Booba

Booba, whose real name is Élie Yaffa, was born on December 9, 1976, in Sèvres (Hauts-de-Seine), where he grew up in the Meudon-la-Forêt neighborhood. After his debut with Lunatic, Booba launched his solo career in 2002 with Temps Mort, which went gold. He released Panthéon in 2004, which also went gold, followed by a mixtape titled Autopsie Vol. 1 in 2005. Booba cemented his dominant position in the French rap scene with the back-to-back releases in 2006 and 2007 of the album Ouest Side and the mixtape *Autopsie Vol. 2*. A third installment in this mixtape series was released in 2009, just a few months after Booba’s fourth solo album, *0.9*. With Lunatic, released in 2010, the rapper set out to make a big splash—and he succeeded, selling 200,000 copies of the album, followed in 2011 by the fourth installment of the Autopsie series. While he engaged in a series of verbal (and sometimes physical) feuds with other heavyweights of French rap, such as Rohff, Seth Gueko, La Fouine, and Kaaris, Booba remained highly prolific in the rap scene, and his success never waned over the next five years. During this period, he expanded his discography with the albums Futur in 2012, D.U.C. and Nero Nemesis in 2015, and Trône in 2017, which references his longevity at the top. With his tenth album, Ultra, released in 2021 and featuring the single “Mona Lisa” with JSX, Booba announced the end of his career. Preferring to focus on production and artistic direction for the rappers on his label, he does not, however, rule out the possibility of releasing singles in the future. In the end, that wasn’t the case; he returned to the studio and completed *Ad Vitam Æternam*, which was released in 2024, accompanied by the singles “Sport Billy” ( No. 14 in France), “Saga” ( No. 4), and “6G” ( No. 1). The album features several guest artists, including SDM, Gato Da Bato, Sicario, Usky, and Evil P. In 2026, he released the highly anticipated follow-up to Nero Nemesis, titled *Blanco Nemesis*. The album, featuring Huntrill, Chaax, Matra, and Aïshé, reached No. 3 on the sales charts.