Xatar

In the early 1980s, his parents fled with him to nearby Iraq.

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.

Giwar Hajabi (ژیوار حاجبی, ; born 24 December 1981), better known by his stage name Xatar, is a German entrepreneur, publisher, rapper and producer.

He is also founder and owner of the labels Alles oder Nix Records, Kopfticker Records, Groove Attack TraX and Goldmann Entertainment.

Through his labels, he promoted hip hop musicians such as SSIO, Schwesta Ewa, Kalim, Eno, Mero, and Sero el Mero.

In addition to his musical activities, Xatar expanded his entrepreneurial work with the fast food company Haval Grill, the hookah lounge Bar Noon, the tobacco brand Orijinal and jewelry and clothing design for Massari.

Xatar was born Giwar Hajabi to Kurdish parents in 1981 in Sanandaj, Iran.

His father is the music professor Eghbal Hajabi.

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.

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.

His first album, Alles oder nix was released at the end of November 2008.

In addition to his label colleagues Samy and SSIO, it also features guest contributions from La Honda, Azad, Jetsett Mehmet, Jamila and Jalaal.

Less than a year after its release, Xatar's debut album was indexed by the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien ("German Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors").

In 2009, Xatar was involved in the robbery of a gold transport truck.

He and three accomplices stole €1.7 million and fled to Iraq.

The next year, he was extradited back to Germany and imprisoned.

He continued to run Alles oder Nix Records from prison, signing the rapper Schwesta Ewa.

He also worked on his second album, playing instrumentals on a smuggled mobile phone at night and rapping his lyrics into a voice recorder.

He then sent the tapes by post to his label.

The album was completed and supplemented by guest contributions from rappers such as Farid Bang, Nate57, Celo & Abdi, Capo and Eko Fresh and released on his label in April 2012.

The album ''Nr.

415'', named after his prisoner number, entered the German album charts at number 19.

In Switzerland it reached number 23 and in Austria 52.

Besides ''Nr.

415, Alles oder Nix Records also released the albums Spezial Material and BB.UM.SS.N by SSIO, Realität by Schwesta Ewa and Sechs Kronen'' by Kalim during Xatar's imprisonment.

One month after his release he released Schwesta Ewa's debut album Kurwa via his label.

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.

He authored his autobiography Alles oder Nix: Bei uns sagt man, die Welt gehört dir ("All or nothing: We say the world belongs to you") in 2015.

The newspaper Die Zeit calls him "The Hype Machine" pointing out that each venture becomes a business.

In May 2015 Baba aller Babas came out and reached number 1 on the German charts.

In Austria and Switzerland it reached number 3 respectively.

In the same year Xatar, together with SSIO and two other friends, opened the Shisha bar Bar Noon in Cologne together with SSIO.

On 12 October 2015, he published his autobiography Alles oder Nix: Bei uns sagt man, die Welt gehört dir through riva Verlag.

Xatar presented the book at the Frankfurt Book Fair and on stern TV.

He also founded Kopfticker Records, a second label for rappers who aren't stylistically suited to Alles oder Nix Records.

The first artist was Plusmacher with his album Ernte.

At the beginning of 2016, Xatar performed in Berlin's Columbia Halle as part of the benefit campaign The Voice Of The Voiceless.