MikeZup was 12 the first time he recorded a song in a real studio “not with a computer mic”. At 14, he released his first music video, filmed at his school, for the song Mr. Principal : “Monsieur l’director, tell me, are you an imbecile?” / As we speak, there may be young people who are mutilating themselves / But you are wasting your time judging how I dress ”. It was in 2010; the rapper, who launches his album at Coup de cœur francophone Primary colors, says he has changed a lot since then, except for this: the urgency to tell his reality and that of the young people in his neighborhood.
“The ‘young old man’, that’s what they call me,” says MikeZup, taking a recording break at his studio in the Villeray neighborhood to chat with us. “I consider myself to have an old soul”, but also already a lot of experience, at only 26 years old. “That too…” concedes the father of two young boys, who is launching a fifth career album, but his first for the Joy Ride Records label, the home of Loud, Imposs, 5Sang14 and Connoisseur Ticaso, with whom he will share the Astral stage on November 11.
Apart from Loud (who invited him to collaborate on his song Game Boy, unveiled on stage last summer), all these colleagues – let’s also add SP and Ti-Kid from Sans Pressure, which we had not heard together on the same track for ages! – participate in Primary colors, a robust conscious and lucid rap album. Often a hard drive, as was his own journey.
However, one thing strikes with the discovery of the opus: the voice of MikeZup has changed. Aggressive and threatening in the music videos era Fellow and Semi-automatic (2016) and the first album of the trilogy Omerta (2019), it has become more composed, the prosody gaining in musicality as the singer relies on the hoarse sound of his voice. “I found my tone, I would say. When I was screaming into the mic like in the days of Fellow, I was still looking for my style. There, I found, I think ”, says MikeZup, taking for example the rap confidence with the catchy rhythm, Sunny night, which opens the album. “I like this musical direction. I had anger in me at the time, especially in Fellow. I was angry, I had a message to send, I was going through difficult times. “
Fellow, a dismal affair on a rhythm which already announced the trend drill : “Ask the principal / Yeah, since I was very little I have the slab / At us doing harm is normal / Carrying the iron at home is normal”. What has changed since? “At the time, I was in a different state of mind,” explains MikeZup. My children have been born since. I was still doing rap just to rap, without thinking of making a living from it. There, I decided to make a career out of it, and that changes everything. “
“100% in the music”
The trigger was made two years ago. The straw that broke the camel’s back, says MikeZup, speaking of delicate “situations” adding to the mourning of his father. “I was tired, sickened, something had to change and to get there, I had to take the first step. I decided to open my studio. I had the choice: either it’s the street or it’s the music. I decided to put myself 100% in music ”, and he has no regrets. “I have cash inflows from the studio, the label, and albums that I have released on my own. Today I can take care of my children just with this, my bills are paid. I made the right decision. “
He claims not to have censored himself by passing with an established label ensuring him a real distribution of albums and better visibility. “Carlos [Munoz, patron de Joy Ride] always says to me: “Do as usual”. I still made an album more introspective than what I have already done before ”, in which he details his path, for example on the song Locked up – Far from mine, which evokes his own six-month stay in prison for a fraud case, song in which Souldia collaborates, who also speaks from his own experience. “I explain myself in my raps, I explain how I got there, and I express what I want for the future”, which he wishes, for himself and for the youngest, without injustices and violence.
“What would I do to solve the problem of violence in the streets if I were elected mayor?” MikeZup takes a moment to think it over. “I don’t know if there is anything we can do for the generation that is already in conflict… I would try to save the next generation. I would start to intervene directly in schools, to open more youth centers, to hire more street workers to help young people in need. Because there is no one in the world who is born with a gun in their hands and who starts pointing at convenience stores, pointing at people or shooting everyone. That comes from somewhere, and I think we can stop that if we work with young people. “