Aurélien Cotentin (; born 1 August 1982), better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Orelsan, sometimes stylized as OrelSan (), is a French

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

. He has released four studio albums: his debut '' Perdu d'avance'' on 16 February 2009, his second album '' Le chant des sirènes'' on 26 September 2011, his third album '' La fête est finie'' on 20 October 2017 and his fourth album ''

Civilisation A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). Civ ...

'' on 19 November 2021. He is also one half of the French hip hop duo

Casseurs Flowters Casseurs Flowters () is a French hip hop duo established in 2004 by rappers Orelsan and Gringe. The duo's name is a reference to the two "Wet Bandits" from the movie ''Home Alone'', called the ''"Casseurs Flotteurs"'' in the French dialogue. Hi ...

, along with Gringe, with whom he has released two studio albums: '' Orelsan et Gringe sont les Casseurs Flowters'' in 2013, and the

original soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

for their 2015 film '' Comment c'est loin''. Orelsan's artistry and rapping technique has drawn him comparisons to American rap legend

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

on several occasions, primarily because both are prominent

white White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...

rappers and both are known for their ability to switch between or combine violent and comical rapping techniques.

Life and career

1982–2003: Early life and beginnings

Aurélien Cotentin was born on 1 August 1982 in Alençon in

Lower Normandy Lower Normandy (french: Basse-Normandie, ; nrf, Basse-Normaundie) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Lower and Upper Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy. Geography The region included three departme ...

, where he was raised by his father, a middle school principal, and his mother, a teacher. He initially listened to rock music and was also a fan of

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

and comics. While practicing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, he picked up the love of rap through his basketball friends. (in French) He graduated with a French

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

in Economic and Social Sciences before moving to

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,École de Management de Normandie, graduating in 2004. While in college, he made friends with record producer Skread, who had worked with Diam's, Booba, Rohff and Nessbeal. He also collaborated with Gringe in his initial works and formed the duo

with him in 2004. Orelsan spent one year at the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, where he had the inspiration of writing the song "50 pour cent". In 2002, he issued a mixtape and was invited to contribute in various compilations. Returning to France and working the night shifts in a hotel gave him the opportunity to write more.

2004–2010: Early career and ''Perdu d'avance''

In 2004, Orelsan formed the hip hop duo

with his colleague Gringe. With help from French record producer Skread, they released their first mixtape ''Fantasy: Episode 1'' in 2004 with 11 tracks.Charts in France: Orelsan : un nouvel album des Casseurs Flowters avec Gringe!
Afterwards, the two decided to focus on building their solo careers. In August 2006, Orelsan released his first clip on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

, called "Ramen", followed by a second one in 2007, called "Saint-Valentin", a sarcastic parody on

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...

that attracted great following prompting him to release more of his work online through YouTube and Myspace. In 2008, the record label 3^e Bureau noticed his work and offered him an opportunity to produce an album in collaboration with 7th Magnitude, a record label founded by Skread and his colleague Ablaye. In the summer of 2008, he promoted the release of " Changement", his first single released on 13 October 2008, and its music video through the

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

Video and Nolife TV channels. The video was Orelsan's first professionally prepared clip. On 16 February 2009, Orelsan released his debut album '' Perdu d'avance'', a provocative album produced by Skread, that included 14 tracks. With "Changement" as its

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release ...

, it included tracks such as the title track "Perdu d'avance", "50 pour cent", "Soirée ratée", "Différent" and "No-life", with music video releases for all. "Entre bien et mal" featured his

colleague Gringe and "La peur de l'échec" featured

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff ...

guitarist

Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal Ronald Jay Blumenthal (born September 25, 1969), better known by his stage name Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal or just simply as Bumblefoot, is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. He adopted his nickname from the bacterial infection of the s ...

. At the end of 2009, Orelsan was nominated for the

Prix Constantin {{unreferenced, date=February 2011 The Prix Constantin is an annual French music prize awarded to the best album of an artist who has come to prominence during the course of the past year. It was inaugurated in 2002, following the example of the Me ...

award, and won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best French Act, pipping highly favoured

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

to the prize. In 2010, Orelsan also collaborated with The Toxic Avenger on the

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

''N'importe comment'', releasing three music videos, a single and a

maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, " In the Summertime" was t ...

containing remixes, all on the Roy Music label. On 26 June 2010, Orelsan appeared on

Skyrock Skyrock may refer to: *Skyrock (social network site), a French social network site *Skyrock (radio) Skyrock is a French radio station based in Paris created in 1986, and is mainly dedicated to mainstream rap music and R&B. History In March 198 ...

's '' Planète Rap'', joining

Jena Lee Sylvia Elva Garcia (born 29 June 1987 in Chile), more commonly known under the stage name as Jena Lee, is a French singer, songwriter, and composer. Biography Born in Chile, Sylvia Elva Garcia was adopted by a French family at the age of nine m ...

on the song "Je rêve en enfer" from her album ''Ma référence'' with Orelsan adding his punchlines in a version known as "Je rêve en enfer (Reste en enfer)". Also in 2010, Orelsan collaborated with Nessbeal in "Ma grosse" and was part of the ''Diversidad'' project, joining a great number of rappers from various European countries. His work appeared in the collective album of Diversidad called '' Diversidad – The Experience Album''. In September 2010, during an interview with ''Canal Street'', Orelsan announced that he was working on his new album that would come out in 2011.

2011–2012: ''Le chant des sirènes'' and rising recognition

On 30 May 2011, Orelsan released " RaelSan", a pre-release and

for his upcoming second album. Its second single, " Double vie", was made available through YouTube and Skyrock on 9 June. "

Plus rien ne m'étonne "Plus rien ne m'étonne" is a song by French rapper Orelsan and produced by Skread. It was released on July 25, 2011 as the third single from his second studio album ''Le chant des sirènes'', and features uncredited vocals by Isleym. Music video ...

" followed on 25 July, and finally " Suicide social" was released on 15 September. The album '' Le chant des sirènes'' was released on 26 September 2011 with 16 tracks including popular tracks such as the title track "Le chant des sirènes", "Mauvaise idée" and "Finir mal". A fifth single, " La terre est ronde", was released from the album on 24 December, and a sixth single, " Ils sont cools" featuring Gringe, was released on 22 June 2012. Receiving generally positive reviews from

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mu ...

s, the album was

certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

only one month after release in France, with over 50,000 copies sold, and was certified platinum in 2012 with over 100,000 copies sold. The album peaked at number 3 on the French ( SNEP) Albums Chart, at number 9 on the Belgian (Wallonia)

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization ...

Albums Chart, and at number 32 on the Swiss (

Hitparade A hit parade is a list of tunes that are most popular at any given time. Hit Parade or hitparade or The Hit Parade may also refer to: Film and television * ''Hit Parade'' (film), a 1953 West German musical film * ''Hit Parade'' (TV series), a ...

) Albums Chart. On 3 March 2012, Orelsan won two awards in

Victoires de la Musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

, one in the category "Urban Album of the Year" for ''Le chant des sirènes'', and for "Group or Artist Popular Revelation of the Year" chosen by the public.

2013–2014: Casseurs Flowters reunion and debut studio album

In 2013, Orelsan's recognition continued growing further, as he was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique award for Male Artist of the Year, while he was given the Prix de la Création Musicale award for Songwriter of the Year. He was also nominated for the

NRJ Music Award An NRJ Music Award (commonly abbreviated as an NMA) is an award presented by the French radio station NRJ to honor the best in the French and worldwide music industry. The awards ceremony, created in 2000 by NRJ in partnership with the televisio ...

for French Revelation of the Year, and at the 2013 Trace Urban Music Awards, he was nominated for the Male Artist of the Year and Best Live Performance awards, while " La terre est ronde" was nominated for Best Song and " Ils sont cools" featuring Gringe nominated for Best Music Video. Following the success of '' Le chant des sirènes'', Orelsan released his first collaborative single as

with Gringe, " Bloqué", on 3 July 2013 as a pre-release for their upcoming debut studio album. '' Orelsan et Gringe sont les Casseurs Flowters'' was released on 15 November 2013 to generally positive reviews, and includes tracks such as " Regarde comme il fait beau (dehors)", " La mort du disque", "

Dans la place pour être "Dans la place pour être" is a song by French hip hop duo Casseurs Flowters and produced by Skread. It is the 9th track from their debut studio album, '' Orelsan et Gringe sont les Casseurs Flowters'', where its title is "20h08 – Dans la place ...

" and " Fais les backs", which all charted in France despite not being released as singles. The album was then certified gold in France by the UPFI in 2014, having sold over 50,000 copies.

2015–2017: ''Comment c'est loin'' and ''La fête est finie''

On 21 March 2015, Orelsan posted a photo of a script with the working title ''Orel et Gringe'' (''Orel and Gringe'') on his

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

page. On 4 May, he posted another photo, this time of himself with Gringe in the film, confirming that shooting for the film was complete and that its title would be '' Comment c'est loin''. On 29 October 2015 Orelsan and Gringe released "

À l'heure où je me couche "À l'heure où je me couche" is a song by French hip hop duo Casseurs Flowters and produced by Skread. It was released on 29 October 2015 as the first single from their second studio album ''Comment c'est loin'', which also serves as the soundtrac ...

" as a single from the film's

, which was confirmed to be released on the same day as the film. Both were released on 9 December and, like ''Orelsan et Gringe sont les Casseurs Flowters'', received generally positive reviews from critics. Two more songs from the album, " Inachevés" and "

Si facile The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. E ...

", also charted in France despite not being released as singles. The album was certified platinum in France in January 2017. In April 2017, Orelsan announced that he and Gringe were working on their third and debut solo studio albums respectively, but did not reveal any release dates. On 20 September 2017 Orelsan released the first single from his third solo album, entitled "Basique", along with its music video in which the album's release date was revealed to be 20 October 2017. On 22 September 2017 Orelsan revealed the name of the album, '' La fête est finie'', along with its cover art. On 20 October ''La fête est finie'' was released, to huge critical and commercial success: the album was certified gold by the SNEP within three days, and platinum within a week. ''La fête est finie'' was nominated for

IMPALA The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'') is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus ''Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to European audiences by Ger ...

's European Album of the Year Award.

2021–present: ''Civilisation''

'' is his fourth studio album, released on 19 November 2021 through 7th Magnitude, 3e Bureau and Wagram. The album was largely produced by long-time collaborator Skread and features guest appearances by Gringe and The Neptunes. It marks his first album release in over four years. Most notable solos include "L'odeur de l'essence", "Jour meilleur" and "La Quête" . The album made a record-breaking debut on the French Albums Chart, moving more units than any other album in 2021. The album topped at 1st on French and Belgian (Wallonia) charts, as well as 2nd on Swiss charts at its best week. It was certified 3× Platinum in France.

Controversy

Printemps de Bourges

In 2009, controversy erupted involving some of Orelsan's work that included violent and misogynist lyrics, particularly in "Saint-Valentin" and "Sale pute" (the latter is

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

for "Dirty whore"). Neither song appeared on his debut album '' Perdu d'avance'', but were made available online. Many blog campaigns followed, demanding that he be banned from appearing at a scheduled gig at the Printemps de Bourges festival. The campaign took a political turn with both the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

(PCF) and the

French Socialist Party The Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste , PS) is a French centre-left and social-democratic political party. It holds pro-European views. The PS was for decades the largest party of the " French Left" and used to be one of the two major ...

(PS) supporting the campaign. The Socialist Party claimed in a communiqué that the song included "a scandalous, odious text that incited violence directly". It also supported the campaign to remove Orelsan from Printemps de Bourges. French Secretary of State for Solidarity Valérie Létard considered "Sale pute" sexist and violent and demanded that websites remove the video from their sites. She also offered help to groupings that wanted to file a lawsuit based on Article 24 of the law on freedom of the press, that forbids incitement to commit crimes. Orelsan aux Nuits Secrètes 2013

Orelsan was taken aback by the controversy, mentioning that the song existed for 2 years explaining in an interview with ''Planète Rap Mag'': "In this song, I try to show how an impulsive drive can turn someone into a monster. I shot a clip where I am wearing a suit and tie and am drinking alcohol, to show that this is a fiction. In any case, I do apologize for the violence. The attitude of this character disgusts me, but I feel I am artistically representing the incident as hatred exactly as a film like '' A Clockwork Orange'' does. ..In the storyline, I have actually been deceived by my girlfriend, and I wanted to describe the impulse of rage that you can have in such times. This is not a misogynist text on the contrary." He added: "I admit that these lyrics anshock" and he apologized about it mentioning that he had not performed the song live for several months and is not available on his album ''Perdu d'avance''. He added: " oweverwhatever I said, I will always be less violent than the series broadcast on

, where a guy gets hit every five minutes for no reason." The Printemps de Bourges organisers insisted on keeping Orelsan on the show scheduled for 25 April 2009, saying in a communique: "As outrageous as are the lyrics of this song, we have hired Orelsan as a young artist for an artistic performance noting that his album does not include this

articular The articular bone is part of the lower jaw of most vertebrates, including most jawed fish, amphibians, birds and various kinds of reptiles, as well as ancestral mammals. Anatomy In most vertebrates, the articular bone is connected to two oth ...

song. For this reason, we do not remove he date forOrelsan's performance as we are fulfilling our artistic choices. This French language hip hop album presents good texts that seem a perfect reflection of a 20-year-old French generation, a bit lost and disillusioned." Despite explanations,

François Bonneau François Bonneau (; born 12 October 1953) is a French educationalist, politician, and incumbent President of the Regional Council of Centre-Val de Loire. He is a member of the Socialist Party. He has served as *a representative member of the ...

, the President of the Regional Council of the Centre, threatened financial reprisals against the festival if it didn't reconsider its decision. It also deducted a proportional part of its subvention to the festival. Orelsan did eventually appear in the festival despite the campaign. (in French) The Printemps de Bourges controversy had repercussions elsewhere. When Les Francofolies de La Rochelle festival decided to ban Orelsan from performing, (in French) he protested the intervention, citing censorship on artistic works. (in French) The singer

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the secon ...

protested to the organizers including Jean-Louis Foulquier, who had in turn accused

Ségolène Royal Marie-Ségolène Royal (; born 22 September 1953) is a French politician who was the Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of France in the 2007 election. Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 201 ...

of threats to stop the financial support. Frédéric Lefebvre, the spokesman for Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) said that the matter was blown out of proportion declaring that he supported the young artist's freedom of expression and denounced attempts of censorship by Ségolène Royal against him. (in French) Royal denied any "chantage" or threats, expressing her satisfaction that the organizers had decided to cancel Orelsan's gig. On 14 July 2009, French Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand made a declaration of support for the rapper for freedom of expression, judging the whole controversy ridiculous. Many artists also came to Orelsan's support. Many French radio stations have censored at times Orelsan's songs due to protests from feminists and others, and the media have dubbed him the "Eminem of French rap". Orelsan explained the lyrics of "Sale pute" to AFP as the expression of these mixed feelings between love and hatred, and eventually dropped the song from his repertoire.

Legal issues

The gay French magazine '' Têtu'' has publicly questioned some of Orelsan's lyrics as being

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

. In June 2012, at the Sakifo Festival in

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

, the regional council of the island suppressed its subvention of €150,000 or one tenth of the budget of the festival. The arrival of Orelsan was questioned, but finally the organisers went on with it, but took to pay back 1 euro for every ticket sold for the date of the show to associations that protested. The song that caused the most controversy was "Saint-Valentin". On 31 May 2013, Orelsan was given a suspended fine of €1,000 for insult and incitement of violence against women by the Correctional Tribunal of Paris. On 14 May 2014, the Court of Appeal of Paris closed the case by putting an end to lawsuits and an original complaint filed against Orelsan, finding that action taken against him by five feminist associations was prescribed.

Discography

Festival des Vieilles Charrues 2014 - Casseurs Flowters

Studio albums

* '' Perdu d'avance'' (2009) * '' Le chant des sirènes'' (2011) * '' La fête est finie'' (2017) * ''

'' (2021)

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Orelsan
on

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orelsan 1982 births Living people People from Alençon Musicians from Caen Casseurs Flowters French male singers French rappers French songwriters Male songwriters MTV Europe Music Award winners Actors from Caen