Farid Bang

Farid Hamed El Abdellaoui, better known by his stage name Farid Bang, is a German gangsta rapper of Moroccan descent. Born in Melilla, Spain, he spent his early childhood in Málaga before moving to Germany at age eight. Over his musical career, he has achieved prominent chart positions in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland through both solo studio releases and collaborative projects.

Bang was born on 4 June 1986 to a father from Melilla and a Moroccan mother who grew up in Germany. He was raised in Düsseldorf, Germany, alongside his mother and sister, and has noted his Riffian-Berber background in his lyrics. During his youth, he idolized American gangsta rapper 50 Cent, who motivated him to start rapping and physical training. Addressing public debate surrounding gangsta rap, Bang has asserted that the music generally offers a positive influence by guiding young men toward maturity, suggesting that negative reactions stem from individuals with poor mental health misinterpreting the material.

At the age of 19, encouraged by his friend Tekken, Bang began rapping under the pseudonym Farid Urlaub, a parody of German singer Farin Urlaub. Through his friend Summer Cem, he met rapper Eko Fresh and signed to Fresh's record label, German Dream. In 2005, Bang featured on three tracks of Fresh's mixtape Fick immer noch deine Story, which was recorded as a diss against rapper Kool Savas.

In March 2009, Bang appeared alongside Kollegah and Favorite on the track Westdeutschlands Kings, released on the compilation album Chronik 2 by Selfmade Records. Later that year, in July 2009, Bang and Kollegah released the joint album Jung, brutal, gutaussehend, which peaked at number 30 in Germany and included the single Mitternacht. Bang released his second solo studio album, Asphalt Massaka 2, in March 2010. It reached number 56 on the German album charts and yielded singles including Teufelskreis and Es ist soweit.

In February 2011, Bang released his third studio album, Banger leben kürzer, supported by a ten-part promotional videoblog on YouTube. The album reached number 11 in Germany, number 25 in Switzerland, and number 32 in Austria, accumulating over 10,000 sales by December 2014. In 2013, he released Bitte Spitte Toi Lab, the lead single for his 2014 album Killa. The single became his first solo track to reach the German and Austrian Top 40, and Killa subsequently debuted at number 1 in both countries. He followed this with Asphalt Massaka 3 in 2015, which reached number 1 in Germany and Switzerland, and his seventh album, Blut, in 2016.

In 2018, Bang and Kollegah were the subject of criticism regarding alleged antisemitic lyrics on their collaborative album Jung, brutal, gutaussehend 3. The project won an Echo Award after being recognized as the highest-selling album of 2017.