Deso Dogg

Early life and education Cuspert was born in Kreuzberg, Berlin on 18 October 1975. His father, Richard Luc-Giffard, was a Ghanaian national who had been deported before Cuspert was born. His mother, Sigrid Cuspert, is German. He was later raised in Charlottenburg, Moabit and Schöneberg. His mother remarried a U.S. Army officer with whom Cuspert had ongoing conflicts. He had a troubled youth and spent some time in a juvenile detention center. In 1995, he began a rapping career with varying success, as he got increasingly involved in street trouble and eventually in crime.

Musical career

In 2002, Cuspert adopted the name Deso Dogg and began recording with the German rapper Charnell, a gangster rapper from Berlin.

After his release from detention, he worked with Montana of Montana Beatz and with the producer Dean Dawson of Streetlife Entertainment. He quit Streetlife label in 2007, reportedly to keep his artistic freedom.

In September 2007, he announced that he was working on a double album titled Alle Augen Auf Mich ("All Eyes 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 release of the album was repeatedly delayed and was ultimately released in November 2009.

In August 2008, he appeared in the television series Der Bluff, acting as a student who becomes a gangsta rapper. In 2010, his song "Willkommen in meiner Welt" (meaning Welcome to my world) was used in the ARD film courage to Zivilcourage (meaning moral courage).

Islamic militant career Radicalisation After his rap career ended and subsequent conversion to Islam in 2010, Cuspert became a member of a radical Islamic group called Die Wahre Religion (meaning The True Religion). He became a vocal "nasheed" singer, singing in German. Controversies ensued as he declared public support for Islamic "Mujahideen" forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Chechnya, describing Berlin as ("yet another kuffar (infidel) metropolis").

Guido Steinberg, an Islamic studies expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs think-tank stated that Dogg's music "support a radicalisation process."

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 one publicly praising Osama bin Laden in one of his nasheeds. Abou Maleeq announced he was moving from Berlin to Bonn. But his activities came under further scrutiny when Arid Uka, a Kosovo-born ethnic Albanian from Frankfurt am Main, revealed after assassinating two U.S. Airmen and severely wounding two others in an operation in Frankfurt Airport, that he had been greatly influenced in his actions by Abou Maleeq's works and that he was a great fan of the singer.

Abu Usama Al-Gharib Denis Cuspert became involved with the Egyptian Austrian-born al-Qaeda affiliate Mohamed Mahmoud (also known as Abu Usama Al-Gharib), who had founded the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) as well as the jihadist militant Salafist group Millatu Ibrahim, later banned by the German authorities.

According to the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, while in Egypt Cuspert underwent firearms training in a militant camp, before traveling to Libya for additional training. He began using the nom de guerre of Abu Talha al-Almani (Abu Talha the German). Abu Talha continued to post video footage and messages online in German about his activities, including his advocacy for active participation in jihad and for enactment of Sharia law.

In November 2013, 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 stated that "Cuspert could use an explosive-laden vehicle". In a video posted online, Denis Cuspert denied the allegations, adding that Germany was not his "objective in terms of attacks".

"In November 2014, a video was released by the activist group "Deir Ezzore Is Being Slaughtered Silently”, which showed IS members shooting and beheading a number of unarmed men, and Cuspert holding a severed head. The video was believed to be from an August 2014 massacre against prisoners from the Sunni Arab Al-Shaitat tribe who had fought against IS.

Personal life

Cuspert was, at that time, under detention in an open prison system for minor offenders. By mid-2004, he was repeatedly arrested for various new offenses, including violations of the German Opium Act. Consequently, his probation was revoked and Deso Dogg had to serve time in the Tegel Prison. He was in a criminal gang called the "36 Boys", which was based in Kreuzberg, Berlin. The 36 Boys got in violent confrontations with other immigrant street gangs. "I always fought for 36," Cuspert told a reporter of the Exberliner named Robert Rigney. "I bled for 36. I was stabbed for 36." declaring his own religious conversion to Islam. He declared his decision to convert in a public video.

Cuspert had allegedly fathered three children with three different women. One of his wives, a German citizen of Tunisian descent named Omaima Abdi who was born in 1984 in Hamburg, went to Syria in 2015 with her three children and first husband Nader Hadra from Frankfurt, who was killed while fighting in Kobane. She later married Cuspert, and lived with him in Raqqa, Syria, then she came back to Germany, where she gave birth to her fourth child. In October 2020, she was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, due to her enslavement of a Yazidi girl, violation of the "War Weapons Control Act" by temporarily disposing of a Kalashnikov rifle, and being a member of a terrorist organization abroad.

Legal issues In April 2011, the Berlin public prosecutor brought charges of illegal possession of weapons against him after Cuspert appeared as "Abou Maleeq" in a YouTube video brandishing arms. During a house raid, 16 cartridges of 9 mm caliber and .22 were found on the premises. On 18 August 2011, he was found guilty and fined 1800 euros without any jail term being specified. German officials remained vigilant, however, claiming his videos and speeches contained inflammatory rhetoric that promoted violence. However, German newspaper Die Welt quoted other foreign fighters as denying Cuspert's death and attributing the confusion to the death of another IS member who also used the alias of Abu Talha Al-Almani.

On 16 October 2015, the U.S. Department of Defense informed media outlets that Cuspert had been killed by a U.S. airstrike near Raqqa, Syria.

In August 2016, the Pentagon stated that it had been mistaken: Cuspert had survived the strike near the town of Raqqa.

In January 2018, Wafa' Media Foundation announced his death, accompanying its report with photos of Cuspert's bloodied cadaver. He was reportedly killed in an airstrike during the Deir ez-Zor campaign in the town of Gharanij in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate.

Discography Solo 2006: Murda Cocctail Volume 1 (Mixtape) 2006: Schwarzer Engel 2008: Geeni’z (with Jasha) 2008: Gast ist König 2009: Alle Augen auf mich

As part of the 030 Gangxta Clicc 2003: Dreckstape Nr.1 2004: Dreckstape Nr.2: Wir übernehmen 2004: Dreckstape III 2005: Kriminelle Akkusik

As a featured artist 2005: Kaisa – Stacheldrahtmörda (Track: Reisswolf) 2006: Fler – Trendsetter (Track: Am Abzug & Intro des Mixtapes 90210) 2006: DJ Tomekk – The Nexxt Generation (Track: Liebe, Hass, Schmerz Und Gewalt) 2006: Kaisa – Nixx Für Kinda (Track: Untergrund Elite) 2006: Dean Dawson – D-Day 06-06-06 (Track: Das Was Wir Tun) 2007: B-Lash – 187Beatz Streettape #1 (Tracks: Ein kleines Klatschen reicht und Streetsound) 2007: Woroc – Inferno (Track: Gangsta Inferno) 2008: Farid Bang – Asphalt Massaka (Track: Mein Block) 2008: Nazar – Kinder Des Himmels (Track: 3 Leben 2 Städte) 2008: MC Bogy – Atzenkeepers (Track: Betonmacht) 2009: Toni der Assi – (Tracks: Gangsterrap und Scheiss Welt) 2009: MC Bogy – Bogy & Atzen 2 (Track: Betonmacht) & Der Oldtimer (Track: Oldschooltrip) 2011: Said – Said (Tracks: (Dis Is) Mein Leben und Um Den Globus)

Other 2006: Willkommen in meiner Welt (Juice-Exclusive! on Juice-CD #69) 2006: Schwarzer Engel (DVD) 2007: Afrikana 2009: DJ Derezon & Chamillionaire – South Banger 2 (DJ Mix) 2010: Bis aufs Blut (Film) 2011: Wild Germany (Series, Season 1 Episode 6)) 2012: Kaisa – Mann Der Stunde (DVD) 2012: In the Spot Berlin (DVD) 2014: Haya Alal Jihad (made as PR for IS by him) 2015: Fisabilillah (made as PR for IS by him) 2016: Auf Zum Schlachten! (made as PR for IS by him)

Music videos Willkommen in Berlin City (Charnell, MicWrecka, Deso Dogg, Jasha, Riad & Gin) 36/44 (Vero, Deso Dogg & B-Lash feat. SupaFunk) Wer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann (Directed by: Che Andre Bergendahl) Willkommen in meiner Welt (Directed by: Rocco Copecny) BBT feat Deso Dogg, Frauenarzt & Sady K – Wir Sind Deso Dogg feat. Zaza – Wir bomben eure Szene Deso Dogg & Jasha – Das Leben Mein Leben 2009: MA Vizion feat. Deso Dogg, Gangsta Lu & Paranoya – Wach auf 2010: Meine Stadt Dogz4life (Halt die Fresse 02 – Nr. 41) (Aggro Berlin)