indexed by the Bundesprfstelle fr jugendgefhrdende Medien ("German Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors").[9]

One month after his release he released Schwesta Ewa's debut album Kurwa via his label.[20] At the same time he started the production of his third album, for which he was again able to attract a number of well-known guests such as SSIO, Haftbefehl, Schwesta Ewa, Olexesh, Kalim, Samy and Teesy. In May 2015 Baba aller Babas came out and reached number 1 on the German charts.[21] In Austria and Switzerland it reached number 3 respectively.[22] In the same year Xatar, together with SSIO and two other friends, opened the Shisha bar Bar Noon in Cologne together with SSIO.[23] On 12 October 2015, he published his autobiography Alles oder Nix: Bei uns sagt man, die Welt gehrt dir through riva Verlag. Xatar presented the book at the Frankfurt Book Fair and on stern TV.[24][25][26] He also founded Kopfticker Records, a second label for rappers who aren't stylistically suited to Alles oder Nix Records.[27] The first artist was Plusmacher with his album Ernte.[28][29]

At the beginning of 2016, Xatar performed in Berlin's Columbia Halle as part of the benefit campaign The Voice Of The Voiceless. Azad, SSIO, Schwesta Ewa, Haftbefehl and the 187 Strassenbande also took part in the event organised by the non-profit organisation Our Bridge to fund an orphanage in northern Iraq.[30] In the same year, Xatars main label Alles oder Nix Records released the albums 0,9, with which SSIO was able to reach Number 1 in the charts for the first time, and Odyssee 579 by Kalim.[31][32] In May 2016, Xatar and Haftbefehl announced their joint album Der Holland Job with a promotion campaign as part of the television show Studio Amani and the subsequent removal of their social media profiles.[33] The Berlin label Four Music released it on 12 August 2016.[34] The collaborative album occupied No. 1 in the charts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[35][36]

In 2017, the albums Shms by Samy and Thronfolger by Kalim appeared through Alles oder Nix Records, as did Xalaz by Eno, Entre 2 Mondes by Yonii, Kush Hunter by Plusmacher, Der letzte weisse Knig by Sylabil Spill and Favela by Levo through Kopfticker Records.[37][38][39][40] In November Xatar dissolved his second label, causing the rappers Eno, Yonii, Sylabil Spill, Aj, Joao Michel Diau, Dollar Euro Yen and Levo to lose their contracts. At the same time he announced the founding of the platform PUSH, where artists can present themselves. From 100,000 clicks on, they were to be given the opportunity to publish an album.[41][42]

In the same year, Xatar started to expand his activities away from the music industry. In cooperation with Golden Pipe he founded the shisha tobacco brand Orijinal.[43] He also started to work as a fashion and jewellery designer with the company Massari. For the brand he cooperated with DefShop.[44][45] Xatar was commissioned to compile a sampler for the German gangster movie Nur Gott kann ich richten with Moritz Bleibtreu, produced by zgr Yıldırım. It was released in January 2018 by the Warner Music Group. The sampler featured artistst such as Soufian, Lary, Disarstar, Luciano and Schwesta Ewa.[46][47] Xatar also appeared in a small role in the accompanying drama. He also had an acting role in the movie Familiye and the ZDFneo-sitcom Blockbustaz.[48][49][50]

In March 2018, Xatar signed a contract with Universal Music Group, which has since taken over the distribution of his label's releases. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his debut album, his fourth solo album Alles oder Nix II was released in the September. The limited box edition also includes the rapper's debut album, reduced by the number of indexed tracks. Capital Bra, Azet, Schwesta Ewa, Samy, Eno and Nu51 are featured as guest rappers.[51] Alles oder Nix II was the third album of the artist from Bonn to reach Number 1 in the charts.[52] In addition to his own album, Eno, who was taken over by Alles oder Nix Records, released the album Wellritzstrasse.[53] Schwesta Ewa and Samy also released albums, Aywa and Mann im Haus in 2018.[54][55] Kalim's contract with the label expired in summer. He later signed an artist contract with Urban.[56]

At the end of the year Xatar founded the label Groove Attack TraX together with the distributor Groove Attack. Mero was the first artist to receive a contract. With his first three singles Baller los, Hobby Hobby and Wolke 10 as well as his album Ya Hero Ya Mero, which followed in March 2019, he reached number 1 in the German charts.[57] Baller los also received gold records in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[58][59] This was followed in May 2019 by the release of Eno's album Fuchs by Alles oder Nix Records.[60] The single release Ferrari with Mero occupied number 1 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[61][62]

In May, the Y-Kollektiv published a documentary dealing with the manipulation of the number of downloads of streaming services and charts. The reporter Ilhan Coşkun interviewed a person appearing under the pseudonym Kai, who claimed to influence the charts on behalf of managers.[63] He mentioned Mero and Sero el Mero, two young rappers associated with Xatar, whose numbers he said had been manipulated. The video resonated widely with the German rap scene.[64][65] Xatar rejected the accusation that he had bought "fake streams".[66] Groove Attack and Groove Attack TraX also declared that at no time did they buy clicks or make any other manipulation effort to artificially make artists famous.[67] At the same time as the controversy Groove Attack TraX signed the Bremerhaven rapper Sero el Mero.[68] The singles Ohne Sinn, Dein Fahrer, Nokia and Telefon were followed in mid-August by his album BabyFaceFlow.[69]

With the Haval Grill Xatar entered the restaurant business in summer 2020. The fast food bar in Bonn, which specializes in kofta, is the first branch of a planned franchise for which he is looking for international licensees.[70][71][72] Xatar now also sells the products from his restaurant as frozen food.[73] At the beginning of 2021, Xatar founded the independent label Goldmann Entertainment, with which he is going to promote international musicians.[74][75] It was also announced that the German director Fatih Akin will film the rapper's life under the movie title Rheingold. The actor Emilio Sakraya is supposed to take on the leading role.[76][77][78]

Xatar celebrated his first successes as an artist in 2012. With his second album Nr. 415 he entered the top 20 of the album charts.[14] Impala, the association of independent labels, presented him with the Silver Award for selling more than 20,000 copies of the album.[79] Baba aller Babas marked the rapper's commercial breakthrough in 2015. The album sold over 70,000 copies, making it number 1 in the German charts.[21] Impala awarded it Double Silver.[79] The following albums released through the distribution channels of major labels, Der Holland Job and Alles oder Nix II, also reached number 1 in the charts.[35][52] Xatar also received awards for other artistic genres. As an author, he reached the top of the Spiegel bestseller list of non-fiction books in 2015 with his autobiography Alles oder Nix: bei uns sagt man man, die Welt gehrt dir.[80] In the same year, he first directed music videos with Nullkommaneun and SIM-Karte by SSIO.[81][82] At the Echo Music Prize in 2016 he received a nomination in the category Best Video National for the first-mentioned production.[83]

At the same time as his personal commercial breakthrough, Xatar was also able to celebrate his first successes as label manager of Alles oder Nix Records. While Schwesta Ewa's debut album Kurwa received the Silver Award from Impala, SSIO achieved Double Silver with his albums BB.U.M.SS.N and 0,9.[79] He achieved even higher sales and streaming figures with his company Groove Attack TraX at the end of 2018. The debut single of his first artist Mero already entered the German and Austrian single charts at number 1.[84][85] The subsequent tracks Hobby Hobby and Wolke 10 also reached the top positions of both countries.[86][87] In addition, Hobby Hobby achieved 2.1 million hits on the music streaming service Spotify on the day of its release. It is the most streamed title on a single day in Germany.[88] The third single Wolke 10 reached 4.47 million hits on YouTube, in the first 24 hours, making it "the biggest German HipHop debut on YouTube" according to the video portal.[89] With over 200,000 sales each, all three songs achieved gold status in Germany and Austria. Mero's first album Ya Hero Ya Mero climbed to position 1 in German-speaking countries in March 2019. The German-Kurdish rapper also achieved his first chart positions in the Netherlands and Belgium.[90] Ferrari, a collaboration of Eno and Mero, also took first place in the charts of three countries.[62]

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