Isam Bachiri is a Muslim of Moroccan descent born in 1977 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was raised in Brøndby Strand, where he currently resides. He went to the Islands Brygge School in Copenhagen, where he graduated as a mathematical student and went on to study at Odense University.

Bachiri came into contact with music in his youth through the developing hip hop scene and subculture in America. At the time, the hip hop scene and underground music subculture had become popular in Denmark and the rest of the world. Bachiri, influenced by this, began amateur-rapping and breakdancing. He soon realized that breakdancing was not for him and started focussing mainly on rapping instead.

From 1997, Bachiri joined Waqas Ali Qadri and Lenny Martinez in the creation of Outlandish, a group that takes influences from the three members’ various backgrounds (Moroccan/Berber, Pakistani/Punjabi and Latin American). Together, they recorded their first single, “Pacific to Pacific,” which was used in connection with an Amnesty International charity event. They went on to record five albums and several singles, achieving international success.