Passi () is a

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

artist who became famous in the mid-1990s with the group Ministère AMER, which included himself, Doc Gyneco and

Stomy Bugsy Gilles Duarte (; born 21 May 1972), better known by his stage name Stomy Bugsy, is a French rapper and actor from Sarcelles, France. Biography Born in Paris on 21 May 1972 from Republic of Cape Verde, Duarte co-founded hip hop band Ministère ...

. He is most widely known, however, as a solo artist, as well as a participant in many other groups, such as

Bisso Na Bisso Bisso Na Bisso () is a music collective originating from the Republic of the Congo. The group was formed in 1999 and consists of rappers and singers, including Ben-J, a member of Les Neg'Marrons; the duo Lino and Calbo from Ärsenik; Doc and G K ...

and Dis l'heure 2 zouk.

Biography

Passi was born on 21 December 1972, in

Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...

, Congo. In 1979, his family moved to

Sarcelles Sarcelles () is a Communes of France, commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero#France, centre of Paris. Sarcelles is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of Franc ...

, a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He graduated from ''

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

'' and created the band '' Ministère AMER'' with

and Doc Gyneco, who he had gone to school with. The group's first album, ''Pourquoi tant de haine?'', was released in 1992, and Passi was forced to end his

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

studies at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

(

Nanterre Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...

) to be able to focus on music. Ministère AMER followed up with "95200" which was released in 1994. Passi's first solo album, ''Les tentations'', was released in 1997, and it sold 450,000 copies. The project ''Bisso na Bisso'' (meaning 'Just between ourselves' in

Lingala Lingala (or Ngala, Lingala: ) is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser de ...

, Congo's most widely spoken language), was a collective of French hip hop artists with

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n origins. It included names such as Ärsenik, and he released their album '' Racines'' in 1999. That same year, Passi released his second solo album, '' Genèse''. In 2002, Passi was asked to create the anthem for the

African Nations Cup The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

competition together with Congolese singer

Papa Wemba Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba (14 June 1949 – 24 April 2016), known professionally as Papa Wemba (), was a Congolese singer and musician who played Congolese rumba, soukous, and ndombolo. Dubbed the "King of Rumba Rock", he was one of ...

. The two eventually managed to attract into the project such names as

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, ; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' described him as, "perhaps the m ...

and

Cheb Mami Mohamed Khelifati (; born 11 July 1966), better known by his stage name Cheb Mami (), is an Algerians, Algerian musician and singer-songwriter. He sings and speaks in Algerian Arabic and sometimes in Mashriqi Arabic, Eastern Arabic dialects or ...

. Passi's third album, ''Odyssée'', came out in 2004. Passi is also known as the artist whose song, "Il fait chaud" ("It's hot"), was featured in the last episode in the television show, ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

''. The song was not credited at the end of the show, leaving many viewers to call the song simply "The French Rap". Passi appeared in the sixth episode of ''

The Amazing Race 27 ''The Amazing Race 27'' is the twenty-seventh season of the American reality competition show ''The Amazing Race (American TV series), The Amazing Race''. Hosted by Phil Keoghan, it featured eleven teams of two, each with a pre-existing relation ...

'' in 2015, in which teams were required to perform one of his songs, "79 à 99", as part of a

Detour __NOTOC__ A detour or (British English: diversion) is a (normally temporary) route taking traffic around an area of prohibited or reduced access, such as a construction site. Standard operating procedure for many roads departments is to route an ...

challenge.

Discography

Ministère A.M.E.R

* 1992 : Ministère AMER - ''Pourquoi Tant de Haine'' * 1994 : Ministère AMER - ''95200''

Solo

* 1997 : ''Les Tentations'' * 2001 : ''Genèse'' * 2004 : ''Odyssée'' * 2007 : ''Révolution'' * 2007 : ''Évolution''

Bisso Na Bisso

* 1998 :

- ''Racines'' * 1999 : Bisso Na Bisso - ''Le 15 mai 1999'' (live)

Dis l'heure 2 zouk ''(as producer)''

* 2002 : ''Dis l'heure 2 Rimes'' * 2003 : ''Dis l'heure 2 Zouk'' * 2004 : ''Dis l'heure 2 Ragga Dancehall'' * 2005 : ''Dis L'Heure 2 Afro Zouk'' vol.1 * 2006 : ''Dis L'heure 2 Hip Hop/Rock''

References

External links

Official Site - now advertising
{{Authority control French male rappers French people of Republic of the Congo descent Republic of the Congo emigrants to France 1972 births Living people Black French musicians Republic of the Congo musicians Rappers from Val-d'Oise