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As Bushido portrays it, he was sitting in the passenger seat of a silver Audi in Berlin-Kreuzberg when he made the deal with the devil. It must have been between mid-June and early July 2004, he doesn’t know exactly anymore, says the rapper at the Berlin regional court. Arafat Abou-Chaker was sitting in the driver’s seat.
It is the second day of the testimony of Anis Ferchichi alias Bushido in the trial against Arafat Abou-Chaker and three of his brothers. The rapper and the head of a Berlin clan were business partners. Abou-Chaker is now in the dock and Bushido, as a co-plaintiff, is the most important witness in the trial for attempted gross blackmail, dangerous battery and other charges.
In 2004 Arafat Abou-Chaker ensured that the Aggro Berlin label signed a termination agreement with Bushido. The rapper had said the day before the negotiation that there had been disagreements, so he wanted to part ways with Aggro Berlin. Aggro Berlin describes parts of this statement as false and demands an omission of the Bushido. That day he has a paper package with him, “completely prophylactic.” It is about “all contracts” between him and Aggro Berlin. Deliver the pile to the field. Then he begins to tell how Arafat Abou-Chaker came into his life.
“Hamudi Wasserkopf” as an intermediary
Bushido says that after consulting a lawyer, he “did not see any legal possibility” of how to exit the contract with Aggro Berlin according to his own ideas. Bushido decided to seek help elsewhere. He turned to “the Schöneberg boys.” “King Ali” was a big name on the street back then. He asked him to send one of the boys to Aggro Berlin. He had given him a termination agreement that his attorney had prepared. Aggro Berlin should have signed them. Weeks have passed, nothing has happened.
Then he turned to “Hamudi Wasserkopf”, “a special person” in Berlin-Schöneberg, as Bushido puts it, “very enthusiastic about hip-hop” – and a cousin of Arafat Abou-Chaker, whom he did not know. “Hamudi Wasserkopf” then introduced him to the clan chief and they met in front of a nightclub. “He didn’t seem very interested. He looked relatively gloomy, distant,” says Bushido. “It was the first time in my life that I saw Arafat Abou-Chaker.”
The second time was in a cafe in Kreuzberg when he described his problem with Aggro Berlin to Abou-Chaker. A few days later they saw each other for the third time and went together to Aggro Berlin. They went to the studio alone. Initially, only “Specter”, one of the three founders of the label, was present.
First slap in the face, then sign
As Bushido portrays it, Abou-Chaker only had to emphatically demand his signature, then “Specter” would have signed the cancellation agreement. Then his business partner Halil Efe was called to the study by phone. When he responded, Abou-Chaker first slapped him and then grabbed his ear. Finally, Efe also signed. The third founder of the company, “Spaiche”, recently appeared in the study. Accompanied by a friend who had been fired. Spaiche asked Bushido looking at Abou-Chaker: “Is this how it should work now? Is this how you want to do it now?” But in the end he also signed.
“Yes, that’s it,” says Bushido and looks at the presiding judge. “So he was no longer contractually bound to Aggro Berlin.” “And how did it go?” Asks the judge. “For me personally, the world was fine in the beginning,” says Bushido. If you believe their descriptions, this feeling did not last long. Then he tells a story that he has never told publicly before.
Arafat Abou-Chaker wanted to see him again. He drove to Kreuzberg and sat in the car with the clan chief. He first asked if Bushido’s attorney had reviewed the contract in the meantime and if everything was okay. “It fits, everything is great,” Bushido responded in court. Tends to make dialogue appear verbatim. Then Abou-Chaker wanted to know what he was getting for his engagement.
“Scared”
Bushido says he expected the question. He told Arafat Abou-Chaker that Universal wanted to sign him. It was a so-called tape transfer contract and an advance of 50,000 euros. He told Abou-Chaker: “I am willing to give you 20,000 euros.” Abou-Chaker reacted completely unexpectedly. I was scared”.
“I didn’t understand why the conversation completely escalated,” says Bushido. Abou-Chaker grunted and scolded. He cursed his cousin who introduced him to Bushido. He screamed, “What an idiot I am because I fell in love with you.” At some point Arafat Abou-Chaker said: “If he is right, he will give me a percentage.” He has demanded “from now on to be involved in whatever he wins, in all areas,” says Bushido. “It was absurd.”
Bushido says: “To be honest, I didn’t know him. Of course he did me a great favor. A lump sum of 20,000 or 25,000 euros would have been absolutely appropriate, but no participation.” Arafat Abou-Chaker kept betting. “Out of necessity, I asked him: ‘What percentage do you imagine?'” But Bushido had to name the first number himself. “As a precaution, I said 20 percent. Then the next bomb went off.”
Bushido says he was totally intimidated. He saw how Abou-Chaker performed at Aggro Berlin and how he managed “alone” to force the three founders of the label to sign. Bushido says that Aggro Berlin’s representation that they were in the studio with six people and a machete at the time is incorrect. “Everything sucks.” He was only there with Abou-Chaker, “Arafat and I are alone.”
30 percent participation
In the car, Arafat Abou-Chaker said: “For once, I would be satisfied with 30 percent.” Bushido takes a deep breath. “So I said, ‘Okay, from now on you’ll get 30 percent of everything I earn.’ He was forced to participate, says the rapper in court.
Asks the judge. He says the newspapers talk about “a close friendship from day one”, “not coercion at all.” Yes, says Bushido, “I never told this story to anyone.” Only last year did he speak about it for the first time in questioning. It wasn’t a friendship, even if it looked like that in hindsight.
