Passi
Passi is a
French hip hop artist who became famous in the mid-
1990s with the group
Ministère AMER, which included himself and
Stomy Bugsy. He is most widely known, however, as a solo artist, as well as a participant in many other groups, such as Bisso na Bisso and Dis l'heure 2 zouk.
Passi was born on
21 December 1972, in
Brazzaville,
Congo. In
1979, his family moved to
Sarcelles, a
suburb of
Paris. He graduated from
lycée and created the band
Ministère AMER with
Stomy Bugsy, who he had gone to school with. The group's first album,
Pourquoi tant de haine?, was released in
1992, and Passi was forced to end his
agronomy studies at the
University of Paris (
Nanterre) to be able to focus on music.
Ministère AMER followed up with "95200" which was released in
1994.
Passi's first solo album,
Les tentations, was released in
1997, and it sold 450,000 copies. The project
Bisso na Bisso (meaning 'Just between ourselves' in
Lingala, Congo's most widely spoken language), which was a collective of French hip hop artists with
African origins, including names such as Ärsenik, released their album
Racines in
1999. The same year, Passi released his second solo album,
Genèse.
In
2002, Passi was asked to create the anthem for the
African Nations Cup football competition together with Congolese singer Papa Wemba. The two eventually managed to attract into the project such names as
Youssou N'Dour and
Cheb Mami. Passi's third album,
Odyssée, came out in
2004.
Passi is also known as the artist who's song "Il Fait Chaud" ("It's Hot") featured in the last episode in the television show, Sex & the City, quite unknown to most viewers as it was not credited at the end of the show, and so, as a result, simply dubbed as "The French Rap" by many.
*
Les tentations (1997)
* "Bisso na Bisso" (1999)
* "Genèse" (2000)
* "African Nations Anthem" (2002)
* "Odyssée" (2004)
*
Official Site
