Sido

Born in East Berlin to a German father and Sinti mother, Sido along with his mother and sister moved to West Berlin in 1988. Initially living in emergency accommodation the family subsequently moved into Märkisches Viertel, a high-rise block of flats in Reinickendorf. Since 1997 Sido has been using music as a means of communicating his thoughts and feelings, and alongside best freind B-Tight began releasing demos under the moniker Royal TS.

By 2002 the rapper had gone solo and self-released the mixtape “Aggro Ansage Nr. 1” led by the track “Arschficksong”. It wasn’t however until 2004 that Sido earned his big break with the lead single “Mein Block” taken from his debut studio album. Rising to No. 13 on the German Singles chart, the single documents his time in Märkisches Viertel, plagued by the social issues of drug use, police confrontations, and poverty. The rapper’s full-length “Maske” subsequently arrived in April 2004, earning popular reviews and peaking at No. 47 on the German Albums Chart.

Alongside labelmates B-Tight and Fler, Sido released the mixtapes “Aggro Ansage Nr. 4” and Aggro Ansage Nr. 5” in early 2005 before represting Berlin in the Bundesvision Song Contest 2005. The same year Sido issued the collaborative album “Dein Lieblings Album” with rapper Harris, under the name Deine Lieblings Rapper (Your Favourite Rappers).

The Berlin-native’s sophomore studio album “Ich” was released in December 2006, peaking at No. 4 on the German Albums Chart. Spawning the singles “Strassenjunge”, “Ein Teil von mir”, and “Schlechtes Vorbild” the record significantly aided the rapper’s ascension to the German mainstream. In 2007 Sido formed the hip-hop group Die Sekte with B-Tight, Rhyming Simon and Vokalmatador, and subsequently the label Sketenmuzik. The following year the rapper issued his third studio album “Ich und meine Maske” in May, and achieved success with the singles “Augen auf”, “Halt den Maul”, “Carmen”, “Herz”, and “Nein!”. With little time wasted Sido released his fourth full-length album “Aggro Berlin” in October 2009, led by the single “Dey du!”.