Gazo (rapper)

Ibrahima Diakité (; born August 5, 1994), better known by his stage name Gazo (), is a French rapper of Guinean descent.

Gazo is from a suburb of Paris called Saint-Denis. It is often named in many of his songs and also often identified as the "93" based on the French INSEE code for the region. In his youth, he got involved with a lot of troublemaking. His parents kicked him out by age 12, and by age 15 he left school, deciding to embark on his rap career along with some of his friends in Saint-Denis, eventually leading him to join the Gangster Disciple Nation (GDN) around the age of 16 with his friends. Putting a number of songs on YouTube, he got the attention of Gims who offered a joint track to him on his own album ''Le Fléau''. Gazo released his own mixtape ''Drill FR'' on 26 February 2021. It reached number 1 on the French Albums Chart with the single "Haine&Sex" reaching number 2 on the French Single Chart.

Gazo has had much success in his rap career since. "Haine&Sex" has since received diamond certification. He is commonly known as "The Prince of French Drill". Per one of his producers, Flem KGB, as well as a general consensus among fans of French rap, Gazo created an identifiable brand for French drill music, taking influence from UK and US drill yet unique on its own.

Early life

Ibrahima Diakhaté was born on August 5, 1994, in Châteauroux, to a Guinean family. He is the youngest of a family of five children. He grew up in small apartments in Belleville and then in the Roquette district. He is cousin with the rapper MHD. From the age of 11, he was placed in an educational home. He stopped school in the sixth grade and went on to placements in a home and foster family until he came of age. He then went on to live between Saint-Denis and the street, without identity papers. In 2017, he was imprisoned for the first time in a remand center, only to return there a few weeks after his release.

Career

Bramsou (until 2019)

Gazo began rapping under the name of Bramsou, sometimes Bram's, in reference to his first name, Ibrahima. From 5th grade, he wrote texts to "clash" one of his friends. Later, he founded a group with other young people from his home: the Barrodeur Music. Music was his only escape and allowed him to forget his difficult daily life. In 2017, he collaborated several times with the 4Keus Gang, the second entity of the 4Keus group and the former group of Tiakola, with whom he would go on to make a platinum single in 2021 and two in 2022. According to his statements, Bramsou is a name that has closed doors to him. “I had nothing more to lose. There was Bramsito, Brvmsoo La Deb and me who was called Bramsou, I passed for a fake because they had more light.” This caused him to change his musical style and so he took the name Gazo, a gazo being the nickname of trusted people in his neighborhood, those on whom you can count in case of trouble. He says: "I started with rap then I discovered drill, something dirty that reflects what happens in underprivileged neighborhoods but at the same time very melodious and even dancing, since it has its roots in Jamaica”.

Revelation to the general public and Drill FR (2019–2021)

In October 2019, he began a series of five freestyles "Drill FR" that would make him known nationally, allowing him in August 2020 to be the first artist to sign on the label Epic Records France of Sony Music, whose American leaning includes Drake and Travis Scott, among others. He would later confess that he would have quit music if the first sound of this series had not taken off: "I was out of breath. Luckily, this is done when the drill is a hit in France, including Dior of Pop Smoke”. With this he took on the look of mid-length braided locks accompanied by impressive jewelry including diamond teeth and gold glasses without frames, this was inspired by American stars Pop Smoke, Lil Wayne and XXXTentacion. On June 18, 2020, featuring Freeze Corleone, Gazo offers Drill FR 4, still considered in 2022 as the French drill sound. On August 27, 2020, the track Inceste was released, which marked Gazo's debut with Sony. Building on his new success, Gazo unveiled the track Tchin 2X12, whiwh appeared on Kaaris' album, One song, which is now of Gazo's best-known, reached number 44 on the Top Singles chart on the day of the mixtape's release, and number 78 the next day20. It is called HAINE&SEX. A few weeks later, videos using this sound emerged on the social network TikTok, before it finally became a viral trend, which made him known to a wider and wider audience, so much so that he was certified a diamond record in September 2021. The success led him to many collaborations. On his first mixtape with foreign artists, like the British Russ Millions. Gazo has begun putting subtitles in his clips in English to export himself beyond the borders of the French-speaking world.

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Singles

*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.

Featured in

*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.

Other charted songs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gazo
French male rappers
1994 births
Living people
Black French musicians
Black French rappers
French people of Guinean descent
People from Châteauroux
Drill musicians
Trap musicians