European Artist Spotlight: Sefyu

Viva la France! Before I start with this next spotlight I want to make one point clear. The French Hip Hop scene is one of the biggest in Europe and one with a high quality level. So it’s kinda sad I never wrote something about it til now. But here it is! Give a warm applause for Sefyu!!

Sefyu (birth name: Youssef Soukouna) and his family emigrated from Senegal to France. He grew up in Neuf-Trois, a rough suburb in Paris. He is one of the young veterans in today’s French Hip Hop next to other young MCs like Booba and Sinik. But Sefyu wasn’t always into the rap game, he actually was a talented soccer player and about to be signed by the successful English soccer club Arsenal London. Sadly he had to stop playing soccer because of a physical injury.

He began to rap and started the Natural Court Circuit (NCC) crew with four other MCs. Back in 2001 Sefyu made his name in the underground scene of Paris and was featured on various mixtapes and compilations. In 2005 he released his first mixtape called Molotov 4 which was so successful that it was re-released in 2006. His album debut Qui suis-je?(translation: Who Am I?) in 2006 reached the 14th place in the French charts and stayed in the Top 200 for more than a year. But the real breakthrough came with his high anticipated sophomore LP Suis-je le gardien de mon frère (translation: Am I My Brothers Keeper?) (referring to his brothers and people from the hood) which entered the number one spot in the French charts this year.

Sefyu’s trademark is it that you never see his whole face, neither in his videos nor on photos for the press. His sound is rough, just like the ghettos in France. He wants to speak for the youth in those projects and wants to show the often impasse situation the young immigrants are in.

Sefyu describes his sound & lyrics like this:

“I rap for the Streets, with strong and hard lyrics, but still with a message that everybody can relate to. I’m doin’ rap for the people from the ghettos ‘cause they know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. They live the shit I’m talkin’ ‘bout. I’m talkin’ to the society. It’s about serious issues like incest, rapings or pedophile like I’m talkin’ about in my song “Sac de Bonbons”.

Check the videos below by Sefyu:

Noir et Blanc

Senegalo Ruskov

Sefyu on MySpace

No matter if you like him or not… SHOW SOME RESPECT.

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Posted in Artist Spotlight

http://laxess.blogspot.com jordi

I have been a big fan of Sefyu for some time now…more or less since the release of “Qui-suis je?”. My french got a bit rusty, so I don’t understand everything he raps…I understand what he raps once I got his lyrics, but eitherway..the guy is just great. IMHO, he is right now one of the top5 or 10 mcs around. His word play, how he drops it and everything is just bananas, plus he got the lyrics and content to back it. He ain’t just rapping for raps sake, but is dope in all ways.
Just some info…Neuf-Trois is actually just an areacode, his area is officially called Seine-Saint Denis, which is also the area where Supreme-NTM, the rap group that did the Remix of Affirmative Action with Nas. And one other reason he stopped with football was that he wanted to go to University and get a degree..I believe he has a degree in sociology or something, he is an educated brother.

Glad you go international…French rap got some pretty good artists, OGB would be another MC I dig a lot and you should have an eye on the whole Mafia K’1 Fry crew..which is more or less a french version of Wu-Tang.
http://www.myspace.com/carsten11 Carsten

Hey thanks for the reply Jordi! And thanks for the inside look. I don’t speak french, so thats the reason why I never took a closer look at the rappers there. But you absolutly right, the french scene is great, they got a lot of talented dudes out there!
Tommylux

Yo, if y’all wanna check out solid french acts, there’s no way around supergroup IAM: they been delivering crazy beats and excellent lyrics since the early 90s and have delivered classic upon classic, inclusing some collabos with Wu tang affiliates. Actually, if anyone in France could be compared to the Wu it should be them, but today’s kids tend to forget about them. Chack for this album: “L’école du micro d’Argent” (school of the silver mic). the title already indicates they were on a bit of a Wu vibe back then, but it wasn’t imitation cos these cats been into mystic arts and stuff ever since before the Wu came out. And yeah – I speak French fluently, it’s like my mother tongue, so believe me when I say there’s not many – worldwide, that is – that can match these cats when it comes to spitting deep ish
Tommylux

speaking of which, given that i participate in the RapCredit thing, I might just up info on IAM next
kinetic

I Agree with Tommylux, wrote it a few hours ago in the remix comments so more cats would check that album, even if you dont understand the language, check the samples they used back then
http://www.myspace.com/carsten11 Carsten

Yeah IAM are makin’ great music!! Y’all should check out them out!! I really should spotlight them!! Tommy, It would be great if you could put the production and sample infos of some IAM LPs on the RapCredits site!! Thanks!
http://laxess.blogspot.com jordi

The reason I compared Mafia K’1 Fry with Wu-Tang was that just like Wu-Tang, they are more a collective of MCs than a rap group. Shurik’n and Akhenaton didn’t drop a solo albums after their 3rd IAM album, so comparing them to Wu-Tang in that regard is apples-oranges.
but thanks for keeping us “kids” informed about IAM ce soir on vous met, ce soir on vous met le feu
Tommylux

do you mean Shurik’n and Akhenaton didn’t drop solo albums till AFTER the third IAM album? cos both of them got solo albums, especially Akhneaton, he’s released plenty over the last 13 years. The other IAM members got solo stuff too (like Freeman and Kheops), although they didn’t get the same recognition as with IAM

but yeah, I think I really have ta up that info now, and maybe even include all the solo stuff and side thingies

Also, for people who know IAM and like tehri style, make sure to check out a band called “Fonky Family”; they were once mentored by IAM and I suppose they still are tight, given that they come from the same town (Marseilles), a bit like Wu with Sunz of Man or Killarmy
Tommylux

Carsten, I’ll do my best to up the info, but it’s gonna be difficult for the samples cos none are listed in the booklets due to less strict clearing laws in Europe and it’s hard to find that info on the net too. I’ll do some digging after putting up the basic info and then add that later
http://laxess.blogspot.com jordi

IAM dropped their first album in 1990 and Ombre est lumiere was out in 93/94, which was their third album. That’s around 14 years now. Either way…
kinetic

The producer Imhotep, (one of my all-time fav)
also dropped an instrumental album in 1998 called
blue print, is a little loungy but worth checkin’ ,
don’t forget “chroniques de mars”, produced by him also.
“fume du xzx pour faire passer ton stress, sensi”
golden age of hip hop for me!
peace
http://www.myspace.com/carsten11 Carsten

Allright Tommy, I got you, I’ll double check your work. It’s no problem when you don’t find all the samples. Just get that stuff up that you like, but keep the format we did. Ah, okay, I saw you already got those up! Thanks, nice work Tommy!
Tommylux

Jordi, what do you mean Ombre est Lumière was the third? Was there another one before “De La Planète mars”? If so, please let me know so I can add it to RapCredits, thanks.

Kinetic, I’m sure you also know the album by IAM’s DJ Kheops, “Sad Hill”? Classic…

And yes – I’ve added all the info i know on IAM to the Credits database, so if you’d be so kind all of you and have a look, I might have missed a few special editions or live albums (this is only for IAM the band though, not yet considering the solo stuff, I’ll deal with those some other time)
http://laxess.blogspot.com jordi

well…they had a promo called IAM Concept…a bit similar to Juvenile Hell from Mobb Deep.
2nd or 3rd…both works.
http://www.myspace.com/killaremedy Remedy

my fav French rap is “IAM” “Funky Family” “NTM” best ever

i love french beatz they are hella hot
V.

Hey, if Y’all wanna hear sum bangin’ french rap, Listen to Medine the “September 11th” mixtape.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke2cBCFhJWU
And Oh neuf-trois means “nine-three = 93″ it’s an area Code. The town is Saine Saint Denis, Aulnay Sous Bois is the hood.
Listen To “Casey” she’s a tough sista… lyrically…She’s the best in France it’s the french “Public Enemy”…. But she’s Martinican, 972 Area Code I mean She’s got Caribean Roots. If Y’all listen to her album Y’all know whut press rewind really really really means… lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L6VuuBIc2w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMf1Z9MVSno&feature=related
mannie

Sorry i don’t speak english very well.
V you are wrong the 93 is the department of seine st denis,not a town.
It is the department who are the most of ghetto in france.Aulnay sous bois is a city of the 93 but there are a lot of Ghetto city like St Denis Bondy or Epiney.
But the most dangerous is Clichy/montfermeil
mannie

9You can watch the new video of Sefyu: Molotov 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcZQHPvcn5M

and also an old video of Sefyu and a white rapper from 95 Seth gueko(a gipsy guy)
http://laxess.blogspot.com jordi

j’attend salaire à sheva, le son t’acheve,danse comme un cheval, et ici pas de philosoffe..

putain!
V.

Yeah I know this song Mannie, but according to me the best french rapper right now is Médine. Oh Pyroman is nice too.. Listen to His last album “Equateur Cosmique”
U’ll see, they both have nice flows, well written lyrics, No gimmicks ,they have real messages and they rhyme over nice beats.
yoo

hey I’m French and living in Bondy (50 000
inhabitants) in 93 as mannie said just before. I wanna say that there is some dangerous ways (with small buldings and a poor population) but It’s just that a very small part of this population who is bucked… They want to deal drugs, be “gansta” and make the 93 a ghetto just like in USA instead of studying and work. omg how they can be so crazy
MMM

Could anybody tell me where can read translation to this song : Sefyu – Mon Public
Please or maybe somebody can translat it
i would be really grateful

European Artist Spotlight: Sefyu

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