Kamini Zantoko is a Black French musician and screenwriter.

Personal life

Kamini's father—Seyolo Zantoko—and his family moved from

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

Marly-Gomont Marly-Gomont () is a commune in the Aisne department, administrative region of Hauts-de-France (formerly Picardy), northern France. Population Personalities *A song by the rapper Kamini depicts Marly-Gomont. The video received almost 16 m ...

, France in 1975. They had difficulty assimilating as the first

Black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...

in town. Kamini was born in

Le Nouvion-en-Thiérache Le Nouvion-en-Thiérache (, literally ''Le Nouvion in Thiérache''; ) is a commune in the Aisne department, region of Hauts-de-France (formerly Picardy), northern France. Population History World War I On 27 August 1914, 210 houses in ...

, grew up in Marly-Gomont, and by the summer of 2006, was working part-time as a nurse. Seyolo died sometime prior to 2012.

Career

Aspiring to make

hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

, in 2006 he wrote about Marly-Gomont ("

"). In his music video, made in late June on a budget of (equivalent to € in ), he raps about farming and games with his friends and fellow villagers. On 30 August, Kamini uploaded the video and cold-emailed promotions to

record companies "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and t ...

; instead, a t-shirt retailer shared the link online, and by the end of the day, "Marly-Gomont" was a hit. Off the merits of his amateur

viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...

, Kamini signed with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

on 2 November to publish "Marly-Gomont" and two more albums. In August 2019, he released a music video, "J'avais envie de le dire". In 2012, Kamini wrote and narrated the autobiographical film ''

The African Doctor ''The African Doctor'' (original title: ''Bienvenue à Marly-Gomont'') is a 2016 French comedy-drama film based on the life of Seyolo Zantoko, the father of the musician Kamini. It was co-written by Kamini and directed by Julien Rambaldi. It star ...

'' () to pay tribute to his father. It was released in 2016, directed by

Julien Rambaldi Julien Rambaldi is a French film director and screenwriter. Career Rambaldi became known after his short film ''Scotch'' (2003) was awarded in several festivals. He then directed the feature film ''Les Meilleurs Amis du monde'' (''Best Friend ...

. After film, Kamini went on to work in television. He has presented and reported for several programs, including ''Toute la Picardie vous ouverte les portes de la formation'', ''Midi en France'' in 2016, and ''Les Gens des Hauts'' on

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air Public broadcasting, public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming. France 3 is structured as a Region ...

in November 2017. In 2021 on

France 2 France 2 () is a French free-to-air public television channel. The flagship channel of France Télévisions, it broadcasts generalist programming including news, entertainment (such as dramas, films, and game shows), factual programmes, and sp ...

's ''Un si grand soleil'', he portrayed Wilson Samba, a diamond trafficker.

References

External links

* {{authority control 21st-century French screenwriters 21st-century male rappers Black French rappers French male rappers French male screenwriters French people of Republic of the Congo descent living people male nurses people from Aisne RCA Records artists year of birth missing (living people)