Elias

The German rapper known as Elias (birth name Ali Bayala Bolonga) is an African immigrant who was born in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1996. Bolonga was brought up in the Düsseldorf area and whilst still attending school began to perform as a rapper appearing under the stage name Young Sweezy. At the age of 17 he was signed by the specialist rap label Out4Fame and released his debut EP 'NRW Fresher'. His record company promoted him by offering free downloads of his material and showcasing him at their in-house annual hip-hop festival. After the early publicity surrounding his signing, Bolonga's career stalled for a couple of years until he relaunched himself under the name Elias and featured on the 2017 track 'Erdbeerwoche' released by the hip-hop artists KC Rebell and Summer Cem. The song entered the German charts and interest in Bolonga amongst German hip-hop audiences began to gather momentum. After signing a new deal with Epic Records in 2020 he released the single 'Benzo' which eventually reached number 16 in the German charts.

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