Hussein Akkouche[2] (born 15 January 1995), known professionally as Samra, is a Lebanese-German rapper based in Berlin.[3][4] In November 2018, he had his first solo number-one in Germany with "Cataleya". In January 2019, Samra was named the winner of the Hiphop.de Award in the Best National Newcomer category.
Career
Samra (then known as Samra45) first attracted attention on the German rap scene in the autumn of 2016 as a guest performer on Alpa Gun's album Zurück zur Straße – particularly on "Chaos", where he criticized 187 Strassenbande.[1][5][2] Later that year, he was featured on Mert's "U21".[6][7] Samra was reportedly approached in 2017 by Farid Bang, who was interested in signing the rapper to his Banger Musik label, but Samra refused.[8][9][10] That year, Bushido signed Samra to his EGJ label.[5]
In April 2018, Samra released his first track in a year. The single, "Rohdiamant", had 6.6 million streams in its first week and debuted at number 26 in Germany.[11][12] It was the first time Samra entered the German charts.[12] In July, he reached number one as a featured artist on Bushido's "Für euch alle".[13]
Three months later, Samra was arrested in Prague after a police report of four armed men in a hotel; he and his crew were filming a music video. Among weapons seized by the police were pistols, a machete, an RGD-5 hand grenade and an RPG-75 anti-tank rocket launcher; when they were discovered to be deactivated (rendered incapable of firing), they were returned.[14]
In November 2018, at age 23, Samra had his first solo number one in Germany with "Cataleya"[15][16][17][18] (produced by Bushido).[2] In January 2019, he received the Hiphop.de Best National Newcomer award.[19]
That month, Samra reportedly left Bushido's label.[20] In March, he and Capital Bra reached number one in Germany with "Wir ticken".[21][22] Samra's EP, Travolta, was released as part of Capital Bra's CB6 premium box set on 26 April.[22][23]
The following month, "Wieder Lila" was Samra and Capital Bra's second number-one single in Germany.[24]
Stage name
According to laut.de, the rapper's choice of stage name is unusual;[1] Samra (سمرة) is taken from the Lebanese phrase (ابو سمرة) which means "the person with brunette features".[1][25][26]
^""Samra wird eines Tages größer als Capital Bra!" - Raptastisch". Raptastisch. 15 November 2018. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019. Vor allem seine neueste Single "Cataleya" sorgt für Aufsehen und könnte den ebenfalls 23 jährigen morgen schon auf Platz 1 der Singlecharts verhelfen.
^"Erste Promi-Mutter nennt ihr Kind "Cathaleya" - Raptastisch". 3 January 2019. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019. Vor einigen Monaten sorgte EGJ-Rapper Samra mit seiner ersten eigenen Nummer 1-Single für einen riesigen Hype um den Namen "Cataleya".
^"Samra – Cataleya". Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
