Biography
Karim Gharbi, known as K2Rhym. Rapper, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist, born in Tunis on 13 October 1980.
Bab Jedid and Ksar Said
Karim was born in Bab Jedid, near the Maqaal Al-Za'eem square and Mellassine, and grew up in Ksar Said, in a small flat in building 21 that he shared with his parents and his younger sister Djamila. It was a neighbourhood where everyone knew everyone, and where a neighbour would knock on your door for salt or oil when the grocer was closed.
His father Mohamed was strict and wanted him to become an engineer, a doctor or a pilot. His mother defended him, and later helped write and correct his first rap lyrics. At a family gathering he took a pestle from the kitchen, used it as a microphone and gave his first concert. His uncle filmed it.
Rap arrives in Tunis
Satellite dishes were rare. On weekends Karim watched MTV and Viva at a friend's home and heard Tupac for the first time. He started wearing ripped jeans and a backwards cap, carried a walkman everywhere and set his stereo on the window sill, to the delight of some neighbours and the despair of others.
With Wissam Cheha from the next neighbourhood, he was among the first in Ksar Said to make hip-hop. Their band, Arab Attack, recorded a song and waited all evening at the RTCI radio station for a chance to perform. They were never called in.
One woman opened the door: Asmahan Al-Chaari, then president of the Tunisian performing arts federation, put them on stage at "La Nuit du Bac" at the Coupole. The hall was full. It was their first concert.
Marseille, 1996
In 1996 Karim left school and went straight to Marseille, the city of IAM, Fonky Family and 3ème Oeil. When his money ran out he slept in a cardboard box near Saint-Charles station, then found work at a market and rented a small room.
A DJ sent him to the snack bar of Freeman, of IAM. Freeman offered him fries and some advice he never forgot: in France, first build a stable job and a home, then focus on music.
Paris: night shifts and a free studio
His mother and sister joined him and the three moved to Paris, into a single tiny room. Karim worked night shifts on construction sites in Montparnasse, sometimes without being paid. After a year he moved to security work, so his nights paid the rent and his days were free for music.
He recorded at Agora, a free municipal studio at Porte de la Chapelle. A friend, Ahmed Soussi, introduced him to Tunisiano of the group Sniper. Tunisiano renamed the song and wrote his part in five minutes: "Rap Ta3 L'Bled" was born.
Skyrock and Ado FM ignored it. Beur FM played it at night, and within two weeks listeners were requesting it by SMS. ULM, a division of Universal Music France, called: they wanted it as the single of their summer compilation. The video was shot in Ksar Said, and M6, Skyrock and Trace TV followed.
He's a fighter, he started from scratch.A friend, in I AM K2
Music and production
Rap Ta3 L'Bled
With Tunisiano, signed by ULM, Universal Music France. Collaborations follow with Mokobé, Montana and Aketo of Sniper.
Chroniques
His debut album, released in June with EMI France and Virgin Records Middle East, with En Vogue, Truth Hurts, Willy Denzey, Sniper and Reda Taliani.
Willy Denzey and En Vogue
A Universal single with the American group En Vogue, with a video shot in the UAE, and a duet with Reda Taliani.
Melody
A deal with Melody; the video aired 12 to 15 times a day across the Arab world.
MTV EMA nomination
Nominated for Best Middle East Act.
The Game and Snoop Dogg
A song produced for The Game, then a world peace track with Snoop Dogg, French Montana and Fat Joe. Work with T-Pain and Mally Mall.
Immortal
"Immortal" featuring Snoop Dogg, produced in Los Angeles. The same year: Best Middle Eastern Rapper.
Gettin Started and Escobar 2
Singles with French Montana and with the Brazilian MC Guimê.
Oooh La La La La
A World Cup song with Ronaldinho, shot in Rio de Janeiro, for Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
One Love
A charity single with Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, Kevinho and Ronaldinho, recorded in Los Angeles, Miami, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Urban Fen
Co-producer and host of the first Tunisian reality show for street arts, on Hannibal TV.
All In One and I Am K2
The songs of the documentary, with French Montana, Snoop Dogg, Fat Joe, The Game, A.L.A and Didine Canon 16.
Dubai and the move into business
Karim first came to Dubai in 2007 and 2008 to shoot music videos, and later made it his home. His routine there is simple: work, gym and family.
In 2012 the IT freelancers who ran artists' websites told him about Bitcoin. He bought his first coins in early 2013, kept buying through the 2015 dip, and during COVID-19 put his exchange profits back into Bitcoin. Ethereum, Solana, blockchain and the metaverse followed, and so did K2 Meta, the technology company he founded in the UAE.
In 2025 Gulf Business named him among the 100 Most Powerful Arabs.
Innovation and technologyGiving back
When success came, the first thing he did was buy a house for his parents and send his mother on Umrah. "No matter how much I do for my mom and dad," he says in the film, "I can never repay even one percent."
In 2017 he became an IIMSAM Global Goodwill Ambassador in the fight against malnutrition. In 2018 he gave 50,000 dinars to SOS Children's Village Gammarth and 100,000 dinars to the children's centre in Zahrouni, where he spent his birthday. Then came the work that made him a household name in Tunisia: schools renovated in Kasserine and Ain Draham, 14 orphans supported through La Voix de l'Enfant in Nabeul, families helped for Eid al-Adha, hospitals equipped during COVID-19 and an oxygen campaign that reached every region of the country. More than 2,500 volunteers have joined these projects.
In 2019 he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, part of a quieter, more devout chapter of his life.
I consider Karim a success story; he is a role model who has made it.A neighbour from Ksar Said, in I AM K2
A lesson in forgiveness
In 2011 Karim was among those who told President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to leave. Years later he met and married Nesrine Ben Ali, and was welcomed by her father in Saudi Arabia with the words "How are you, my son?"
He stayed close to the family through the President's illness and, in September 2019, helped carry the coffin to Al-Baqi cemetery in Medina. A photo of him alone at the grave, sprinkling water, travelled across Tunisia.
"A statesman shook the hand of someone who had told him to leave," he says at the end of the film. "That lesson is not just for me. It should be a lesson for all Tunisians."
Watch the whole story
I AM K2 is free to watch on YouTube, with English subtitles.