Kamran Rashid Khan, known professionally as Lazarus, is a

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

-based American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

and

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

i descent. He is known for his singles "GODFLOW", "Break the Walls" and "Man on a Mission" along with his songs "Drug of Choice", "Open Heart Surgery", "Underdog", "MTBK" and "Decapitation Chamber" featuring

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( pa, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997) was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali — a form of Sufi devotional music. Sometimes c ...

Bizarre Bizarre may refer to: *Bizarre (rapper) (born 1976), an American rapper and member of hip hop group D12 * Bizarre (band), a Spanish rock band * ''Bizarre'' (TV series), a Canadian sketch comedy television series * ''Bizarre'' (magazine), a siste ...

Royce da 5'9" Ryan Daniel Montgomery, known professionally as Royce da 5'9" (or simply Royce 5'9"), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Montgomery is currently one half of the rap duo Bad Meets Evil with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, an ...

, Bohemia and

Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...

respectively.

Early life

Khan was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

to a Muslim family from

. He attended

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

where he received a Bachelor's degree in

Biological Sciences Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

and subsequently

Michigan State University College of Human Medicine The Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (MSUCHM) is an academic division of Michigan State University (MSU), and grants the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. CHM was founded in 1964 as the first community-integrated medical school, ...

where he studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

and obtained his medical degree in 2010. He further specialized in

Hospital Medicine Hospital medicine is a medical specialty that exists in some countries as a branch of family medicine or internal medicine, dealing with the care of acutely ill hospitalized patients. Physicians whose primary professional focus is caring for ho ...

Career

2000–05: Career beginnings

While studying medicine, Lazarus simultaneously built a career in hip hop. He started rapping without a stage name but later changed his name to Lazarus due to hate crimes and racial stereotyping. He told in an interview to ''

The Source ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the maga ...

'' magazine that after 9/11 he felt that his chances of becoming a rapper were finished and that his stage name metaphors the biblical character that was resurrected from the dead. Lazarus started freestyle rapping on

radio stations Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

. He won many rap battles on FM 95.5 and FM 105.9. His singles were also played on FM 98. Lazarus then started making mixtapes and performing at venues in

including opening up for

G-Unit G-Unit (short for Guerilla Unit) was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released ...

and D12. In 2005, he was interviewed by

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

and was featured in the documentary titled “The Real 8 Mile,” which was hosted by Charlie LeDuff.

2007–11: Debut album and mixtape

Lazarus released his debut album ''Chapter One: The Prince Who Would Be King'' in 2007 which led to receive him three nominations "Lyricist of the Year", "Song of the Year" and "Artist of the Year" at the 2007 Detroit Hip Hop Awards. The album had 18 tracks including a featured track with

. The album spawned the single "Let the Game Know". The single received over a million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

and its

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

was directed by Anthony Garth. Another

of the single "Drug of Choice" from his mixtape ''Lazarus Story'' (2010) received worldwide coverage and also gained over a million views on

. It was filmed in

Rawalpindi, Pakistan Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

2013–2015: All Def Digital and collaborations

In 2013, Lazarus signed to

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons ...

multi-channel network A multi-channel network (MCN) is an organization that works with video platforms to offer assistance to a channel owner in areas such as "product, programming, funding, cross-promotion, partner management, digital rights management, monetizat ...

All Def Digital and in 2014 he released the single "Open Heart Surgery" featuring D12's rapper

. It won the award for "Song of the Year" at the 12th Underground Music Awards in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. Lazarus then released his single "Underdog" featuring

in July 2015. The track was introduced by

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped crea ...

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...

. In October 2015, he opened up for

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

at his concert in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

. He was also featured on the song "Raw As It Gets" from D12's 2015 mixtape ''Devil's Night''. The mixtape was introduced by

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

and promoted by

Shady Records Shady Records is an American record label founded by rapper Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg, after the highly successful release of Eminem's '' The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). Shady has seen negative times when being part of the unsuccessful ...

2016–2018: Laz Army Records

In January 2016, Lazarus released the track "Fearless" featuring

Crooked I Dominick Antron Wickliffe (born September 23, 1976), better known by his stage names Crooked I and Kxng Crooked, (stylised as KXNG Crooked and pronounced "King Crooked") is an American rapper from Long Beach, California. He is best known as a f ...

in which he criticized

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

. The song included the verse: "Donald wants my arm embedded, Muslims cannot stay here. Now I'm feeling like a mutant but am I Magnus or Xavier?" In an interview with Examiner.com, he said regarding this verse: "It's like the comic book ''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to ...

''. As silly as it may sound,

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abra ...

are the new mutants of today's society. Senator

Kelly Kelly may refer to: Art and entertainment * Kelly (Kelly Price album) * Kelly (Andrea Faustini album) * ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap * "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland * ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadi ...

in the ''

'' and

are basically saying the same thing. There is supposed violence taking place by Muslims somewhere, now we must propose a ban on them all." Lazarus released the

of "Underdog" featuring

in February 2016 under All Def Digital. The music video of "Raw As It Gets" from D12's mixtape ''

Devil's Night Devil's Night is a name associated with October 30, the night before Halloween. It is related to the "Mischief Night" practiced in parts of the United States such as Philadelphia but is chiefly associated with the serious vandalism and arson seen ...

'' was released in August 2016. In January 2017, Lazarus and Punjabi rapper Bohemia released their collaborative track "MTBK" ("

Mundian To Bach Ke "Mundian To Bach Ke" ( pa, ਮੁੰਡਿਆਂ ਤੋਂ ਬੱਚ ਕੇ, ), also titled "Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)" or "Beware", is a bhangra music song produced by British musician Panjabi MC, with vocals and lyrics by Punjab ...

") featuring Deep Jandu and Shaxe Oriah. The single was produced by Kali Denali Music as a tribute to the late Labh Janjua and its

crossed 4 million views on

. His next single "Man on a Mission" produced by Dub Muzik was released in August 2017. ''DesiHipHop.com'' reviewed it positively saying "Lazarus just dropped his most creative song to date." The music video for the song was produced, edited and directed by Lazarus himself. It was released under his independent record company Laz Army Records and reached over a million views on

. Lazarus toured

in October 2017 and then released his next video "Pakistan" in November 2017 in which he rapped about the country in the

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

language and dedicated it to the well renowned Pakistani poet

Allama Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

on his birthday. In December 2017, Lazarus celebrated the 10 year anniversary of his highly received 2007 track "GODFLOW" by releasing a music video for it. The video was shot in Lahore, Pakistan and produced by the visual effects team of Muhammad Shah. The song featured 100 bars of lyrics and was produced by Alpha-Bet. It was released on New Year's Eve under Laz Army Records and attained over a million views on

on its first week of release. In March 2018, Lazarus was featured on the track "Raindrops" alongside

, Obie Trice and Swifty McVay of D12 on the mixtape ''No Parachute''. The song was produced by Dub Muzik and introduced by

. Then in July 2018, Lazarus dropped the song "Decapitation Chamber" featuring

of the

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close a ...

. The song was produced by Rebel of KhanArtists and introduced by

. Lazarus toured with

in Canada to perform the single. The song was also awarded a plaque for having reached 5 million downloads off the ''Wu-Invasion Mixtape'' it was featured on hosted by

and DJ Symphony. In August 2018, Lazarus performed alongside Swifty McVay of D12 and Obie Trice in Pontiac, Michigan to promote the soundtrack of '' Devil's Night: Dawn of the Nain Rouge''. Lazarus was featured on the soundtrack on the song titled "It's Coming". Lazarus also performed on the 'Shady Gang National Tour' alongside Swifty McVay, Obie Trice and

. In October 2018, Lazarus released the music video of "Decapitation Chamber" with

and then toured with him in Vancouver, Canada and San Francisco, California. He then toured with the collective

in Washington DC and Boston, Massachusetts followed by concerts in Australia and New Zealand. The music video of "Decapitation Chamber" crossed over a million views on

Lazarus performing at Red Hat Amphitheatre in June 2019

2019-Present: Wu-Tang Clan tour and treating COVID-19

In January 2019, Lazarus was interviewed on

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

's radio station ''ThisIs50'' by DJ Thoro. He then opened up for

on 2 sold out shows in Philadelphia followed by 2 sold out shows in New York City which were hosted by

Funkmaster Flex Aston George Taylor Jr. (born August 5, 1968), professionally known as Funkmaster Flex, is an American DJ, rapper, record producer, and host on New York City's Hot 97 radio station. In 1992, he became host of the first hip hop radio show on Hot ...

. He continued touring with

in Detroit, Cleveland, Raleigh, Seattle and Tucson. In July 2019, Lazarus was interviewed on

's radio station

Shade 45 Shade 45 is American rapper Eminem's hip-hop station on Sirius XM Radio channel 45 and Dish Network channel 6045. History Eminem established his own channel, Shade 45, that plays uncut hip hop. Eminem also established a new morning show, ''Sway ...

. He was then featured by

on the song "Leatherface" alongside

King Gordy Waverly Walter Alford III (born August 18, 1977), known professionally by his stage name King Gordy, is an American horrorcore singer/rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He is one-fourth of underground hip hop group the Fat Killahz (with Fatt Father ...

Hopsin Marcus Jamal Hopson (born July 18, 1985), known professionally as Hopsin, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles. In 2007, he was signed to Ruthless Records, and had founded his own record label, Funk Volume, ...

which was released on Halloween. In January 2020, Lazarus released his single "You Already Know" featuring

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Diddy's Bad ...

Gucci Mane Radric Delantic Davis (born February 12, 1980), known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper and record executive. He helped pioneer the hip hop subgenre of trap music alongside fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Young Jeezy, ...

. He then went on a USA tour with GZA of

. In February 2020, Lazarus released his single "Break the Walls" featuring female vocalist Legha. The song was aimed at uniting people of all ethnicities and racial backgrounds. It was produced by

Dr Zeus Baljit Singh Padam (Punjabi: ਬਲਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਪਦਮ), better known by his stage name Dr. Zeus, is a British-Indian music composer, singer and music producer. He rose to fame in 2003 with his song "Kangna", which was voted the b ...

and received over 2 million views on

. In April 2020, Lazarus was interviewed by

DJ Vlad Vladimir Lyubovny (russian: Владимир Любовный; born June 28, 1973), commonly known as DJ Vlad, is an American interviewer, journalist, and former disc jockey. He is the CEO of video and news website VladTV.com. His YouTube channel ...

on VladTV to discuss his experiences as a physician on the front lines of combating

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

at his hospital in Las Vegas. In May 2020, he was interviewed by

again and also appeared on the song "Fit In" by 80 Empire which also featured Fred the Godson &

Bishop Lamont Philip Brandon Martin (born October 31, 1978), better known as Bishop Lamont, is an American rapper from Carson, California. He was signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment record label and released one project under the label, eventually l ...

. In September 2020, Lazarus released his single "Medical Marijuana" featuring Redman in which he rapped about the medical benefits of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternativel ...

. In January 2021, Lazarus was featured by Locksmith on the lyrical back and forth anthem "Signs." After the song was released, Lazarus was interviewed by

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper from New York City. He began his music career as a member of hip hop group Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.), then forged a so ...

on his podcast The Big Big Show. He was also featured on Cassidy's album ''Da Wiseman'' on the song "Can't Do It Alone." The video for this song was premiered on

Worldstar WorldStarHipHop is a content-aggregating video blog. Zurawik, David.Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with shocking viral videos". ''The Baltimore Sun''. March 23, 2012. Retrieved on April 22, 2012Alternate link to the same article fro ...

and received over a million views. Lazarus then released his full Urdu track "Qatal" and "Bande Kharab" featuring 10-year-old Pakistani rapper Kaky Thou$and on Laz Army Records. In August 2021, Lazarus dropped the theme song for

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

wrestler

Jinder Mahal Yuvraj Singh Dhesi (born July 19, 1986) is a Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand, under the ring name Jinder Mahal. Having started his career on the independent circuit, Mahal joi ...

for his

SummerSlam SummerSlam is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's se ...

2021 PPV match up. The song featured

Raftaar Dilin Nair (born 16 November 1988), better known by his stage name Raftaar, is an Indian rapper, lyricist, dancer, TV personality and music composer associated with Hindi and Punjabi music. He started his career as a dancer. He began his care ...

Manj Musik Manjeet Singh Ral (Punjabi: ਮਨਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਰਾਲ, born 24 January 1975), better known by his stage-name Manj Musik, is a British Indian composer, singer and Filmi scorer. He was one of the music composer for the bhangra musi ...

and Sikander Kahlon and crossed over 4 million views on

Awards and nominations

, - , style="text-align:center;", 2015 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", ''Open Heart Surgery'' , Underground Music Award for 'Song of the Year' , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2015 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", ''Lazarus'' , Underground Music Award for 'Artist of the Year' , , - , style="text-align:center;", 2018 , rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;", ''Decapitation Chamber'' , Platinum Plaque for 5 Million Downloads ,

Discography

Albums

Singles

Guest appearances

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarus (rapper) Living people American Muslims American physicians of Pakistani descent Date of birth missing (living people) Michigan State University alumni Physicians from Michigan Rappers from Detroit Songwriters from Michigan Wayne State University alumni American musicians of Pakistani descent 21st-century American rappers Year of birth missing (living people)