If you judge a personality by the number of selfies you ask, Lacrim is a superstar.
From firefighters to trainees, everyone jumped on him this Wednesday during his quick visit to the Parisian headquarters.
The rapper may be "Persona Non Grata" as the title of his latest album suggests, but he's not in the streets.
And he takes advantage of it.
He who has been deprived of it several times.
The last time we spoke about Lacrim, it was in 2016 in the “miscellaneous” section.
He was coming out of prison, after six months on the run and a year in the Fresnes remand center.
Two albums later, one successful ("Force & Honneur"), the other disappointing ("Lacrim"), one of the faces and major voices of French rap returns at 36 through the front door with a fourth copious disc (17 titles, 55 minutes), which mixes more than ever fiction and his own life, always as cinematographic (the trilogy "Reda the Egyptian", "Raft of the Medusa"), but more open musically ("Ocean Drive ”,“ Tulum ”,“ I call Uber ”,“ Persona Non Grata ”…), more accessible and personal. We adhere. And it works. In a particularly competitive week, he entered directly this Friday in 6th place in sales, behind the new Jul but ahead of Johnny Hallyday's American tour.
"In eleven years, I have done a lot of projects but few albums," he recalls.
And the previous one did not have very good feedback.
So it was important for me to come back with a big record.
We worked a lot on it.
I come to a point in my career and in my life when I have to renew myself.
A song like
Persona Non Grata
, I who am modest, I had never done that.
"In this beautiful piano voice, Karim Zenoud, his real name, falls off the mask:" I am Lacrim / I made chtar
(from prison)
/ Nobody hagged me
(hit)
/ I came from nothing part / I slept outside / I was alone in the world but in everyone's eyes / I was going to die young ”.
"It's a challenge to fight against life, to succeed"
“I was hit by the street and my parents ended up giving up.
The prison made me a mature person and now I am their pride ”.
LP / Jean-Baptiste Quentin
His name and his image of tough hide a sensitive.
“I needed to externalize this, like a balance sheet,” he says.
When I say I was
going to die young
, it's true.
For me, as for my father, it was screwed up.
Death or prison.
For me, it's a challenge to fight against life, to succeed.
I never had anyone to help me.
Demons, enemies, even my parents, I had everyone against me.
I was hit by the street and my parents ended up giving up.
But prison made me mature and now I'm their pride.
Whatever happens, I remain a model of success ”.
Karim Zenoud, Karim Benzema, same fight? “Karim is also a great model of success. We have the same fiber, the same resilience. We've known each other for four years. In 2018, we spent the summer holidays together. I related this in an extract on the Internet in 2019
(“Karim B.”)
. Since then, I have been asked for the full song. She will arrive. "Persona non grata" works for both. “Our success when we come from the suburbs is not highlighted enough, says Lacrim. In France, I don't necessarily feel comfortable. The eyes of people, the legal system, it's complicated. "
“My last two incarcerations concerned stories ten years old,” he explains.
For one, I even served two sentences.
It took me three years for a gun in a clip that had my fingerprints on it and I ended up in jail with people who had been caught with a Kalashnikov, five kilos of cannabis and 30,000 euros in cash.
The judge freed me and the prosecutor appealed.
I did not understand.
But I am here in front of you and all is well ”.
"My dream has always been to be an entrepreneur"
"Rap has evolved a lot over the past ten years and I'm working hard to come back to the Champions League."
LP / Jean-Baptiste Quentin
The one who describes himself as "a nomad" has put down his suitcases in Dubai. “Because of my notoriety, I could no longer live in Paris, nor in the Netherlands where I spent a year and a half, so I left to be quiet in Dubai… But not in the French quarter. The confinement did me a lot of good, I played sports, introspected, I took care of myself and found myself. I try to see my children as much as possible
(aged 11 and 6)
, I am more cake, more calm than before. "
In terms of marketing, Lacrim and his manager Oumar are not at a loss for ideas. For example, they slipped 26 banknotes of 500 euros into his CDs. “The Covid took me away from my audience and I wanted to please them. I also did dedications in my town of Chevilly-Larue (Val-de-Marne). Rap has evolved a lot over the past ten years and I'm working hard to get back to the Champions League. Jul, for me, he's the Johnny Hallyday of rap. The work of Orelsan and Ninho also stimulates me. "The latter invited him on stage last Saturday at the Accor Arena, Jul took him on board in his very popular" organized clasico ".
“As Jul did in France, I am setting up a European rap project with the headliners of each country, with a tour to the key, announces besides Lacrim.
It is even more important to me than my own albums.
Music saved me, at 26, brought me stability, but that's not my reason for living.
Today, I would like it to be a springboard to live my life.
I also have a passion for cinema, I will probably accept a role that has just been offered to me, I created a barber shop in Dubai, I love cooking, I would love to open a restaurant… Me, my dream it has always been about being an entrepreneur.
"
EDITOR'S RATING: 4/5
Lacrim "Persona Non Grata", Plata O Plomo / Capitol / Universal.