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Denis Cuspert

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Deso Dogg
(Abou Maleeq)
Deso Dogg (June 2005)
Deso Dogg (June 2005)
Background information
Birth nameDenis Mamadou Gerhard Cuspert
Also known asAbu Talha al-Almani (nom de guerre)
Born1975
Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany
GenresHip hop, Gangsta rap
Occupation(s)Rapper, Jihadist
Years active1995–2010
LabelsStreetlife Entertainment

Denis Mamadou Gerhard Cuspert better known by his stage name "Deso Dogg", (Berlin in 1975) is a German rapper[1] and signed to Streetlife Entertainment, releasing three albums: Schwarzer Engel (2006), Geeni'z in collaboration with Jasha (2008) and Alle Augen auf mich (2009).

He put his rap career on hold after converting to Islam and taking the name Abou Maleeq. He later on moved to Egypt and eventually to Syria, to fight on the side of the jihadist anti-government forces, under the nom de guerre of Abu Talha Al-Almani (meaning The German Abu Talha). He was injured during the fighting in the northern-Syrian town of Azaz after an air-strike conducted by the Syrian Army. In 2014 he gave his oath of allegiance to Islamist-Jihadi group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

There are conflicting reports about his death. A number of international media outlets have run reports based on Islamist online sources that he was killed on 20 April 2014 as a result of infighting amongst the Jihadi groups fighting in Syria, after the rival Al-Nusra Front launched a suicide attack against an ISIL post.[2] However German newspaper Die Welt quoted other foreign fighters as denying Cuspert's death and attributing the confusion to the death of another ISIL member who also used the alias of Abu Talha Al-Almani.[3]

Music career

Cuspert was born in Kreuzberg, a Berlin district to a German mother and a Ghanaian father. The father left while Cuspert was still a baby.[4] He was later raised Charlottenburg, Moabit and Schöneberg. His mother remarried a US Army officer, but Cuspert had many conflicts with his stepfather. He had a troubled youth and spent time in juvenile detention center for some time.[5] In 1995, he began a rapping career with varying success, as he got increasingly involved in street trouble and eventually in crime.

In 2002, he adopted the name Deso Dogg and began recording with the Berlin rapper Charnell, a well-known Berlin rapper in the German Gangsta-Rap tradition. Deso Dogg was, at that time, under detention in an open prison system for minor offenders. By mid-2004, he was repeatedly arrested for various new offences, including violations of the German Opium Act, and his probation was revoked and Deso Dogg had to serve time in the Tegel Prison.

After his release from detention, he worked with Montana of Montana Beatz and with producer Dean Dawson of Streetlife Entertainment and took part in the DMX Tour in 2005. After suffering from psychological problems, he was replaced on the tour by D-Flame. He admitted that his situation was so unstable he risked reverting to prison or worse, adding that he realized he needed to change. He later rejoined DMX Tour in 2006 after being given one more chance by the tour organizers.

He quit Streetlife label in 2007, reportedly to keep his artistic freedom. In September 2007, he announced working on a double album titled Alle Augen Auf Mich (meaning All eyes are on me). He also announced that he would quit after this project because he felt disappointed and betrayed by many people in the German rap scene. The launching of the album was repeatedly delayed to be ultimately released in November 2009.

Meanwhile in August 2008, he appeared in an episode of the television series Der Bluff playing a student whose turns into a gangsta rapper. In 2010 his song "Lied Willkommen in meiner Welt" was used in the ARD film courage to Zivilcourage.

Following a near death experience in a car crash,[5] and effected by Pierre Vogel, a former professional boxer and convert to Islam, he ended his rap career in 2010[6] declaring his own religious conversion to Islam.[7] He declared his decision to convert in a public video.[8] He became a member of a radical Islamic group called Die Wahre Religion (meaning The True Religion).[6] He also said he was dropping his earlier name Deso Dogg in favor of the Islamic name Abou Maleeq[9]

After conversion, he became an Islamic vocal music "nasheed" singer in German. Controversies ensued as he declared public support for Islamic "Mujahideen" forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Chechnya, describing Berlin as eine weitere Kuffar-Metropole (yet another kuffar (infidel) metropolis).

In April 2011, the Berlin public prosecutor brought charges of illegal possession of weapons after Cuspert appeared as "Abou Maleeq" in a YouTube video brandishing arms. In house raids, 16 cartridges of 9 mm caliber and .22 were found in the premises. On 18 August 2011, he was found guilty and fined a monetary fine of 1800 euros without any jail term being specified. German officials remained vigilant however claiming his videos and speeches contained inflammatory rhetoric that promoted violence.[1] Guido Steinberg, an Islamic studies expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs think-tank stated that Dogg's music "support[s] a radicalisation process."[10] The public broadcaster Südwestrundfunk (SWR) said in a report that the "Islamist radical Denis C. alias "Abu Maleeq" was being investigated for sedition". The popular Report Mainz news magazine on German ARD TV highlighted his videos, including publicly praising Osama bin Laden in one of his nasheeds. Abou Maleeq announced he was moving from Berlin to Bonn. But his nasheeds came under further scrutiny when Arid Uka, a Muslim Kosovo Albanian from Frankfurt am Main, revealed after assassinating two U.S. Airmen and severely wounded two others in an operation in Frankfurt Airport that he was greatly influenced in his actions by Abou Maleeq's works and that he was a great fan of the nasheed singer.

Involvement in Jihadism

Denis Cuspert became involved with the Egyptian Austrian-born al-Qaeda affiliate Muhammad Mahmoud (also known as Abu Usama Al-Gharib) who had founded the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) as well as the militant salafist group Millatu Ibrahim later banned by the German authorities.[9] German broadcaster ZDF also received footage apparently made by Cuspert where he threatened to start jihad in Germany and warned of many attacks. According to the German security authorities, Cuspert despite heavy observation managed to leave to Egypt to join the remnants of Millatu Ibrahim to try to establish a German Salafist colony that sought to impose Sharia law in Germany.[11]

In 2013, he appeared in a video claiming to be on a jihad mission in Syria[12] fighting with the opposition forces against the government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. He allegedly operated in Syria as a fighter with the Syrian opposition under the nom de guerre of Abu Talha Al-Almani (Abu Talha the German).[5]

In September 2013, Cuspert was reportedly injured in an air attack in Syrian Civil War.[13][14] Speculations about his death during the air strike as widely reported by the media proved to be immature. Desi Dogg continued to post video footage and online messages in German about his activities, including them his advocacy for active participation in jihad and for enactment of sharia law.

In November, German authorities issued a warning emanating from its Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) and made public through the Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt), about a possible attack by Cuspert against German institutions working in Turkey. The warning published by German national daily Die Welt explained that according to the German Foreign Office, it is possible that "Cuspert could use an explosive-laden vehicle".[15][16] In a video posted online, Denis Cuspert denied ever having had such plans against Turkey or institutions working in Turkey" adding that Germany was not his "objective in terms attacks".[16]

According to many media sources, he was reportedly killed by a Nusra Front suicide attack in April 2014[17] in eastern Syria. The reports of his death have not been independently confirmed. ISIL have denied the news of his death to the German national daily Die Welt.[3]

Discography

Albums

  • 2006: Schwarzer Engel
  • 2008: Geeni'z (with Jasha)
  • 2009: Alle Augen auf mich

Mixtapes

  • 2006: Murda Cocctail Volume 1 (Mixtape)

Others

  • 2006: Willkommen in meiner Welt
  • 2007: Afrikana
  • 2008: Gast ist König... (Feature-Compilation)
Featured in
  • 2006: "Am abzug" (Fler featuring Deso Dogg)

References

  1. ^ a b Mekhennet, Souad. "Osama’s name flows in our blood: Ex-rapper" The New York Times at Indian Express. Friday September 2, 2011. 1. Retrieved on November 27, 2011
  2. ^ "German rapper-turned-jihadist killed in Syria". www.rte.ie. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  3. ^ a b Florian Flade (22 April 2014). "Verwirrung über "Deso Doggs" angeblichen Tod" (in German). Die Welt. Retrieved 23 April 2013. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Mekhennet, Souad. "Osama’s name flows in our blood: Ex-rapper." The New York Times at Indian Express. Friday September 2, 2011. 2. Retrieved on November 27, 2011.
  5. ^ a b c Martin Armstrong (20 September 2013). "The search for Deso Dogg, the German rapper turned jihadi poster boy". vice.com. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  6. ^ a b Patrick Saint-Paul (2 September 2011). "Deso Dogg, rappeur allemand devenu chantre du djihad" (in French). Le Figaro. Retrieved 25 November 2013. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Mekhennet, Souad. "Osama’s name flows in our blood: Ex-rapper." The New York Times at Indian Express. Friday September 2, 2011. 3. Retrieved on November 27, 2011.
  8. ^ Public video of Deso Dogg's conversion to Islam
  9. ^ a b Mekhennet, Souad."Austrian Returns, Unrepentant, to Online Jihad." The New York Times. November 16, 2011. Retrieved on November 27, 2011.
  10. ^ Maclean, William. "Analysis - Islamist videos, populists stir German worries." Reuters. September 5, 2011. Retrieved on November 27, 2011.
  11. ^ Weinthal, Benjamin. "The rise of a 'German Salafist colony' in Egypt". The Long War Journal. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  12. ^ http://vvanwilgenburg.blogspot.com/2013/08/german-rapper-joins-syrian-jihad.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
  13. ^ AFP / France 24: German rapper-turned-jihadist injured fighting in Syria
  14. ^ News.com.au Rapper-turned-jihadist, Deso Dogg or Abu Talha al-Almani, injured in strike in Syria
  15. ^ Die Welt: Türkei - Deutschland warnt vor Anschlag durch Ex-Rapper Template:De icon
  16. ^ a b Die Welt: Islamist Cuspert - "Deutschland ist nicht mein Anschlags-Ziel" Template:De icon
  17. ^ http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/german-rapper-turned-jihadist-killed-syria

Weinthal, Benjamin. "The rise of a 'German Salafist colony' in Egypt". at The Long War Journal. August 15, 2012. Retrieved on August 15, 2012.

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