Emanuel Krüger known professionally as LECTAR, is a German rapper and former businessman whose artistic persona is shaped by years of living a carefully concealed double life. Drawing on a background that bridges academic psychology and the myths of the criminal underworld, his work blends dark introspection with calculated ambiguity.
Raised in North Rhine-Westphalia near the German border region, Krüger moved early between two contrasting worlds: one public, orderly, and academic; the other secretive, coded, and defined by silence. Between 2019 and 2022, he studied psychology and social work and was widely perceived as a model student, well-spoken, composed, and dependable. During this period, he also wrote occasional articles as a citizen reporter, later sharply criticizing and satirizing online journalism, sometimes even turning that satire on himself.
Parallel to this public life, Krüger led a strictly hidden second existence. Operating discreetly and without the knowledge of friends or family, he coordinated meetings, mediated contacts, and connected illicit dealings within opaque business structures. He later appeared publicly as the operator of an internationally active escort agency, by which time his name was already known-if only in whispers-in certain circles. Discretion, control, and silence were central to this phase of his life, which he has since described only in abstract terms, focusing on systems and mechanisms rather than individuals or events.
Krüger has openly acknowledged that this prolonged double life left a deep psychological imprint, marked by tension between control and collapse, adrenaline and self-destruction, and the constant sense of becoming a target himself. After experimenting on the advice of friends as an amateur actor and filmmaker, music remained his primary creative outlet. He announced the release of his debut album for May 2026, describing his work as a balance between confession and staging-rooted in truth, yet deliberately fictionalized to preserve boundaries. His lyrics merge fragments of underground experience with themes of mental health, identity, deception, and loss of control.
The stage name LECTAR is a deliberate reference to Hannibal Lecter, the fictional psychiatrist symbolizing intellect, manipulation, and duality. Echoing this motif, Krüger bears a distinctive skeleton/two-face tattoo covering half of his face, intended to represent the division between his "light" and "dark" sides. Both a mask and a statement, it has become a defining visual element of his public image.
