Kery James

Kery James live (2008)

Kery James (* 28 December 1977 in Guadeloupe as Alix Mathurin ) is a French rapper with Haitian roots.

biography

His father sees little future in Guadeloupe, which is why he sends seven-year-old Alix and his mother and sister to Paris . After a short stay with a host family, the Mathurin family moved into a small apartment in the Paris suburb of Orly .

Music, especially hip-hop , quickly becomes a great passion of little Alix. At the age of eleven he began to write songs himself for the first time and was supported by the rapper Manu Key . In 1990 he founded the Ideal Junior group with two friends . In 1995 he joined the rap collective Mafia K'1 Fry , which unites rappers from the Orly suburb. With the album Le combat continue , which was released in 1998, Ideal J made its breakthrough in France. Especially the title Hardcore , which is on the album, causes a sensation outside of the rap milieu. The video for the song is banned because of the hard footage.

After the dissolution of Ideal J in 1999 and the murder of a childhood friend, Kery James decides to retire from the music business and convert to Islam . Thanks to the support of his close relatives, Kery James returned to the rap stage and released his first solo album Si c'était à refaire in 2001 . His texts are now significantly influenced by the teaching of the Koran and are no longer as provocative as in the times of Ideal J. With his second solo album Ma vérité , Kery James finally becomes one of the most famous artists in France. At the beginning of 2008 he released his third solo album with À l'ombre du show-business . This sells over 100,000 times and receives gold status. A year later, the next album followed with Réel , which reached the top 5 of the French album charts.

Discography

For publications with Mafia K'1 Fry see here

Solo albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		FR	BE W	CH
2001	Si c'était à refaire	FR5 gold (25 weeks)FR	-	-
2004	Savoir & vivre ensemble	FR15 (23 weeks) FR	BE W54 (6 weeks) BE W	CH89 (2 weeks) CH
2005	Ma verite	FR8 (24 weeks) FR	BE W69 (4 weeks) BE W	-
2008	À l'ombre you show business	FR3 platinum (58 weeks)FR	BE W27 (13 weeks) BE W	CH59 (2 weeks) CH
2009	Reel	FR1 platinum (43 weeks)FR	BE W12 (20 weeks) BE W	CH33 (3 weeks) CH
2012	92.2012	FR12 (8 weeks) FR	BE W72 (5 weeks) BE W	-
2013	Dernier MC	FR3 (29 weeks) FR	BE W9 (27 weeks) BE W	CH47 (2 weeks) CH
	Coffret intégrale	FR51 (1 week) FR	-	-
2016	Dernier MC	FR2 gold (31 weeks)FR	BE W6 (15 weeks) BE W	CH16 (3 weeks) CH
2018	J'rap encore	FR19 (27 weeks) FR	BE W6 (15 weeks) BE W	CH42 (7 weeks) CH

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		FR	BE W	CH
2010	À mon public	FR30 (10 weeks) FR	BE W81 (2 weeks) BE W	CH33 (3 weeks) CH

Albums with Ideal J

• 1992: La vie est brutale
• 1996: O'riginal MC's sur une mission
• 1998: Le combat continue

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		FR
2001	Y'a pas d'couleur Si c'était à refaire	FR61 (12 weeks) FR
2004	Relève la tête Savoir et vivre ensemble	FR39 (14 weeks) FR	pres. Lino, AP, Diam's, Passi, Matt & Kool Shen
2012	Lettre à la République 92-2012	FR33 (3 weeks) FR
	Dernier MC Dernier MC	FR133 (2 weeks) FR
2013	Des mots Dernier MC	FR177 (1 week) FR	feat. LFDV
	À l'horizon Dernier MC	FR82 (4 weeks) FR	feat. LFDV
	Contre nous Dernier MC	FR145 (1 week) FR	feat. La Ligue: Youssoupha et Médine
	Le mystère féminin Dernier MC	FR120 (6 weeks) FR	feat. Imany
	94 c'est le Barça Dernier MC	FR131 (7 weeks) FR
2016	Mouhammad Alix Mouhammad Alix	FR78 (4 weeks) FR
	N'importe quoi Mouhammad Alix	FR154 (2 weeks) FR
	Racailles Mouhammad Alix	FR26 (8 weeks) FR
	Vivre ou mourir ensemble Mouhammad Alix	FR167 (1 week) FR
	Musique nègre Mouhammad Alix	FR113 (3 weeks) FR	feat. Lino & Youssoupha
2019	À qui la faute	FR94 (1 week) FR	feat. Orelsan

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: FR BEW CH
2. ↑ Awards for music sales: FR

Web links

• German biography about Kery James on banlieue-connexion.com