From a phantom to a phenomenon: The music label responsible for the German rapper Cro first noticed him online at the beginning of 2011 and then searched for him on Twitter. The rapper's first video for his song "Easy" was launched online at the end of the same year and was able to attract several million clicks within just a few weeks. It is now virtually impossible to find a magazine or television channel that does not feature Cro in its reports, a radio station that does not play his hit song "Easy" or a concert that is not completely sold out. According to the German singer Jan Delay, Cro is the "future of German hip hop". Cro, the man with the panda mask, is being awarded the BAMBI 2012 Award in the category of "German Pop" at the BAMBI Award Ceremony in the German city of Düsseldorf.

 

According to the BAMBI jury: "He's a rapper, a pop star and much more: the musician and producer Cro combines the best of two musical worlds. He presents his hits such as 'Easy' by incorporating his striking rap rhythms into extremely catchy pop melodies to produce a phenomenon that he calls 'Raop': a new musical genre. His music video for 'Easy" has been viewed 30 million times on YouTube and in June the record went gold. Cro likes to keep both his real name and his face under wraps and therefore wears his trademark panda mask during his performances and in photos. He has rejected the superficial cult status that surrounds stars and instead created his own unique status, meaning that the idol of millions is now the man in the panda mask."

 

Cro grew up in a suburb of the German city of Stuttgart and was part of a musical family in which his father introduced him to the masters of rock and his mother taught him how to play the piano. He built his first beats at the age of around 13 or 14 and joined forces with some of his friends to found "Black Box Records", a makeshift recording studio in a friend's cellar. After recording his first mixtape "Trash", Cro went on to give a number of small performances in his home town. His breakthrough came in 2011 when the download of his second mixtape "Meine Musik" ('My Music') was discovered online by the indie label Chimperator from Stuttgart. Cro's debut album "Raop", which was released in July 2012, has been in the top 15 of the German charts for 12 weeks now and has even spent five weeks at number one. It has reached platinum status and sold over 200,000 copies so far. His single "Easy" has now sold 340,000 copies and is on its way to becoming double platinum, despite the fact that it was already available for free online three months before being released for purchase. Cro's success has continued to rapidly increase since "Easy". His second single "Du" ('You') reached gold status shortly after being released and his third single "Einmal um die Welt" ('Once around the World') is well on the way to achieving similar success.