Samra

Samra is a German rapper and singer of Lebanese origin. His full name is Hussein Akkouche and he was born on January 15, 1995 in Berlin-Lichtenfelde. Samra’s parents come from southern Lebanon. He himself was born in Berlin, is a German citizen and grew up with five siblings in the Thermometersiedlung in Berlin-Lichterfelde. Samra is known for his combination of gangsta rap and melodic rap. He attracted particular attention in the German rap scene in the 2010s.

Career

Samra started releasing his first songs in 2009, at that time still under the stage name Pimp Hussin. This was followed by her first appearances at events such as the Graffitibox Summerjam. After further name changes to Samra45 or Samra, which means “the dark one” in Arabic, the Berlin rapper joined Alpa Guns Caney Armee. After a first feature on Alpa Gun’s album “Ehrensache II” in 2015, Samra first attracted attention on his album “Zurück zur Straße”. Shortly afterwards, Farid Bang expressed interest in signing Samra to his label Banger Musik. A track with YouTuber and rapper Mert followed in 2016.

In 2017, Samra signed a contract with the Ersguterjunge label from Bushido. Years later, Samra described the contract as a gagging agreement in which he himself only received 20 percent of the revenue. His first single Rohdiamant, which reached number 26 in the German charts, was released on April 13, 2018. Shortly afterwards, Bushido parted ways with the Abou Chaker clan and Samra remained the label’s only active signing alongside Bushido until rapper Capital Bra expanded the label back into a trio. Bushido and Samra traveled to Japan and filmed the video for the song Hades, the first single from Bushido’s next album Mythos. The single entered the German singles charts at number 8 on June 22, 2018.

On July 5, 2018, the track Für euch alle was released together with Bushido and Capital Bra. The single reached number 1 in the German and Austrian single charts. It was the first number one hit for Samra and Bushido in both countries. On November 9, 2018, the song Cataleya was released and reached number one in the German singles charts. This was Samra’s second time at the top position. On January 11, 2019, a new track entitled Instinkte was released exclusively via the streaming service Amazon Music. Shortly afterwards, a music video was released on YouTube, which reached number 1 in the German trends. The song was Samra’s last release under Ersguterjunge.

On March 15, 2019, Samra released the collaboration “Wir ticken” via Capital Bra’s label Bra Musik. The song immediately reached number 1 in the German singles charts. At the beginning of April 2019, it was announced that Samra, like Capital Bra shortly before, had parted ways with Bushido’s label Ersguterjunge and signed a contract with Universal Urban. The split was preceded by the song Fick 31er by Capital and Samra in January 2019, for which the two rappers used the instrumental of their former label boss’s track Nie wieder.

With the release of Harami in April 2019, Samra reached the top of the German singles charts for the fourth time. The song was the first single from the EP Travolta, which accompanied Capital Bra’s album CB6. Just one month later, the collaboration Wieder Lila with Capital Bra also reached number one in the German singles charts.

A week later, he released the single Marlboro Rot, which reached over two million clicks on YouTube within two days. Samra’s debut album Marlboro Rot was originally announced for September 13, 2019, but was renamed Smoking Kill in June 2019 and is scheduled for release on February 28, 2020. On October 4, 2019, a collabo album with Capital Bra was released, entitled Berlin lebt 2, which pays homage to Capital Bra’s album Berlin lebt (2018).

The singles Tilidin, Zombie, Nummer 1, Huracan and 110 had already been released in advance. With the latter, Capital Bra and Samra broke both the record for the most streamed song in Germany in one day and the record for the most streamed song in one week with around 15 million views.

Despite the great success of Berlin lebt 2, Samra disappeared with the deactivation of her Instagram account on October 4, 2019. Samra returned on December 5, 2019 and released the single Colt on December 6.

Samra’s first solo album Jibrail & Iblis was released on April 16, 2020. It reached the top of the album charts in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. On January 21, 2021, Capital Bra announced their separation from Samra in a video published on Instagram entitled Die Augen lügen nie Chico. In an interview with the Youtuber Leeroy Matata in November 2022, Samra explained that the track and the accompanying video did not belong in the public domain. In the meantime, however, he and Capital Bra had spoken and reconciled.

At the beginning of 2021, it was announced that Samra had founded its own label, Cataleya Edition, for which iGroove acts as distributor. Samra’s first two signings were Ano in January 2021 and Bojan in August 2021. On May 13, 2022, the three rappers released a joint sampler entitled Cataleya Ed1tion.

Samra owns a hairdressing salon called Cutaleya in Berlin-Lichterfelde. In 2022, he launched his own e-cigarette line Undercover Vapes. In spring 2023, he also opened his first tattoo studio in Berlin under the name Cataleya Ink. Samra has worked with LunaElif and Sido on the track “Lieber allein”.

Cooperation

Samra has worked with various artists in his career to date, broadening his artistic horizons. He is best known for his collaborations with the likes of Capital Bra and Bushido. He was originally part of Bushido’s Ersguterjunge label before taking his own artistic direction. His music is characterized by profound lyrics and versatility, which led to several successful albums and singles. This diversity contributed to the development and diversification of the German rap genre. Samra has also worked with artists such as Pietro Lombardi, Elif, Sido, LEADardan, Lune, Shirin DavidBojan, Helene Fischer and Nico Santos and thus expanded his artistic spectrum.

Studio albums

• 2020 Jibrail & Iblis
• 2021 Rough diamond

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