Cro (musician)
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Carlo Waibel (born 31 January 1990), better known by the stage name Cro, is a German rapper and singer. He describes his music as a mixture between
rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...
and
pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...
, which he calls "raop". He is known for wearing a
panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is ...
mask on stage.


Early life

Cro was born Carlo Waibel. He attended the
Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...
Galgenberg in
Aalen Aalen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Oole'') is a town located in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about east of Stuttgart and north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district and is its largest town. It is ...
, and later the Johannes-Gutenberg-Schule, a
vocational school A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary education#List of tech ed skills, secondary or post-secondar ...
in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
. He began recording music at the age of 13. and learned to play piano and guitar.


Musical career

In 2009, Cro released his first
mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...
, ''Trash''. On 11 February 2011, his second mixtape ''Meine Musik'' was released. It was available for free download. Cro produced the entire mixtape by himself. Through the mixtape German hip-hop musician Kaas took notice of Cro. Besides his musical career, Cro is also active as a designer. Since 2010, he has been designing under his clothing label ''Vio Vio''. After receiving his
Mittlere Reife The Mittlere Reife (, lit. ''"Middle Maturity"'') is a school-leaving certificate in Germany that is usually awarded after ten years of schooling. It is roughly comparable with the British GCSE. The official name varies between the federal st ...
, he completed an apprenticeship as a media designer and worked for the ''
Stuttgarter Zeitung The () is a German language, German-language daily newspaper (except Sundays) edited in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, with a run of about 200,000 sold copies daily. History and profile It was first edited on 18 September 1945, just ...
'' as a cartoonist. Through Kaas, Cro met Sebastian Andrej Schweizer, founder of the independent-label, Chimperator Productions, and Kodimey Awokou. At the end of September 2011, a "Making of" video for a new artist was published by the label leading to speculations about which artist had been actually signed. In October 2011, Schweizer announced that he had signed Cro. From 30 October until 7 November 2011, Cro was a supporting act for the Norwegian band
Madcon Madcon is a Norwegian musical duo formed in 1992 by Yosef Wolde-Mariam and Tshawe Baqwa. They have released eight albums as of 2018, and became known for their 2007 cover of the 1967 song "Beggin'" by The Four Seasons. They took their name from ...
during their ''Glow Tour 2011''. During the concert and also for photos, Cro wore a
panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is ...
-mask. Psaiko.Dino, producer at Chimperator Productions, adopted the role as a spokesperson for Cro, especially for the video-blogs. In November 2011, the music video for '' Easy'', which had been directed by Harris Hodovic and was announcing the upcoming mixtape, was released on tape.tv. A few days later, the video was released on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
, where it gained more than 500,000 views in the first two weeks. In the beginning of 2012, it had gained 12 million views, mid-May, the views had risen to a number of more than 44 million. The American blog hypetrak.com also reported about the video and Cro. German hip hop and funk musician
Jan Delay Jan Phillip Eißfeldt (born 25 August 1976), known professionally as Jan Delay, is a German rapper and singer whose stylistic range includes mainly hip hop, reggae, dub and funk. An accomplished solo artist, he became known to the public as ...
posted the video on his
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
page and said, Cro was the "future of German rap". Besides "Easy", "Hi Kids" and "Kein Benz" were also released prior to the release of the mixtape. On 1 December 2011, Cro was a guest on the show ''NeoParadise'' by the channel ZDFneo, where he performed snippets of three songs from his mixtapes ''Meine Musik'' and ''Easy''. One day later, Chimperator Productions released the mixtape ''Easy'' which is available for free download on their website. In the beginning of 2012, Cro signed an author's contract with
Universal Music Publishing Group Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a global music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group. Universal Music Publishing has been ranked the #1 music publisher in market share by Billboard for multiple consecutive quart ...
. On 27 January 2012, he embarked on a concert tour named "Pandas Gone Wild!", on which he was accompanied by Psaiko.Dino. In mid February 2012, the music video for "Easy" gained 1,000,000 views on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. In mid May the number of the views rose to 3,000,000. On 23 March 2012, the song "Easy" was released as a single. Besides the Standard version, the Limited Edition version included the songs "Hi Kids", "Lieblingssong", as well as "Konfetti", a collaboration with Ahzumjot and Rockstah. "Easy" entered the
German Single Charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official charts for music, home video, and video games in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on beh ...
on second place. In June 2012, Cro's single "Easy" was certified gold in Germany. The music video for the single gained 20,000,000 views on YouTube. From 29 June until 1 July, Cro released one single each day, "Du", "
King of Raop "King of Raop" is the third single by German rapper Cro. A pop and rap song, it was produced by Jopez. The lyrics and musical composition are attributed to Cro. On 30 June 2012, the music video was released. The same day, the single was released ...
", and "
Meine Zeit "Meine Zeit" ("My time") is the fourth single by German rapper Cro. A pop and rap song, it was produced by Cro, and the lyrics and musical composition are also attributed to him. On 1 July 2012, the music video was released. The same day, the si ...
". Music videos were also filmed for every single. On 6 July, Cro released his debut album, ''Raop''. Mid-July, "Easy", "Hi Kids", " Du", "King of Raop", and "Meine Zeit", all of his five released singles were placed in the Top 100 in the German Single Charts. On 7 September 2012, Cro released a free mixtape called ''Raop'' which included 16 remixes of songs from his album ''Raop''. On 28 September, Cro competed in the
Bundesvision Song Contest The Bundesvision Song Contest (often shortened BSC or BuViSoCo) was a song competition held annually between the sixteen states of Germany. Created by German entertainer Stefan Raab and aired live on ProSieben, the show was loosely based on the ...
with his and Die Orsons' song "Horst & Monika" and took the fifth place. On 19 October 2012, Cro released the track "1 Millionen" through the
iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
and made it available for free download. He dedicated this track to having more than 1 million fans on
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
. On 21 October, he released a music video to accompany the track. On 27 October 2012, Cro released the music video for his fifth single "
Einmal um die Welt "Einmal um die Welt" ("One time around the world") is the fifth single by German rapper Cro (musician), Cro. A Pop music, pop and rap music, rap song, it was produced by Cro and Kilians. It first appeared on his mixtape "Meine Musik", released on ...
" which was released on 2 November. In November, Cro's debut album, ''Raop'' and single "Easy" reached platinum status in Germany whereas "Du" was certified gold. In Austria, ''Raop'' and "Easy" and in Switzerland, "Easy" were also certified gold. He also won the
Bambi award The Bambi, often called the Bambi Award and stylised as BAMBI, is a German award presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television to personalities in the media, arts, culture, sports, and oth ...
in the category "Pop National". On 6 December, he won the 1LIVE Krone for "Beste Single" for his debut single, "Easy". He was also named Newcomer of the Year 2012 by
iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
. His debut album, ''Raop'' was named "Album of the Year" by MTV. In March 2013, Cro won a Swiss Music Award in the category "Best Album Urban - International" for his album ''Raop''. Cro has cooperated with H&M and has designed a collection of clothes for men and women which was released on 4 April 2013. On 11 March, H&M and Cro released additional behind-the-scenes images plus an interview.


Other ventures

Apart from his music, Cro also works as a designer. In 2010, he founded his own fashion label called VioVio. In 2015, he made a unique design for a
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
CLA which was given as a prize to one of his fans and is now part of the
Mercedes-Benz Museum The Mercedes-Benz Museum is an automobile museum in Stuttgart, Germany. It covers the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand and the brands associated with it. Stuttgart is home to the Mercedes-Benz brand and the international headquarters of the Merc ...
in Stuttgart, Germany. After the release of his last studio album '' tru.'', Cro started showing more of his art in general. On 8 September 2017, he had his first vernissage at the Circle Culture Gallery in Berlin, where he showed several pieces of art, including masks that he colored and self-made paintings. In 2016, Cro made his first movie titled '' Unsere Zeit ist jetzt'' ("Our Time Is Now"), where he was working together with German actor
Til Schweiger Tilman Valentin Schweiger (; born 19 December 1963) is a German actor and filmmaker. He became known in the 1990s for films such as '' Manta, Manta'', '' Der bewegte Mann'' and '' Knockin' on Heaven's Door''. He went on to star in international ...
. The movie started on 6 October 2016 in German cinemas.


Panda mask

Cro does not show his face in public. To protect his privacy, he wears a mask for all musical and media appearances. He has also stated that the masks are to draw attention to his music as opposed to him as a person. His first mask was a cut version made out of latex. Since 2014, he has worn an alternate mask made of cotton for some performances. Since the premiere of the video to "Unendlichkeit", Cro has worn a more minimalistic mask that is made of plastic and is fully white. Since August 13 2020, Cro changed his mask with nearly every new single he released for his album, trip. Currently he has been releasing promotional photos using a “futuristic space mask”, which very vaguely resembles the panda mask he used to wear.


Discography

* ''
Raop ''Raop'' is the debut album by German rapper Cro. It was released on 6 July 2012 through Chimperator Productions. It sold 60,000 copies units in Germany in its first week.
'' (2012) * '' Melodie'' (2014) * ''
MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV. It showcases recorded live performances of popular music artists playing acoustic instrument, acoustic or "unplugged" variations of songs. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999. F ...
'' (2015) * '' tru.'' (2017) * '' trip'' (2021) * '' 11:11'' (2022) * ''Easy Mixtape'' (2023)


Tours

* Support for
Madcon Madcon is a Norwegian musical duo formed in 1992 by Yosef Wolde-Mariam and Tshawe Baqwa. They have released eight albums as of 2018, and became known for their 2007 cover of the 1967 song "Beggin'" by The Four Seasons. They took their name from ...
's Glow Tour (2011) (8 shows) * Pandas Gone Wild! Tour (2012) (10 shows) * Hip Teens Wear Tight Jeans 2012 Tour (with Rockstah and Ahzumjot, 2012) (17 shows) * Road to Raop Festival Tour (2012) (20 shows) * Raop Tour (2012–13) (44 shows) * Cro Open Air Tour 2013 (2013) (14 shows) * Mello Tour 2015 * stay tru. tour 2018 * trip is (a)live Tour 2022 * Cronicles Open Air 2025


Awards and nominations


References


External links

*
Vio Vio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cro 1990 births Living people People from Mutlangen German male rappers 21st-century male rappers German record producers German editorial cartoonists Masked musicians Pop rappers