CRO

CRO, born Carlo Waibel, is a German rapper, singer, producer and designer from Stuttgart who broke into the mainstream with his 2011 single «Whatever» and its accompanying panda mask, which became his visual trademark. He built his early career on the independent label Chimperator, releasing free mixtapes before his debut album Raop (2012) topped the German charts and popularized his self-coined genre blend of rap and pop, which he calls Raop.

CRO's sound is defined by melodic hooks, laid-back flow, and a mix of German and English lyrics, sitting at the crossroads of hip-hop, pop and electronic production. Follow-up albums such as Melodie (2014) and tru. (2016) expanded his palette toward more polished pop songwriting, while singles like «Traum», «Einmal um die Welt» and «Du» became staples of German-language radio and streaming.

In 2018 he left Chimperator to found his own label, truworks, giving him greater creative independence. Beyond music, CRO has been recognized for his design and visual identity, often creating his own artwork and stage concepts. He remains one of the most commercially successful German-language rap-pop crossover artists of his generation.