Seven things to know about rapper Damso, performing in Quebec and Laval this week

MISE À DAY

Rapper Damso is coming to Quebec with shows on Friday at the Videotron Center in Quebec City and Saturday and Sunday at Place Bell in Laval. Here are seven things to know about this most listened to French singer-songwriter and performer on online listening platforms. 

30 years old

The famous rapper under the name of Damso was born on May 10, 1992 in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. William Kalubi Mwamba is 30 years old. He fled with his family, a sociologist mother and a cardiologist father, the armed conflict that was raging in his country to go and live in Belgium. He was nine years old.

His beginnings

“Damso” launched into hip-hop in 2006 within the formation OPG which he created with his childhood friend Dolfa, Rex, Ducke and Lio Brown. He launched, in solo, in 2014, a mixtape entitled Waiting roomon which there are eight titles. He did it again quickly with MMMXIII in the company of his group OPG.

Booba

His career took off when, in 2015, he attracted the attention of the rapper French Booba. His presence with the title Poseidon on Booba's OKLM mixtape led him to join Booba's 92i collective and to be spotted by the Universal Music France record label. . His participation on the song Pinocchio, on the album Nero Nemesisof Booba, will reveal it to the general public.

Five albums

Damso has five albums to his credit. Low battery, his first, launched, July 8, 2016, Ipséité (2017), Lithopédion (2018), QALF (2020) and QALF Infinity on April 28, 2021. Lithopédion allowed him to get his hands on the Victoire de la musique for best rap album of the year in 2019. 

The success

His song, Macarena, which can be found on the album Ipséité totals 163 million listens on the portal Spotify. The titles Feu de bois and Mosaic solitairepassed the 100 million mark. With 1.4 billion downloads on Spotify, Damso is the most streamed French rapper in the world.

A duo with Angèle

Damso and Angèle have joined forces for the simple Démons found on the opus Nonante-Cinq of the popular Belgian singer. This song, the second single from the album, has been listened to 66 million times on the Spotify platform.

Raw words

Relationships, success, the Democratic Republic of Congo, racism and sex are some of the themes addressed by Damso. These words are sometimes very raw. He cites, among his influences, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Mylène Farmer among his influences. He created the humanitarian foundation Vie Sur Nous Fondation to fight against mining in his native country.