Oxmo Puccino

Over the course of its existence, French rap has produced a number of personalities and artists worthy of the name. Among these beacons of a truly popular movement, the artist of all artists, revered by all (from NTM to IAM through successive generations) is Oxmo Puccino. An exotic pseudonym for Abdoulaye Diarra, an expert in the handling of language and voice born in Ségou, Mali, on August 3, 1974, at the helm of several quality albums and a few side works, whose artistic standards, fromOpéra Puccino (1997) to L'Arme de Paix (2009), awarded a Victoire de la musique, have never been faulted. Totally uninhibited in his approach to music, Oxmo Puccino experiments with different styles on Roi Sans Carrosse (2012, second Victoire de la musique award). In 2014, he teamed up with trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf for a re-creation of Lewis Carroll's tale: Alice in Wonderland was transformed into an album and show in Au Pays d'Alice. The following year, the rapper re-emerged as a solo artist with the album La Voix Lactée. We had to wait another four years for another taste of his poetic verve with the release of La Nuit du Réveil (2019), featuring collaborations with Caballero & JeanJass, Orelsan and Gaël Faye, among others. Six more years pass before the 2025 release of the Lafiya Sessions mixtape, an eighteen-track program featuring collaborations with no less than twenty guests including Dinos, Dosseh, Luidji, Mister You, Draganov, Jok'Air and Wallace Cleaver. The same year saw the release of the album La Hauteur de la Lune, featuring contributions from Tuerie and Josman, as well as Vanessa Paradis on the title track and pioneering MC Solaar for a summit meeting on "Ne pas m'aimer".