Lazarus

Dr. Khan from Detroit

Lazarus is the stage name of Kamran Rashid Khan, a rapper and physician born in Detroit to a Muslim family from Pakistan. He earned a biology degree at Wayne State University, then went to Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine, graduating as a doctor in 2010, and went into hospital medicine. He built his rap career at the same time.

He started out rapping under his own name. After 9/11, facing hate and stereotyping, he felt his chances in rap were finished, and renamed himself after Lazarus of Bethany, the man in the Bible who was raised from the dead.

Radio battles and The Real 8 Mile

Lazarus came up freestyling on Detroit radio, winning battles on 95.5 and 105.9 and getting his singles played on FM 98. He worked the mixtape circuit and opened Detroit shows for G-Unit and D12. In 2005 he appeared in the Discovery Channel documentary The Real 8 Mile, hosted by Charlie LeDuff.

Chapter One

His debut album, Chapter One: The Prince Who Would Be King (2007), was recorded at Detroit's Mix Factory studio with engineer I.V. Duncan and features Royce da 5'9". It earned him three nominations at the 2007 Detroit Hip Hop Awards, including Lyricist of the Year. The 2010 mixtape Lazarus Story followed, and its "Drug of Choice" video, filmed in Rawalpindi, Pakistan and built on a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sample, passed a million views.

The Detroit circle

In 2013 he signed to Russell Simmons' YouTube network All Def Digital. "Open Heart Surgery" (2014) with Bizarre of D12 won Song of the Year at the 2015 Underground Music Awards in New York. "Underdog" with Royce followed in 2015, introduced by Chuck D. He appeared on D12's Devil's Night mixtape ("Raw As It Gets," 2015), on "Raindrops" with Royce, Obie Trice and Swifty McVay (2018), and toured on the Shady Gang National Tour with Swifty, Obie and Crooked I.

Wu-Tang and the road

"Decapitation Chamber" (2018) with Ghostface Killah led to dates with Ghostface in Canada and San Francisco, then shows with the Wu-Tang Clan across the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, including sold-out nights in Philadelphia and New York in 2019. In 2020 he toured with GZA.

Two worlds

Lazarus has built a second audience in South Asia. He toured Pakistan in 2017, raps in Urdu on tracks like "Pakistan" and "Qatal," and has worked with Bohemia, Raftaar, Emiway Bantai and Yo Yo Honey Singh. During the COVID-19 pandemic he spoke with VladTV about treating patients as a hospital physician in Las Vegas.

Still going

He runs his own label, Laz Army Records. Recent releases include "Not To Be Defined" with Rakim (2025), "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" with Royce and Ikka (2026), and "DEATHBLOW" with Swifty McVay (2026), a response to an overseas collaborator who had disrespected Royce. He bills his 2023 track "Pale Blue Dot" as the first song premiered from outer space.