PNL (band)
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PNL (; acronym for Peace N' Lovés, ) is a French rap duo consisting of siblings Ademo (born Tarik Andrieu, ) and N.O.S (born Nabil Andrieu, ), from
Corbeil-Essonnes Corbeil-Essonnes () on the River Seine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Although neighboring Évry is the official seat of the Arrondissement of Évry, the sub-prefecture buildin ...
. Formed in 2014, they released their debut studio album, '' Le Monde Chico'' the next year. In 2016, the duo released their second album ''
Dans la légende ''Dans la légende'' () is the second studio album by French cloud rap band PNL. It was released on 16 September 2016 through the duo's own QLF Records. The album was preceded by the singles "La vie est belle", "DA", "J'suis QLF", "Naha", "Onizuka ...
'', which has peaked at number one on the
French Albums chart SNEP (, in English National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym SNICOP, the organisation was established in 1 ...
and sold over a million copies worldwide. PNL's third album, '' Deux frères'' (2019), supported by the number one singles "
À l'ammoniaque "À l'ammoniaque" () is a song by French rap duo PNL. It was released on 22 June 2018 as the debut single from their third studio album '' Deux frères''. The song peaked atop the charts of France. Music video The accompanying music video, dire ...
", "
91's "91's" is a song by French rap duo PNL. It was released on 10 August 2018 as the second single from their third studio album '' Deux frères''. It debuted at number one on the French SNEP SNEP (, in English National Syndicate of Phonographic ...
" and "
Au DD "Au DD" () is a song by French rap band PNL. It was released on 22 March 2019 as the third single from their third studio album '' Deux frères''. The song peaked atop the charts of France and Belgium. Background and release Through 2018, PNL r ...
". has also topped the chart in France.


Early life

Tarik Francois Andrieu and Nabil Andrieu grew up in the difficult neighbourhood of Les Tarterêts,
Corbeil-Essonnes Corbeil-Essonnes () on the River Seine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Although neighboring Évry is the official seat of the Arrondissement of Évry, the sub-prefecture buildin ...
,
Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...
. Tarik was born on December 26, 1986, and Nabil on April 25, 1989. Their father, René Andrieu, a
Pied-Noir The (; ; : ) are an ethno-cultural group of people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French colonial rule from 1830 to 1962. Many of them departed for mainland France during and after the ...
native of
Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...
, was involved in a
bank robbery Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank Branch (banking), branch or Bank teller, tel ...
and served an eight years sentence at the ''Maison centrale''— the designation of prisons for dangerous and/or long sentence detainees in France— of
Poissy Poissy () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Inhabitan ...
. René is an important figure in his community. The brothers were brought up in the absence of their mother, a native of
Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
. Ademo (Tarik) went to jail twice in 2010 and 2013 for drug trafficking. Before forming PNL, the two brothers first evolved solo. Tarik released his first mixtape ''Le Son des Halls Vol. 1'' in 2008, followed by the second volume in 2011. Nabil released a mixtape titled ''Calmement (365 Jours Pour Percer)'' in 2011. While comparing their early solo works to PNL, ''Abcdr du Son'' editor-in-chief Mehdi Maizi say: "What impressed me was their metamorphosis. It's as if they had passed through a rap laboratory and came out better".


Career


2014–2018: ''Le Monde Chico'' and ''Dans la légende''

The duo released their first song together in early 2014 after Ademo got out of prison. They released a mixtape titled '' Que la famille'' in March 2015, followed by the debut studio album '' Le monde Chico'' in October of the same year. The album was certified 2× platinum for selling over 200,000 copies in France. One of the singles from the album, "Le monde ou rien", went viral becoming a political slogan for the
Nuit debout Nuit debout is a French social movement that began on 31 March 2016, arising out of protests against proposed labor reforms known as the El Khomri law or ''Loi travail''. The movement was organized around a broad aim of "overthrowing the El Kho ...
social movement against proposed labor reforms known as the 
El Khomri law The law no. 2016-1088 of August 8, 2016 relating to work, the modernization of social dialogue and the securing of professional careers is a piece of national legislation in France relating to employment. It is commonly known as the El Khomri law ...
. Their second album ''
Dans la légende ''Dans la légende'' () is the second studio album by French cloud rap band PNL. It was released on 16 September 2016 through the duo's own QLF Records. The album was preceded by the singles "La vie est belle", "DA", "J'suis QLF", "Naha", "Onizuka ...
'' released on September 16, 2016, was certified diamond for selling over 1,000,000 copies in total in more than 5 countries around Europe. To promote the album, the duo went on a six-city tour in France through 2017. PNL were set to perform at
Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...
, one of the biggest
music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...
s in the
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during its 2017 edition. However, due to Ademo's criminal record, he was denied entry into the country. Through 2018, PNL released the singles, "
À l'ammoniaque "À l'ammoniaque" () is a song by French rap duo PNL. It was released on 22 June 2018 as the debut single from their third studio album '' Deux frères''. The song peaked atop the charts of France. Music video The accompanying music video, dire ...
" and "
91's "91's" is a song by French rap duo PNL. It was released on 10 August 2018 as the second single from their third studio album '' Deux frères''. It debuted at number one on the French SNEP SNEP (, in English National Syndicate of Phonographic ...
", both have reached number one on the
French singles chart SNEP (, in English National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym SNICOP, the organisation was established in ...
.


2019–present: ''Deux frères''

On April 5, 2019, PNL released their third album, '' Deux frères'', which sold more than 100,000 copies in its first week of release, a record for French rap. The album's third single, "
Au DD "Au DD" () is a song by French rap band PNL. It was released on 22 March 2019 as the third single from their third studio album '' Deux frères''. The song peaked atop the charts of France and Belgium. Background and release Through 2018, PNL r ...
", has topped the French singles chart. They shot the music video for "Au DD" on the
Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...
, becoming the first duo or band to do so. The album was nominated for
IMPALA The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'', lit. 'black-footed high-horn' in Ancient Greek) is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus '' Aepyceros'', and tribe Aepycerotini, it ...
's European Independent Album of the Year Award. In June 2019, the duo presented their QLF collection of sneakers, tracksuits, jeans and T-shirts, followed by their appearance in the
Off-White Shades of white are colors that differ only slightly from pure white. Variations of white include what are commonly termed off-white colors, which may be considered part of a neutral color scheme. In color theory, a ''shade'' is a pure color mi ...
fashion show in Paris. In July, it was announced that
Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
has signed PNL and will co-brand their music videos and promote special joint events. In the same month, PNL released the song "Tahia" in honor of Algeria after the country's victory in the
2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total SE, Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's associati ...
. In July 2020, PNL released an hour-long tour documentary on
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
France from a 2017 concert. In September 2020, Ademo was arrested in Paris on drug use and public disorder charges. The arrest was filmed by several fans and appeared to show him being held on the ground by police officers, and then handcuffed.


Artistry


Musical style and influences

PNL's music is labeled as
cloud rap Cloud rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that has several sonic characteristics of trap music with a hazy, dreamlike and relaxed production style. Rapper Lil B and producer Clams Casino were early pioneers of the style. The term "cloud rap" is ...
and their style has been described as "raw, hypnotic and moving" by French journalist Olivier Cachin. According to
France Info France Info (; stylised as franceinfo:) is a French public broadcasting service is a brand of news service participated by France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde and the Institut national de l'audiovisuel. The service in ...
's Laure Narlian "the contrast between the softness of the music and the rawness of the lyrics is what characterizes them best now". The main themes of the duo's songs are money, 
drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...
, family and the feeling of being different from other people.
Apple Music 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), a ...
’s
Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...
has described the duo as melding modern U.S. hip-hop production sonics with “that struggling sound of a community hich isburdened with unemployment, austerity measures, drugs, gangs, racism, and a whole host of other social issues”. Writing for
openDemocracy openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage d ...
, Adem Ferizaj said: "On the one hand, PNL stands out sound-aesthetically from other rap artists through their choice of atmospheric and often sentimental instrumentals. On the other hand, they are innovative, in terms of flows signifying the rap technique in hip hop culture, in their use of technical voice tools – especially the
vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...
. Through these means, they are constantly crossing boundaries between music genres". ''
Juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...
'' magazine's editor Joram Vuille wrote; " NL isthe first French rap group to really master
Autotune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles from the vocoder ...
and finally use it like an instrument, adapting their flows and lyrics to beats borrowed from the internet. PNL gave their French compatriots what they could only get from the Americans. They made you forget the lyrics and brought a certain atmosphere to the fore; an atmosphere that can also be found in their videos. It seemed as if for the first time a French group had managed to completely translate the new codes from across the
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
into French. And French rap finally proved that it could be sad, melancholy, depressed without using the otherwise inevitable and the utmost dead piano samples." As practising Muslims,
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
is one of their major artistic influences. In the song "Chang" from their third album, there's a line by Ademo rapping “I'm not leading a life according to
Din DIN or Din or din may refer to: People and language * Din (name), people with the name * Dīn, an Arabic word with three general senses: judgment, custom, and religion from which the name originates * Dinka language (ISO 639 code: din), spoken ...
but I'm always trying to become a better person”. PNL often make references to cartoons (''
The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...
'', ''
The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...
''), films ('' Scarface'') and video games; naming one of their singles "Onizuka" after the Japanese
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
''
Great Teacher Onizuka ''Great Teacher Onizuka'', officially abbreviated as ''GTO'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tooru Fujisawa. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from January ...
''.


Public image

The duo is characterized by total absence of interviews in the media, as well as innovative music videos shot in Iceland, Namibia, Italy, Japan, United States, South Africa, Jamaica, and elsewhere in the world. PNL was featured on the cover of ''
The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...
'' American magazine's June/July 2016 issue. ''Gonzaï'' magazine writer Albert Poriton has called PNL "the
Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...
without robot masks and with sunglasses", noting that other rap groups have started to "copy and paste" their "raw arrogance and urban melancholy". In a 2015 article for ''
i-D ''i-D'' is a British biannual magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art, film and youth culture. The magazine was launched in 1980 by Terry Jones, originally as a hand-stapled fanzine it has since evolved into a glossy publication. In 2023 the ...
'', Gino Delmas described PNL: "Long hair for one, slicked back for the other, tight polo shirt, a mix of sport and designer clothes. The PNL style, without make-up or overplay, takes a backhanded rap game where luxury and ostentatiousness are omnipresent, at the same time as it gives a glimpse of the 2015 vintage suburb look." In 2020, '' GQ France'' named N.O.S as one of the most stylish French rappers, stating that his generally
sportswear Sportswear or activewear is athletic clothing, including footwear, worn for sports activity or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical spor ...
-oriented choices and hair daring make him "look effortlessly classy".


Discography

* '' Le Monde Chico'' (2015) * ''
Dans la légende ''Dans la légende'' () is the second studio album by French cloud rap band PNL. It was released on 16 September 2016 through the duo's own QLF Records. The album was preceded by the singles "La vie est belle", "DA", "J'suis QLF", "Naha", "Onizuka ...
'' (2016) * '' Deux frères'' (2019)


Awards and nominations


Filmography


Tours

*Dans la légende Tour (2018)n *PNL Tour 2019(2019)


References


External links


Official website

PNL
at
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
* * {{PNL (rap duo) French hip-hop groups French people of Corsican descent French people of Algerian descent French people of Berber descent Rappers from Essonne Sibling musical duos French musical duos Hip-hop duos