Gzuz

German rapper Gzuz first surfaced in 2009 when he joined the Hamburg-based hip-hop outfit 187 Strassenbande. The crew drew heavily from hardcore gangster rap, and the numerals in its name alluded to the U.S. police code designating homicide. Its self-titled debut appeared that same year, with Sampler 2 arriving in 2011; shortly afterward Gzuz was incarcerated for three years on a predatory-theft conviction. Freed in 2013, he teamed with fellow crew member Bonez MC to cut the joint project High & Hungrig, which entered the German Top Ten upon its 2014 release. Capitalizing on that success, the pair delivered 187 Strassenbande’s Sampler 3 in 2015 and watched it climb to number two. Gzuz also launched his solo career that year with Ebbe & Flut, another chart runner-up in Germany. The duo then topped the national listings in 2016 with High & Hungrig 2. Throughout this period Gzuz maintained an active schedule of guest appearances alongside fellow 187 Strassenbande artists and other figures in the domestic rap community.