Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
Rapper Kool Savas emerged as one the most controversial German pop stars of his generation via misogynistic and homophobic lyrics that followed in the divisive traditions of American hip-hop. Born Savas Yurderi in Aachen, Germany, on February 10, 1975, he was the son of Turkish immigrants that returned to their homeland shortly after his birth. There his father was imprisoned for political activism, forcing his mother to return to Aachen alone. The family reunited in 1987 and relocated to Berlin, where 12-year-old Yurderi first discovered rap. He also pursued acting, and in 1997 made his feature debut in the film Geschwister-Kardesler. Originally dubbing himself King Kool Savas, he first surfaced in English-language hip-hop collectives like the Basic Elements and M.O.R. ("Masters of Rap"), and made his recorded debut on the 1999 Westberlin Maskulin release Hoes, Flows, Moneytoes. After creative differences forced him out of M.O.R. in 2001, Kool Savas mounted a solo career, founding his own Optik label to issue the LP Der Beste Tag Meines Lebens. Singles like "Schwule Rapper" ("Gay Rappers") and "Pimplegionär" ("Pimp Legionaire") earned him a devoted fan following as well as the scorn of critics. Kool Savas also transformed Optik into more than a vanity label, recruiting an impressive roster of up-and-coming acts including Eko Fresh, DJ Nicon, and Melbeatz (aka Melanie Wilhelm, Yurderi's longtime girlfriend). Eko Fresh later exited Optik and in late 2004 issued "Die Abrechnung," an attack on Kool Savas that quickly earned an answer record, "Das Urteil." Yurderi also maintained an ongoing feud with Swedish rapper Promoe. The second Kool Savas album, Optik Takeover, followed in 2006.
Wikipedia:
Savas Yurderi (born 10 February 1975) also known as Kool Savas (or as well King Kool Savas), is a German rapper and hip hop artist. Savas is mostly referred to as "King of Rap" or "King of German Rap".
"Savaş" is the Turkish word for "war".
Biography
Born in Aachen, Germany to a German mother and a Turkish father, Savas' family moved back to Turkey when he was one year old. His father, who is from Çorum, Turkey, was arrested because of his political posture against the government in Turkey, and as a result of his father's arrest, his mother was forced to return to Aachen with Savas. By 1987, his father was released and the entire family was reunited and relocated to Berlin. It was in Berlin where Savas first came across Hip Hop music.
Savas lived with his girlfriend, Melbeatz, in Berlin for an extended amount of time. As a result, the majority of Savas' beats were produced by her. Although Savas and his girlfriend are no longer together, they remain close friends.
Although Savas is popularly called a "Berlin rapper," he resides in Heidelberg. He is also a vegetarian.
Career
2000: Early career
Savas started his rap career with the EP Warum rappst du, containing rather provocative lyrics in songs such as "L.M.S.", "Schwule Rapper" and "Pimplegionär". He first started under the name Juks and rapped mostly in English. He became successful through the groups Masters of Rap (M.O.R.) and Westberlin Maskulin.
In 2001, he and all of M.O.R. left former label Put Da Needle To Da Records, because of personal and artistic differences. They released a diss track against former label CEO Peter Sreckovic titled "Track gegen Peter" where Savas gave reason for his exit.
Beginning in 2002, he founded his own label, Optik Records, where he released his first solo album titled Der beste Tag meines Lebens, for which he won a Comet award. For the album, Savas worked together with several domestic and foreign musicians including Azad, Samy Deluxe, Kurupt, 40 Glocc, Dem Franchize Boyz, Lumidee, RZA, Moses Pelham, J-Luv, Bligg, Jadakiss, Royce da 5'9", Xavier Naidoo, Mobb Deep, Ying Yang Twins and Illmatic. The album sold over 90,000 copies worldwide.
With his record label, Savas tried to build up other artists. He discovered Eko Fresh and signed many upcoming artists such as DJ Nicon, Melbeatz, Ercandize, Caput, Amar, Sinan and Moe Mitchell.
In 2004, Savas released his first mixtape, "Kool Savas goes Hollywood" which was later made available as free online download.
Since early 2005, Savas has been supporting the efforts of his younger brother Sinan, his cousin Dimi and his brother-in-law Igor in their blooming rap careers.
In 2005, he released his mixtape titled "Die John Bello Story". It was the most successful mixtape in Europe in 2005 and also Savas' best to date at over 60,000 sold copies. In the same year he produced the album "One", together with Azad. The hit single "All 4 One" peaked at 4 in the German Top 100 Singles.
In 2006, Savas released the label sampler "Optik Takeover", a collaboration with several other artists signed to Optik Records. Also in 2006, he released an album with Optik Schweiz, the Swiss counterpart of Optik Records, titled "Wer Hatz Erfunden".
His second solo album, Tot oder Lebendig (eng. Dead or Alive), was released in 2007 and proved to be successful at 50,000 sold copies.
Savas released the sequel mixtape "Die John Bello Story 2" in 2008. He then went on to release an updated version labeled the "Brainwash Edition".
In 2009, he released the EP "Was hat S.A.V da vor" with the Hip Hop Magazine Juice. The same year saw the release of a collaboration album with Optik Russia which was called "New Russian Standard".
On March 12, 2010, Savas released "Die John Bello Story 3" which sold roughly 50,000 copies. The album featured fellow rappers Azad, Curse, Ying Yang Twins, Olli Banjo, Ercandize, Moe Mitchell, Amar, Franky Kubrick, Kaas, Mo Trip, Sinan, Tua, Vega, Kitty Kat, Laas Unltd. and more.
His 2011 album Aura included a single with the same name and a song featuring Xavier Naidoo, titled LMS 2012.
Controversy
Eko Fresh
In 2002 Eko Fresh and Savas began to dispute. Eko Fresh left the label and continued his career without his colleague. He released "Die Abrechnung", a song which spoke out against Kool Savas and other German rappers. Savas replied with "Das Urteil", which also became a hit song.
