Gabriel Piotrowski (born 27 September 1988), better known by his stage name Biga Ranx (sometimes stylized as Biga*Ranx), is a French

ragga hip hop Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music. Wayne Smi ...

musician from

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

, Centre Region, signed to X-Ray Production, an independent record label based in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

. He released his debut LP ''On Time'' in October 2011, and his second album ''Good Morning Midnight'' in April 2013. He has collaborated with Maffi, Ondubground,

Mungo's Hi Fi Mungo's Hi Fi is a sound system based in Glasgow, Scotland, which follows the original Jamaican sound system tradition. After working together previously, Tom Tattersall and Doug Paine founded the group in 2000, writing, recording, producing an ...

and

Joseph Cotton Joseph Cotton Jah Walton (born Silbert Walton, 1957, St. Ann, Jamaica) is a reggae singer active since the mid-1970s. Biography After spending a year working in the Jamaican police force, Walton turned to recording, initially working with J ...

Biography

Born in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, Biga took his musical inspiration from such Reggae artists as

Super Cat William Anthony Maragh (born 25 June 1963),Huey, Steve " Super Cat Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 18 July 2010 also known as Super Cat, is a Jamaican deejay who achieved widespread popularity during the late 1980s and early 1990s dancehall mo ...

, Alton Ellis and

Vybz Kartel Adidja Azim Palmer (born 7 January 1976), better known as Vybz Kartel, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall recording artist, composer, record producer, and entrepreneur. Among his various nicknames, he is referred to as "Worl' Boss". As summarize ...

as well as from American rap music. In 2004 he created the Bandalero Sound System alongside DJ Atili, occasionally featuring the Ondubground collective. He later collaborated with the Austrian DJ Governor General Rugged to create the Mus Bus Collective. In 2008 the Jamaican singjay

renamed Biga by adding 'Ranx' to his name. In 2011 Biga signed to the French label X-Ray Production and began creating ''On Time'', which was released in October of that year. It was then elected the best Ragga/Dancehall album in France by the website Reggae.fr. In 2012 ''The World of Biga*Ranx'', a project consisting of four 12-inch records was released, each a collaboration with a different producer: Maffi, Ondubground, Kanka and Mungo's Hi Fi. Biga released a remix of ''On Time'' in November 2012, with all the songs from his debut album remixed by artists such as

Chinese Man Chinese Man is a French trip hop band formed in 2004 and originally from Aix-en-Provence. History They are influenced by hip-hop, funk, dub, reggae and jazz. Chinese Man is composed of DJ Marseille Zé Mateo and High Ku and beatmaker SLY. Beatm ...

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...

A State of Mind ''A State of Mind'' is a 2004 documentary film directed by Daniel Gordon and produced by Nicholas Bonner.Justin Corfield, ''Historical Dictionary of Pyongyang 2013'', page 16 "Nick Bonner has also been involved in the production of a number o ...

and Tom Fire. Biga often works with

, who did a guest appearance at his concert at La Cigale in May 2013 and appears on his album ''On Time''. In 2012 Biga went to Jamaica to film a documentary with France Ô, called ''Biga*Ranx en Jamaïque'', which was broadcast in April 2013. The film followed his trip to Jamaica, where he met some of his Reggae idols such as Potential Kidd. Biga has performed at many European music festivals, including the Garance Reggae Festival, Reggae Sun Ska Festival and Solidays, and Europe's largest reggae festival SummerJam Biga went on national tours after the releases of both ''On Time'' and ''Good Morning Midnight'', performing dates all over France with his live line-up, including at

La Cigale La Cigale (; English: ''The Cicada'') is a theatre located at 120, boulevard de Rochechouart near Place Pigalle, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. The theatre is part of a complex connected to the Le Trabendo concert venue and the Boule No ...

in Paris. In 2014, Biga Ranx featured the song Perseguido with Calle 13 in their new album

Multi Viral ''Multi_Viral'' is the fifth studio album from Puerto Rican band Calle 13, released on March 1, 2014. It marks the band's debut release via their new independent label, El Abismo, since they parted ways with Sony Music Latin. The album won Bes ...

On television

Biga Ranx has appeared in the following French TV programmes: * ''66 Minutes'' on M6 * ''Biga*Ranx en Jamaique'' (Biga*Ranx in Jamaica) on

France Ô France Ô () was a French free-to-air television channel featuring programming from the French overseas departments and collectivities in Metropolitan France. It was part of the France Télévisions group. Its overseas counterpart is Outre-Mer ...

: Follows Biga when he sets sail for Kingston, the Mecca of Reggae, to go forth and meet his idols. * '' Le Petit Journal'' on

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

, where he was interviewed by the star presenter Yann Barthès about his music and performed a live freestyle.

Discography

Biga Ranx has released the following albums, all with X-Ray Production: * ''On Time'' (October 2011) * ''The World of Biga*Ranx & Maffi'' (September 2012) * ''The World of Biga*Ranx & Ondubground'' (September 2012) * ''The World of Biga*Ranx & Kanka'' (September 2012) * ''On Time Remix'' (November 2012) * ''Good Morning Midnight'' (April 2013) * ''Live in Paris'' (January 2014) * ''Nightbird'' (March 2015) * ''1988'' (June 2017) * ''Sunset Cassette'' (June 2020) * ''St. Soleil'' (May 2021) * ''Eh Yo!'' (June 2022)

References

External links

Official website

X-Ray Production website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranx, Biga French musicians French reggae singers Living people 21st-century French singers 1988 births Musicians from Tours, France