Farid Bang

Farid Hamed El Abdellaoui (born 4 June 1986), better known as Farid Bang, is a German gangsta rapper of Spanish-Moroccan descent. He’s from a part of Spain that’s on the North African coast, bordering Morocco. His parents are Moroccan. At the age of eight, he immigrated from Spain to Germany. Growing up, he idolised the American gangsta rapper 50 Cent, who inspired him to start rapping and working out. Farid Bang addresses the controversy that gangsta rap has a negative influence on youth, arguing that it generally has a positive impact on young men by helping them grow into mature men. He claims that the individuals who are negatively influenced by it often suffer from poor mental health, which causes them to misinterpret the message.

Early life

Farid Bang was born in Melilla, Spain, and grew up in Málaga. At the age of eight, he moved to Düsseldorf, Germany with his mother and sister. His mother grew up in Germany and is of Moroccan descent, while his father is from Melilla, Spain. Bang has mentioned in songs that he is of Riffian-Berber origin. Inspired by his friend Tekken, Bang started rapping at the age of 19 and, with the help of his friend Summer Cem, soon met Eko Fresh, who had already achieved a certain level of fame in Germany. He signed with Fresh's label German Dream and was featured in three songs in his 2005 mixtape Fick immer noch deine Story ("Fuck your story still"), which was Eko's diss against his former mentor and friend, German-based rapper Kool Savas. At this time, Bang was still using the pseudonym Farid Urlaub (parodying German singer Farin Urlaub).