Nominated five times for the Flammes ceremony, the rap awards, Gazo marked the year with his collaborations and his unique style. Portrait of the French prince of drill.
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French representative of drill, a dark movement from Chicago, the 29-year-old rapper Gazo is nominated five times for the second Flames ceremony, the ceremony dedicated to rap and its satellite movements which takes place Thursday April 25. Once again named best male artist, an award he already won last year, Gazo once again marked the year.
From his series of titles Drill EN multi-certified with its numerous collaborations, it is impossible to miss Gazo. Hailed, his first joint project with Tiakola, The Melo is gangx (2023) is certified gold less than a month after its release. Named alongside his accomplice Tiakola, Gazo took a nice revenge on life. Between dropping out of school early and being placed in a home, the artist could have gone wrong.
Street life in drill verses
Rapping is historically about telling your way of life and the injustices it entails. Originally from Châteauroux, Ibrahima Diakité, his real name, is the youngest of five Guinean siblings. Placed in an educational home by court decision at the age of 11, he left school in sixth grade and was placed in a foster family until he reached the age of majority. The descent into hell continues. In 2017, he was incarcerated for the first time in a remand center and became homeless. He lives between squats in Saint-Denis and the street, and falls into various illicit activities.
Music becomes his escape, a way to overcome his difficult life. Gazo founded Barrodoror Music, a group with other young people from his home, met while running away. This modest beginning in music is noticed by established rappers.
“I had 5,000 views. Then there’s Gato (rapper from the 92i collective) who shared it with me on his Instagram page, so Booba had seen that, and he reposted”said Gazo in 2022 on Movement. Starting under the name Bramsou, Gazo ended up abandoning this stage name already popular with other artists like Bramsito.
He takes the name Gazo, the nickname of trusted people in his neighborhood, those on whom he can count in case of trouble.
The rapper declared to the magazine Number on February 24, 2021: “I started with rap, then I discovered drill, something dirty that reflects what happens in disadvantaged neighborhoods, but at the same time very melodious and even danceable, since it had its roots in Jamaica. “
The series of titles Drill EN, which he began in 2019, allowed Gazo to make himself known and caught the eye of Sony Music’s Epic Records France label. He is the first artist to sign on this label, the American version notably including Drake and Travis Scott.
Gazo captures the craze around drill in the United States, popularized among other things by the title Dior by Pop Smoke, a hit in France. Gazo samples this piece in Drill FR 26. Going into drill was Gazo’s last chance to get his career off the ground. He said at this time to be “breathless“.
Tiakola, Hamza, Gims: the king of collaborations
With his deep voice, his tone of voice and his unique diction, Gazo attracts several artists. He collaborated in 2020 with Freeze Corleone, on Drill FR 4still considered today as the title of French-speaking drill.
Since then, there have been countless collaborations with ultra-popular urban artists. Hamza, Gims, Soolking, Kaaris, Tayc, Jul, Dadju, Naps or more recently the rapper Shay, the success and artistic identity of Gazo adapted to all sounds, attracts numerous French artists from all branches of rap.
His collaboration with Tiakola is the most striking. He shares with him his latest album released at the end of 2023, The Melo is gangx in reference to emblematic titles Malagangx of Gazo and La Melo from Tiakola. The two artists have a common history.
Their first official collaboration dates from 2021 with the song Kassav. A few years earlier, the two rappers had already collaborated on the title MGBZ, when Gazo had the stage name Bramsou and Tiakola was still part of the group 4Keus Gang. The two accomplice rappers will compete for the title of artist of the year at Les Flammes on Thursday.