Abdoulaye Diarra (; born 3 August 1974), better known by his stage name Oxmo Puccino (, ), is a French-Malian

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 ...

Career

A longtime hip hop fan, at age 21 Diarra began his collaboration with the fledgling rap collective

Time Bomb A time bomb (or a timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use (or attempted use) of time bombs has been for various purposes including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination, sabotage and warfare. They are ...

, honing his craft alongside future superstars like

Booba Élie Yaffa (; born 9 December 1976), better known under his stage name Booba, is a French rapper. After a brief stint as a break dancer in the early 1990s, Booba partnered with his friend Ali to form Lunatic. The duo released a critically a ...

and

Diam's Mélanie Georgiades (; born 25 July 1980 in Nicosia), better known by her stage name Diam's (), is a French rapper of Greek Cypriot origin. Biography Mélanie Marie Georgiades was born on July 25, 1980 in Nicosia, capital of Cyprus. Her mothe ...

. He quickly developed into a lyricist with a metaphorical ingenuity far more advanced than his contemporaries, crafting violent yet strangely poetic portraits of urban

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

life and drawing on the street-smart American hip-hop of the Notorious B.I.G. and other icons to document life in

' hardscrabble 19th district. In 1996 Oxmo Puccino made his recorded debut with ''Pucc. Fiction'', a contribution to the compilation ''L432''. A series of subsequent mixtape appearances solidified his growing reputation within the French rap underground, and in 1998 he issued his solo debut, ''Opéra Puccino''. Its 2001 follow-up, ''L'Amour Est Mort'', proved Puccino's creative and commercial breakthrough, while 2004's ''Le Cactus de Sibérie'' confirmed his star status. After signing to the venerable jazz label

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

, Puccino assembled a new backing group, the Jazzbastards, to record 2006's ''Lipopette Bar''.

In popular culture

*In 2007, rapper

Styles P David R. Styles (born November 28, 1974), better known by his stage name Styles P (also known mononymously as Styles), is an American rapper, best known as a member of hip hop group the Lox, alongside childhood friends Sheek Louch and Jadakiss ...

. used the instrumental of "Black Desperado" in his own album '' Super Gangster (Extraordinary Gentleman)'', in the song "Holiday". The track was produced by DJ Green Lantern. *In 2011, he was in a Nike ad promotion reciting a passage from

Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...

*He has appeared in 2011 music video for "1990" by Orelsan, as a tribute to the 1990s. He was invited to sing the track in Orelsan's live tour as a guest in the

Paris Olympia The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra ...

gig in 2012. *He is featured as the spoken word artist on Ibrahim Maalouf's track, "Douce", from the 2011 studio album, "Diagnostic".

Personal life

Puccino was born in 1974 in

Ségou Ségou (; bm, ߛߋߓߎ, italic=no, ) is a town and an urban commune in south-central Mali that lies northeast of Bamako on the right bank of the River Niger. The town is the capital of the Ségou Cercle and the Ségou Region. With 130,690 ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

. He came to

one year later, and lived in the 19th arrondissement from the age of 5. Oxmo Puccino is the older brother of the French international

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player

Mamoutou Diarra Mamoutou Diarra (born May 21, 1980) is a French former professional basketball player. Professional career Diarra began his professional career with AS Bondy 93 of the French Second Division in 1999. He then moved to the French First Division ...

Discography

Albums

Studio albums Live albums

Mixtapes

;Non-charting *2003: ''The Best of Puccino Tape'' (Vol.8 - Mixed by DJ Nels) *2004: ''Puccino Airlines'' *2004: ''Time Bomb, Vol.8 - Puccino Tape'' *2012: ''Doux or Die Mixtape'' (Mixed by DJ Cream)

Singles / Maxi singles

Featured in

Filmography

;Writer *2005: ''Dans tes rêves'' ;Actor *2006: ''

Arthur and the Invisibles ''Arthur and the Invisibles'' or ''Arthur and the Minimoys'' (French: ''Arthur et les Minimoys'') is a 2006 English-language French fantasy adventure comedy animated/live-action film directed and co-written by French filmmaker Luc Besson. It is ...

'' (French title ''Arthur et les Minimoys'') as Mover (film directed by Luc Besson) *2006: ''

Sheitan ' (; ''devils'' or ''demons''), singular: (شَيْطَان) are evil spirits in Islam, inciting humans (and jinn) to sin by "whispering" (وَسْوَسَة, “waswasah”) to their hearts (قَلْب ''qalb''). Folklore suggests that they a ...

'' (film directed by Kim Chapiron) *2008: ''Écrire pour un chanteur'' as Harry in episode "Demain peut-être" (TV series) *2009: ''Storytelling, la machine à raconter des histoires'' as host and himself (documentary) *2010: ''Rubik's Cube'' as Teacher (short film) *2010: ''Histoires de vies'' as François in episode "Conte de la frustration" (TV series) *2015: ''

Adama Adama ( Oromo: ' or ', Amharic: አዳማ), formerly Nazreth ( am, ናዝሬት), is a city in the central Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Located in the East Shewa Zone southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, the city sits between the base of an ...

'' as Djo (voice)

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Puccino, Oxmo 1974 births French rappers Living people Malian emigrants to France Musicians from Paris People from Ségou