Who is rapper Xatar? Kurdish rap icon found dead in Germany at 43

German rapper Xatar, whose real name was Giwar Hajabi, was discovered dead in an apartment in Cologne on May 8, 2025, leaving behind a storied musical legacy. The cause of the rapper’s death hasn’t been disclosed, as his family has not yet made a statement.

Xatar was a multihyphenate German artist and the founder of record labels Goldmann Entertainment, Nix Records, Groove Attack TraX, and Kopfticker Records. The 43-year-old rapper, producer, songwriter, and entrepreneur is survived by his wife, Farvah, and five children.

Rapper Farid Barang was one of the first to announce Xatar’s death on social media, taking to Instagram to pen a heartfelt tribute to his late colleague and friend. Barang shared a photo of himself and the late Xatar with the caption:

"R.I.P. Giwar!!! May your soul rest in peace. My sincere condolences to your family. You left German rap as one of the biggest rap legends; I will always remember you well.”

The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Cologne is investigating his death to determine whether there was any criminally relevant third-party negligence.

Rapper Xatar’s musical legacy explored as he dies unexpectedly at age 43

Giwar Hajabi, aka Xatar, was born to Kurdish parents in 1981, who later migrated to Germany to escape Saddam Hussein’s regime. In the 1990s, Hajabi began rapping under the pseudonym Xatar.

He founded the label Alles oder Nix Records in 2007 and signed two artists. His debut album Alles oder nix was released in November 2008 and was later indexed by the German Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors.

In 2009, Xatar became involved in a robbery and served a prison sentence. While in prison, he released his second album Nr. 415, which peaked at number 19 on the German Album Charts.

His breakout musical project, Baba aller Babas, was released in May 2015 and debuted atop the German Album Charts. That same year, he published his autobiography Alles oder Nix: Bei uns sagt man, die Welt gehört dir, which detailed his musical journey and early brushes with crime.

In a 2015 interview with The Message Magazine, Xatar explained that he preferred rapping in German because it was his soul language:

"I’m not primarily looking for success; I needed it. There was no financial motive behind it. That would be so fake in English, man. German is the language I think in.”

Xatar released a total of six albums, the final one titled Hrrr, which came out in 2021.

Tributes have continued to pour in from the German music community and international artists alike.

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