Passi () is a hip hop artist who became famous in the mid-1990s with the group

Ministère AMER The Ministère AMER (Action, Musique Et Rap) is a French hip hop group from Sarcelles, consisting of the rappers Passi and Stomy Bugsy (both of whom are also major solo artists in the French hip hop scene), DJ Ghetch, and the producer/manager ...

, which included himself and

Stomy Bugsy Gilles Duarte (; born 21 May 1972), better known by his stage name Stomy Bugsy, is a French rapper and actor from Sarcelles, France. Biography Born of parents from the Republic of Cape Verde, Duarte helped found hip hop group '' Ministere AMER'' ...

. He is most widely known, however, as a solo artist, as well as a participant in many other groups, such as Bisso Na Bisso and Dis l'heure 2 zouk.

Biography

Passi was born on 21 December 1972, in

Brazzaville Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLI ...

, Congo. In 1979, his family moved to

Sarcelles Sarcelles () is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the arrondissement of Sarcelles. In the south of the commun ...

, a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

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 ...

. He graduated from ''

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

'' and created the band ''

'' with

, who he had gone to school with. The group's first album, ''Pourquoi tant de haine?'', was released in 1992, and Passi was forced to end his

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

studies at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

(

Nanterre Nanterre (, ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, bordering t ...

) to be able to focus on music.

followed up with "95200" which was released in 1994. Passi's first solo album, ''Les tentations'', was released in 1997, and it sold 450,000 copies. The project ''Bisso na Bisso'' (meaning 'Just between ourselves' in

Lingala Lingala (Ngala) (Lingala: ''Lingála'') is a Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser degree in ...

, Congo's most widely spoken language), was a collective of French hip hop artists with

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n origins. It included names such as Ärsenik, and he released their album '' Racines'' in 1999. That same year, Passi released his second solo album, '' Genèse''. In 2002, Passi was asked to create the anthem for the

African Nations Cup The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competition together with Congolese singer

Papa Wemba Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba (14 June 1949 – 24 April 2016), known professionally as Papa Wemba (), was a Congolese singer and musician who played Congolese rumba, soukous, and ndombolo. Dubbed the "King of Rumba Rock", he was one of the ...

. The two eventually managed to attract into the project such names as

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...

and

Cheb Mami Mohamed Khelifati ( ar, محمد خليفاتي, ), better known by his stage name Cheb Mami ( ar, شاب مامي, link=no, , born 11 July 1966), is an Algerian musician and singer-songwriter. He sings and speaks in Algerian Arabic and sometim ...

. Passi's third album, ''Odyssée'', came out in 2004. Passi is also known as the artist whose song, "Il fait chaud" ("It's hot"), was featured in the last episode in the television show, ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...

''. The song was not credited at the end of the show, leaving many viewers to call the song simply "The French Rap". Passi appeared in the sixth episode of ''

The Amazing Race 27 ''The Amazing Race 27'' is the twenty-seventh season of the American reality television show ''The Amazing Race''. It featured eleven teams of two competing in a race around the world. The season premiered on CBS September 25, 2015, and the fina ...

'' in 2015, in which teams were required to perform one of his songs, "79 à 99", as part of a

Detour __NOTOC__ A detour or (British English: diversion) is a (normally temporary) route taking traffic around an area of prohibited or reduced access, such as a construction site. Standard operating procedure for many roads departments is to route an ...

challenge.

Discography

Ministère A.M.E.R

* 1992 :

- ''Pourquoi Tant de Haine'' * 1994 :

- ''95200''

Solo

* 1997 : ''Les Tentations'' * 2001 : ''Genèse'' * 2004 : ''Odyssée'' * 2007 : ''Révolution'' * 2007 : ''Évolution''

Bisso Na Bisso

* 1998 : Bisso Na Bisso - ''Racines'' * 1999 : Bisso Na Bisso - ''Le 15 mai 1999'' (live)

Dis l'heure 2 zouk ''(as producer)''

* 2002 : ''Dis l'heure 2 Rimes'' * 2003 : ''Dis l'heure 2 Zouk'' * 2004 : ''Dis l'heure 2 Ragga Dancehall'' * 2005 : ''Dis L'Heure 2 Afro Zouk'' vol.1 * 2006 : ''Dis L'heure 2 Hip Hop/Rock''

References

External links

Official Site - now advertising
{{Authority control French rappers French people of Republic of the Congo descent Republic of the Congo emigrants to France 1972 births Living people Republic of the Congo musicians Rappers from Val-d'Oise