FouKi started the most successful year of his young career with the release of the album Zayon, last February, followed by large-scale concerts at Place Bell in Laval and at the Videotron Center in Quebec City as well as a tour of around sixty dates. He closes 2023 with a second album, Rap Clubreleased without warning last Friday, and a special broadcast, FouKi all garnished, which Télé-Québec will broadcast on Saturday. The holidays are going to be good, huh? “Oh yes…” he breathes.
“I gave it a big blow this year, but 2024 will be quiet,” announces FouKi. “I don’t plan to release anything next year. No appearance on TV, radio or on the podcasts. I want to enjoy life, travel” until the warm weather returns to Quebec and the temptation to meet up with fans overwhelms him. ” It is cool, during my last concerts, the rooms were really full — sold out in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, sold out in Brossard, it’s impressive to see that. And honestly, that’s the best prize for an artist. I would rather have full rooms than receive trophies. »
A few weeks ago, FouKi was on the well-stocked poster for the anniversary concert of his label, Disques 7ième Ciel. A triumph for this generous event, during which more than twenty rap and R&B artists paraded for almost four hours. When he and Souldia walked on stage, the audience went wild; we even liked to dream that they would, in turn, offer themselves a Bell Center just for themselves. On the threshold of a well-deserved vacation, the rapper doesn’t think about it, but admits that “it was incredible to have so many people jam-packed ahead. Above all, we felt, that evening, that it was an audience that was a fan of Quebec rap in general, from the poppiest to the most angry of the MCs.
Back to the source
So it is also with this Rap Cluba short, punchy and unifying record. Zayon, describes FouKi, “wanted to be more personal and introspective. It was a project created during the pandemic, the majority of which beats were designed by me. While Rap Club, it’s the opposite: not necessarily impersonal, but more universal. I’m coming back to what made me tick in rap, I’m coming back to the hip-hop that I love, to my roots. Return to the source, with a lot of featurings. After the pandemic, it was fun to finally be able to say: “Yo, guys! We have a studio session, we don’t care where and when, we do it!” »
The album opens with Get Down, the chorus sung by the young and talented Avril Jensen, with Greg Beaudin popping up for a verse or two. Zach Zoya and Claire Ridgely collaborate on the bilingual Talk to Me ; the friend Vendou invites himself on Beluga ; Eman, Mindflip, Joe Rocca (ex-Dead Obies, back on the microphone, a new album is expected next year) and Imposs also found FouKi in the studio. All nuances of rap have a place, the jovial and friendly MC exchanging with artists offering a more realistic, sometimes harsh, vision of rap, like Lost (from 5Sang14, on Friend & Foe), Rymz and Shreez (on Success) as well as the essential Souldia (on The life we lead).
“This project is intended like this: not nestled in a style of rap, nor in a language”, explains FouKi, for whom these wide-ranging collaborations allow an exchange of audiences: “Someone who adores the work of Lost, but not really the sound of FouKi, can listen to the song and finally say that there is perhaps something else interesting on the album”, and, conversely, invite its large audience to discover Quebec rap differently . “That’s what the fun, with a project like this: it not only benefits me, but everyone else who participates in it. »
We will see some of them on the show FouKi all garnished, a straightforward production featuring studio performances, warm exchanges between artists and gags from Guy Jodoin, who plays, among other eccentric characters, that of the rapper’s new agent and artistic director. Light and fun, the television object above all has the merit of promoting the release of Rap Club : “Télé-Québec approached me to do a show that would be presented on TV, but they didn’t yet know that I was going to launch a surprise album at the same time. I pushed for us to do lots of new songs, and they were on board — plus, since there are lots of collaborations on the album, they were excited. » Greg Beaudin, Eman, Avril Jensen, Mindflip, Ariane Moffatt, Jay Scøtt, Souldia and Vendou are involved.
In closing, after such a rich year, what can we wish FouKi for the holiday season? “To make it to 27 without being part of the 27 club,” he says jokingly, referring to the disastrous informal club of rock stars (Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, among others) died at this premature age. FouKi will be 27 years old on December 25; people of Thetford Mines, remember to wish him a happy birthday during his last concert of the year, at the Dussault Hall, next Friday, December 15!
Rap Club by FouKi was released on the Disques 7ième Ciel label; FouKi tout garni will be broadcast on December 2, at 8 p.m., on Télé-Québec.