Milandou Badila (born September 13, 1988), known professionally as Young Paris, is a Congolese singer-songwriter, born in

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 ...

and raised in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He signed to

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

's Roc Nation in 2016.

Biography

Badila was born in Paris on September 13, 1988, the tenth child of immigrant parents. Both dancers, his mother was a playwright in

, and his father cofounded the National Ballet of Congo. Badila began his career in music and photography at the age of 15, and at 17, he began dancing and teaching music in New York to grow his career. He took up

rapping 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 ...

at the encouragement of the people around him, and started to take his music career seriously. Badila identified with African culture, and used the Internet

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

#MelaninMonday to encourage people of color to share their beauty and education. He emerged on the music scene in 2017, after joining forces with Roc Nation through a connection with Jay Electronica's manager, Law Parker. Shortly after signing, Badila released music with Afrobeat heavyweights Olamide,

Tiwa Savage Tiwa Savage (born 5 February 1980) is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and performing artist. Born in Isale Eko, she relocated to London at the age of 11 for her secondary education. Five years later, she began her music career doing backup voc ...

Reekado Banks Ayoleyi Hanniel Solomon (born 6 December 1993), better known by his stage name Reekado Banks, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. He signed with Mavin Records in 2014 and left the label in 2018. He went by the stage name Spicy before his recor ...

, and

Skales Raoul John Njeng-Njeng (born 1 April 1991), better known by his stage name Skales (an acronym for Seek Knowledge Acquire Large Entrepreneurial Skills), is a Nigerian rapper, singer, and songwriter. In 2000, he started writing rap songs in Kadun ...

, solidifying his sound and imprint on the African music scene. He released his debut album ''African Vogue'' in July 2016, while his 2019 album ''Blood Diamond'' fast emerged at the forefront of Afrobeats artists, and has gained over 5 million

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

streams since its June 2019 release. Now based in New York and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, Badila has won major recognition within the fashion world. Along with landing features in '' Essence'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', and ''

W Magazine ''W'' is an American fashion magazine that features stories about style through the lens of culture, fashion, art, celebrity, and film. W was created in 1972 by James Brady, the publisher of sister magazine ''Women's Wear Daily'' (''WWD''), ori ...

'', he is the CFDA Men's Ambassador, appointed by Anna Wintour. After sold-out headlining shows in New York, Los Angeles, and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Badila joined Maître Gim's Fuego Tour across Germany in the fall of 2019. He planned to headline a solo North American tour following the release of his debut

mixtape A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

, ''Bad Guy,'' set to drop on April 21, 2020.

Discography

Albums

* 2014: ''Rap , Electronic'' * 2016: ''African Vogue (Deluxe Edition)'' * 2017: ''Afrobeats'' * 2018: ''My Tribe'' * 2019: ''Blood Diamond''

References

External links

* 1988 births Living people Black French musicians French emigrants to the United States Singer-songwriters from New York (state) French people of Republic of the Congo descent 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo male singers {{DRCongo-musician-stub