“Continue with my mafia character”

It’s easy to see, this fifth CD from the Marseille rapper did almost as well as that of Justin Bieber. When it was released on Friday March 19, 2021, it was the second most listened to album in the world on Spotify behind that of the Canadian. In France, SCH even placed 16 tracks of “JVLIVS II” among the 20 most listened to tracks in the country. Crazy!

Before publishing this second volume, you released “Rooftop” (2019), an album different from the trilogy. Why?

I needed to go to another universe than that of “JVLIVS” and to make music more simply. The trilogy is complex with a story and common threads to follow. On this one, it’s the French voice of Al Pacino. She links the titles together in addition to being a mythical and charismatic voice of cinema.

The cinema is precisely an influence.

Yes. The image is at the service of music and vice versa. On this record, it was a challenge to continue the story of my mafia character.

Besides, how has it evolved?

On volume I, I presented him as a godfather of the underworld in Italian mansions in fur coats. There, I wanted to show what he does for a living, his executive side. That’s why he’s in a suit on the port of Marseille and not in a mink. He is also less mystical and more human.

Sound level, you have worked with real instruments, strings or piano.

Yes. Overall, I find it beneficial for the urban movement to try to go back to analog, to touch more orchestral things. As far as I’m concerned, the instrumental part has a very large place on the album. I needed it to give “JVLIVS II” that soundtrack side of a film.

“JVLIVS III”, are you already thinking about it?

I think about it and I already know what it will look like in general terms. I’m scratching my head to figure out where I’m going to get my character going. What I can say is that I already know the purpose.

Is that so? Is your character going to die then, like many gangsters?

So that, in order not to spoil, we will avoid the subject! (laughs) You can always have surprises. Everything comes to those who wait.

(The essential / Fabien Eckert)

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