Xatar, real name Giwar Hajabi, has died aged 43. He was one of the biggest names in the German rap game.
According to the German publication Bild, Hajabi passed away in Cologne, which contradicts other reports from the country that claim he died in Berlin. No cause of death has been provided at this current stage.
Xatar was born to Kurdish parents in Iran but was forced to flee the country due to Saddam Hussein’s attacks on the Kurdish community. He initially moved to nearby Iraq before eventually calling Germany home and becoming a huge star in his adoptive homeland.
He rose to the top of the German charts in 2015 with the album Baba aller Babas, but outside of his own music, Xatar played a pivotal role in the German hip-hop scene with his labels Alles oder Nix Records, Kopfticker Records, Groove Attack TraX and Goldmann Entertainment. In total, he released six albums with his final record, Hrrr, arriving in 2021.
In 2015, Xatar released his autobiography, Alles oder Nix: Bei uns sagt man, die Welt gehört dir, which detailed his early days involved in criminal activity, including serving time in prison for stealing a gold transport truck, and his transformation to become a huge name in the German music business.
In an interview with The Message Magazine in 2015, Xatar explained why he’s committed to rapping in German despite its limited international appeal, stating, “I’m not primarily looking for success; I needed it. There was no financial motive behind it. That would be so fake in English, man. German is the language I think in.”
Reflecting on his criminal past overshadowing his career, Xatar said in the same interview: “After prison, I got what felt like a thousand requests – for documentaries, reports, and films. I turned them all down. At first, I always wanted to release my album. I only spoke to hip-hop media about the album, even though talk shows wanted me. But the gold robbery was the only topic there. But now things are different because it’s about my life.”
This is a developing story.
