Mister You

Better known by his stage name Mister You, Younes Latifi (born on February 5, 1984) is a French freestyle rapper of Moroccan descent whose vibrant flows and defiant stance against the authorities put him at the forefront of French hip hop. Hailing from Paris’ 19th arrondissement, Latifi was arrested several times for drug possession and sentenced to spend five years in prison, after which he fled to the south of France to avoid being captured. He came back to Paris in 2009 to record the mixtape Arrête You Si Tu Peux, which led to his eventual arrest that same year. During his time in jail, the rapper’s popularity grew exponentially due to the support of established rappers such as Lacrim and Seth Gueko. Mister You regained his freedom in 2010 and released the mixtape MDR : Mec de Rue, a critically-acclaimed production that climbed up to Number 9 on France’s SNEP charts and was eventually certified gold. More success followed with Dans Ma Grotte (2011), his studio debut, in which the rapper discussed his detention in detail. The album went platinum after selling 100,000 copies and peaked at Number 4 on the SNEP charts. In subsequent years, Mister You remained prolific as ever, releasing MDR : Mec de Rue 2 (2012), Le Prince (2014), Le Grand Méchant You (2016), and Hasta La Muerte (2019), a star-studded effort that flirted with reggaeton and Afropop. Preceded by the single “Millions d'€,” Mister You inaugurated the new decade with Les Oiseaux (2020), a solid EP that featured collaborations with R&B singer Marwa Loud and Marseille MC Naps. The following year, he dropped HLM2, his fifth full-length, and broke into the French Top 200 with the single “Solide,” featuring Rohff.