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Rockin' Squat ( Mathias Crochon (); born 7 September 1969), also known as Mathias Cassel, is a French rapper, producer and director. He is the founder of
Assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
, and co-founder of the Franco-Brazilian film festival Planeta Ginga. He has collaborated in music with artists like
KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from the Bronx. He rose to prominence as part of the ...
, Seu Jorge, Tony Allen,
Supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
, Olodum, Ol Dirty Bastard, Cheick Tidiane Seck,
El-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...
, RZA, Agallah, R.A. the Rugged Man,
Immortal Technique Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), known artistically as Immortal Technique, is an American rapper, activist and songwriter. His lyrics are largely commentary on issues such as politics, religion, institutional racism, and govern ...
, Oxmo Puccino, Mr. Catra or Wise Intelligent. He also collaborated with directors like
Jean-François Richet Jean-François Richet (born 2 July 1966) is a French screenwriter, film director, and film producer. He grew up in Meaux, a suburb east of Paris. Select filmography * ''Inner City (1995 film), Inner City'' (1995) – nominated at the 21st Césa ...
, Olivier Megaton,
Mathieu Kassovitz Mathieu Kassovitz () is a French actor, film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has won three César Awards: Most Promising Actor for '' See How They Fall'' (1994), and Best Film and Best Editing for '' La Haine'' (1995). He also re ...
, and
Jan Kounen Jan Kounen (born Jan Coenen; 2 May 1964) is a Netherlands-born French film director and Film producer, producer. In France, he is mostly known for his films ''Dobermann (film), Dobermann'' (1997), ''Blueberry, l'expérience secrète, Blueberry, ...
, among others.


Early life

Mathias Cassel ( Mathias Crochon) was born on 7 September 1970 in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, the son of actor Jean-Pierre Cassel and Sabine Cassel-Lanfranchi, former editor-in-chief of the gastronomic pages of American ''
Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...
''. He comes from a family of artists: his brother is actor
Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor. He has earned a César Awards, César Award and a Canadian Screen Awards, Canadian Screen Award as well as nominations for a European Film Awards, European Film Award and a Screen Ac ...
and his half-sister actress Cécile Cassel, also known as HollySiz as a singer. During his childhood, Mathias grew up in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, bathed in
hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
culture, he began rap at the age of 11. Before his career as a rapper, he was a “tagger” known on the Parisian scene under the name of Squat and wrote texts at the same time. In 1985, he founded
Assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
with Solo. Assassin is one of the first groups to bring hip-hop to
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, with “conscious” lyrics, delivering a political and social message. Like NTM or IAM, this group, considered to be a pioneer, has marked the history of French rap. It is also the first rap group to give a concert at the Olympia in 1993 and to have set up its own label, independent of the majors. From 1991 to 2004, the records of the group
Assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
were self-produced and came out under the label Assassin Productions, the first independent label of French rap. From 2005, the albums were reissued under the new independent label, Livin' Astro, created in 2004 by Rockin' Squat, and under which, since, his solo albums have been released, each of them certified gold disc always meets a large audience, independently and without media support.


Career

In the mid-1980s, he created the famous rap group
Assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
, becoming the first artist of this scene to mention
politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
and
social problems A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control. Soc ...
in his records. The subjects of his rap songs include modern
slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
("Esclave 2000"),
ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...
("Sauvons la planète"),
political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...
s ("Écrire contre l'oubli"),
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
("L'objet" and "L'Entrave a nos jouissances"),
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
("Peur d'une race"), the NWO ("Démocratie fasciste : Article 1, 2, 3 and 4", "Illuminazi 666") or African colonisation ("France à fric"). He worked with such artists as
KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from the Bronx. He rose to prominence as part of the ...
, Olodum,
Immortal Technique Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), known artistically as Immortal Technique, is an American rapper, activist and songwriter. His lyrics are largely commentary on issues such as politics, religion, institutional racism, and govern ...
, Cheick Tidiane Seck,
El-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...
, RZA, RA the Rugged Man, and Wise Intelligent. His triple album, "Confessions d'un enfant du siècle", has been released between 2008 and 2010.


Collaborations

In April 2009, a new song leaked on the internet named Democratie Fasciste (Article 4) which featured
Immortal Technique Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), known artistically as Immortal Technique, is an American rapper, activist and songwriter. His lyrics are largely commentary on issues such as politics, religion, institutional racism, and govern ...
. The official release of the song and Rockin Squat's album "Confessions D'un Enfant Du Siècle Volume 2" was on May 12, 2009. The beat from the song was sampled from
Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, O ...
's song "Tearz". The song expresses the inequalities of the
Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...
and revolutionary events throughout history against tyranny and oppression. The song contains lyrics in English (Immortal Technique), French (Rockin' Squat) and brief shout outs in Spanish (Immortal Technique). He made tracks with, among others,
KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from the Bronx. He rose to prominence as part of the ...
, Seu Jorge, Tony Allen, Olodum, Ol Dirty Bastard, Cheick Tidiane Seck,
El-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...
, RZA, R.A. the Rugged Man, Oxmo Puccino, Wise Intelligent, and Suprême NTM.


Discography

* From 1989 to 2002 - all the records of Assassin rap crew * 2002 "Illegal Mixtape" (Street Album) (As.Prod) * 2003 "Illegal Mixtape 2" (Street Album) (As.Prod / Livin' Astro) * 2004 "Libre vs Démocratie fasciste" (EP) (Livin' Astro / Menace Records / M10) * 2005 "Libre vs Démocratie fasciste" (Remix) (Livin' Astro / EMI) * 2006 "Illegal Mixtape 2" (Reedition) (Livin'Astro) * 2007 "Too Hot for TV" (EP) (Livin'Astro) * 2008 "Confessions d'un enfant du siècle" (Volume 1) (Livin' Astro) * 2009 "Confessions d'un enfant du siècle" (Volume 2) (Livin' Astro) * 2010 "Olympia 2009" (Livin'Astro) * 2010 "Confessions d'un enfant du siècle" (Volume 3) (Livin' Astro) * 2011 "US Alien Chapter one" (Compilation) (Livin' Astro) * 2011 "Confessions / La Trilogie" (Livin'Astro) * 2011 "Illegal Mixtapes 1 (Réédition 2011)" (Livin'Astro) * 2012 "Illegal Mixtapes 3" (Livin'Astro)


DVD

* 2010 Assassin/Rockin' Squat "Olympia 2009" 2h20 Live show at Olympia, Paris, France


References


External links


Profile

Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockin' Squat French male rappers Living people Musicians from Paris 1969 births