La Fouine

The French rap artist La Fouine was born Laouni Mouhid in 1981 and brought up in the Paris suburb of Trappes. After dropping out of France's education system at 14 and nurturing aspirations to become a rapper he turned instead to drug dealing. He managed to turn his life around and after making a freestyle appearance on a mixtape titled 'Violences Urbaines' he signed a deal with Sony. Away from his professional life and in an effort to help French teenagers from similar backgrounds as his own Mouhid became a mediator taking part in youth meetings within the area he grew up. His debut album for Sony was an uncompromising collection of songs titled 'Bourré au Son' (2005) and it established Mouhid as a serious hip-hop artist able to combine his message with well-crafted arrangements and catchy hook lines. The artist has gone on to record a series of well-received albums and over the years some of the rawness has fallen away to reveal a confident hip-hop performer capable of successfully connecting with European hip-hop fans.

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