K.i.z. Biography

K.I.Z is a German hip hop group from Berlin. The members are the three rappers Tarek, Nico and Maxim, with a DJ called DJ Craft. Their lyrics often contain a lot of black humor and irony as well as sociocritical content.

K.I.Z has several meanings. Members of the band have suggested numerous meanings for the acronym, such as Kriegsverbrecher im Zuchthaus ("war criminals in penitentiary"), Kannibalen in Zivil ("cannibals in plain clothes"), Künstler in Zwangsjacken ("artists in straight jackets "), or Kreuzritter in Zentralasien ("crusaders in central Asia"), Krüppel im Zwinger ("cripples in the kennel"), Kapitalismus ist Zauberhaft (literally: "capitalism is magical" idiomatic: "capitalism is lovely"), Klosterschüler im Zölibat ("Monastic novices in celibacy") or Knoblauch, Ingwer, Zwiebel ("garlic, ginger, onion").

Tarek
Tarek Ébéne was born in Freiburg im Breisgau. His family moved soon to the Mediterranean coast of Spain. As a young man, he moved back to Berlin where he met Maxim. Tarek is also known as Skinhead-Black.

Maxim
Maxim Drüner is of French descent and speaks French fluently (as for instance in his part on the group's song "Tanz"). He was born and grew up in Berlin.

Nico
Nicolas Seyfried grew up in Berlin and began to make rap music at the age of 15.

DJ Craft
Sil Yan Bori was born 1985, in Berlin. He mixes songs from many different music styles like Dancehall, Dunk or Hip-Hop.