Youssoupha Mabiki (born August 29, 1979), better known by his nickname Youssoupha () is a French rapper of Congolese descent.

Early life and career

He was born to a Congolese father, the musician and

Congo-Kinshasa The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

political figure

Tabu Ley Rochereau Pascal-Emmanuel Sinamoyi Tabu (13 November 1940 – 30 November 2013), better known as Tabu Ley Rochereau, was a leading African rumba singer-songwriter from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was the leader of ''Orchestre Afrisa Internation ...

and a Senegalese mother. After spending his childhood in Congo-Kinshasa, at the age of 10, he moved to France to live with relatives in Beziers, then Osny, Cergy and Sartrouville. He finished his French baccaleureat at Académie de Versailles with high grades and continued with Cultural Mediation, Communication at Roanne and La Guillotière. After obtaining his master's degree, he dedicated himself to music. His first album ''Frères Lumières'' was a trio with two other friends. They released a maxi single. He was also involved in many musical projects including the album ''Tendance'' by the band Bana Kin (with Sinistre Kozi Philo and Mic genie). His own street DVD was released at end of 2005 as ''Eternel Recommencement'' followed in 2006 and was signed to Hostile record label. After working with a number of renowned rappers, he released his debut studio album in March 2007 titled ''À chaque frère'' ("To Every Brother") containing collaborations from

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 mother ...

Kool Shen Bruno Lopes (, ; born 9 February 1966), better known as Kool Shen, is a French rapper, actor and producer, with Portuguese and Breton origins. He is also a break dancer and a graffiti artist. He is a co-founder of Suprême NTM and one of th ...

, S'Pi and Mike Génie. His second album came out in October 2009 called ''Sur les chemins du retour'' ("On the Ways of Return"), alongside an international tour. In preparation of his third album, he also released a downloadable Digi-tape ''En noir et blanc - En attendant Noir Désir'' ("Black & White, Waiting for Black Desire") where he included some remixes of the album. In January 2012, he released his third studio album ''Noir désir'' ("Black Desire") featuring

Taipan Taipans are snakes of the genus ''Oxyuranus'' in the elapid family. They are large, fast-moving, highly venomous, and endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Three species are recognised, one of which, the coastal taipan, has two subspecies. Taipan ...

Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

, S-Pi, Sam's,

Indila Adila Sedraïa (born 26 June 1984), known as Indila, is a French singer and songwriter. She collaborated with many musicians on vocals and songwriting prior to releasing her first single, " Dernière danse" ("Last Dance"), in November 2013, whic ...

, LFDV and his own father Tabu Ley Rochereau"

In popular culture

*He took part as songwriting teacher at the French reality television program ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Realit ...

''. *In 2009, French journalist

Éric Zemmour Éric Justin Léon Zemmour (; born 31 August 1958) is a French far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political ...

opened a lawsuit against him accusing him of public threats for diabolizing the ''

banlieues In France, the term banlieue (; ) refers to a suburb of a large city. Banlieues are divided into autonomous administrative entities and do not constitute part of the city proper. For instance, 80% of the inhabitants of the Paris Metropolitan Are ...

''. Youssoupha responded in an interview with ''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH. Histor ...

'' that he advocated non-violence, but was pointing out the contradictions of Zemmour. He also responded with his single ''Menace de mort'' (meaning Death threat in English) with clips from various television programs quoting anti-immigrant sentiments expressed by media figure

*His song ''La Foule'' featured in the second episode of the first season of the Amazon streaming series '' The Boys (TV series), The Boys''.

Accolades

MTV Africa Music Awards 2014 The MTV Africa Music Awards 2014 took place on 7 June 2014, at the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC Arena). The awards aired live across Africa on MTV Base and MTV. The ceremony was sponsored by KwaZulu-Natal Province, Absolut and the C ...

- Best Francophone (Nominated)

Decorations

Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and letters, Arts and Letters) is an Order (distinction), order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Ministry of Culture (France), Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the w ...

(2016)

Discography

Albums

Singles

As featured artist

Other charting songs

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Youssoupha French rappers French people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent 1979 births Living people People from Kinshasa French people of Senegalese descent Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres People from Sartrouville