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Gandhi Alimasi Djuna (born 6 May 1986), known professionally as Maître Gims and more recently just Gims (stylized in all caps), is a Congolese singer, rapper, producer, and songwriter. Gims grew up in France and currently lives in France and Morocco. He rose to fame as a member of the hip hop group Sexion d'Assaut and pursued an individual career under the name Maître Gims in 2013. In 2006, he released an extended play, titled Ceux qui dorment les yeux ouverts. During his career he has worked with several international artists such as Sia, Pitbull, Lil Wayne, Stromae, Maluma, Sting, and others. He has sold over 5 million records, including 3 million albums since the start of his career. He started his solo career in 2013 with the release of his first album, Subliminal in May on Wati B and Monstre Marin Corporation, which sold over a million copies and peaked at number two on the French album charts. In December he released a reissue titled Subliminal la face cachée. The album contained songs such as "J'me tire", "Bella" and "Zombie". From its first week of operation, the album certified platinum and would end up being double diamond disc for over 1 million in sales. The album was a great success, charting high in France, Belgium, and Switzerland.
In August 2015, Gims released his second album, Mon cœur avait raison. The album was divided into two parts: the red pill, which contains rap songs, and the blue pill, which contains pop-urban songs. The idea came from the movie The Matrix. A year later he released a re-release titled À contrecœur. The album contained some of the best songs in his career, such as: "Est-ce que tu m'aimes?", "Laissez passer", "Brisé", "Sapés comme jamais", "Tu vas me manquer", "Je te pardonne", "Ma beauté" and "Tout donner". The album was well received and after having sold nearly 85,800 records in its first week, it was certified platinum. At the end of 2018, more than 700,000 units had been sold in France and 581,000 units had been sold internationally. He released his third album in March 2018, titled Ceinture noire on the TF1 Group and Play Two labels. The album has been reissued several times: Transcendence reissue was released in April 2019 and an other reissue Décennie with 4 new titles was released in December 2019. The album entered pole position in Wallonia. 1st place remains for 7 consecutive weeks before dropping to 2nd place. The following week, he climbs back to first place. He entered Flanders 28th. The album contained songs such as "Caméléon", "Miami Vice", "Hola Señorita", "Reste", "10/10" and "Mi Gna". His song "La même" was the most played in France in 2018 and it helped Gims become the most played artist of 2018 on French television and radio, as well as the seventh most performed artist in the world on Deezer.
During the COVID-19 pandemic confinement, Gims announces on a live Instagram a 100% rap album for the month of October 2020. According to some publications on his Instagram, Gims reveals that his album would be an 80% rap album contrary to what had been announced. On 4 December 2020, he released his fourth album titled Le fléau. In November 2020, In 2020, he won the International Artist of the Year in Distinctive International Arab Festivals Awards after his featuring in Mohamed Ramadan's song "Ya Habibi". On 17 September 2020, Netflix released a documentary about the last ten years of his career titled . A reissue entitled Les vestiges du fléau was published on 28 May 2021. A second reissue titled L'Empire de Méroé was released on 3 December 2021. The album contained songs such as "Yolo", "Immortel", "Jusqu'ici tout va bien", "Belle" and "Only You".
On 5 October 2022, Gims revealed the new album's title, its release date and its cover. At the same time, the pre-order of the record was made available, accompanied by three tickets, gold, platinum and diamond to be won. In December 2022, he released his fifth album, Les dernières volontés de Mozart or LDVM (Symphony). The album is certified gold with more than 50,000 copies sold in June 2023. In July 2024, the album reached 100,000 copies sold and was certified platinum. The album will have finally had its small success, although it has sold less than his previous projects. In August 2022, he played the song "Arhbo" for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Official Soundtrack along with Ozuna, which they also performed during the closing ceremony. He has topped the French singles chart five times, including once as a featured artist, most recently in 2024 with "Spider", featuring Dystinct. On 13 September 2024, Gims released a second EP and his first since 2006, titled Le Nord se souvient containing the tracks "Spider", "Sois pas timide", "Terminal 2F" and "Vent du Nord" as well as three new tracks.
Because of his parents hiding, he explains having had a difficult childhood. He was placed with foster families, before Squatting until he was 18 years old. This passage from his life is mentioned in his book Vise le soleil. He is part of a family of fourteen children. He is the brother of Dadju, member of the group The Shin Sekaï, of Bedjik, Afi (formerly Xgangs), and Djelass, all three of them rappers. On his first album Subliminal (2013), they participate in the song "Outsider". Gims grew up in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. His family then moved to the 9th arrondissement and finally to the 19th arrondissement. Gims studied graphic design and communication. He takes the nickname "Gims" in reference to Asian cinema and the world of martial arts.
Sexion d'Assaut's second street album, L'Écrasement de tête, was released in May 2009 on label Because Music. The last sub-entity of the supergroup, 3rd Prototype, disappeared completely. LÉcrasement de tête acquired a certain notoriety with the general public thanks to titles and music videos, including "T'es bête ou quoi?" and "Wati Bon Son" (in collaboration with Dry). Sexion d'Assaut went on tour, notably opening for Orelsan and Medina. The album sold more than 50,000 copies. Following the release of LÉcrasement de tête, the group left Because Music due to misunderstandings and signed with Sony Music Entertainment.
In 2010, Sexion d'Assaut released the studio album L'École des points vitaux. Gims is credited there as a singer-songwriter. He composed the instrumental tracks of several pieces, including "Ils appellent ça 'Casquette à l'envers'". Other beatmakers also participated in the album, such as SoulChildren with "La drogue te donne des ailes". The album met with great success with the general public, selling over 400,000 copies. The group opened for Suprême NTM at the Parc des Princes and performed at the Zénith de Paris. In April 2011, a controversy broke out over the group's openly homophobic claims. In reaction to criticism, Sexion d'Assaut decided to release a mixtape entitled , which despite everything met with success with titles like "Paris va bien" and "Qui t'a dit". The project contains a DVD including a video of one of the songs, as well as a documentary retracing the group's journey.
In March 2012, they released their second album, L'Apogée, which was more successful than the first. The album sold over 700,000 copies. The same year, Gims published an online comic entitled Au cœur du vortex. In parallel with his career with Sexion d'Assaut, Gims tried his hand at musical composition. At the end of 2006, he released his first solo project, an Extended play entitled Ceux qui dorment les yeux ouverts. The EP is produced by ATK's Fredy K and Noko. With a very limited pressing, the disc aimed to make Gims known to the general public. The record features tracks with Sexion d'Assaut, Scred Connexion rapper Koma and a singer named Carole.
On May 4, he published "Bella". On 13 May "VQ2PQ" was broadcast exclusively on Skyrock. The song "It Works," was aired on May 14, similarly exclusively, in collaboration with The Shin Sekaï. The album Subliminal was released on 20 May. To promote it, Gims unveiled previously unreleased tracks, not part of the album, in the form of a series of music videos (clips in French) entitled This is not a clip. On the commercial side, the album was certified double diamond disc with more than 1 million sales.
On 31 May 2013, he performed his first solo concert at the Olympia. He featured on the album Racine carrée of Stromae on the song "AVF" featuring with Orelsan. After the last date of the Sexion d'Assaut tour, 28 September 2013 at the Stade de France for Urban Peace, which also brings together IAM, Orelsan, Youssoupha, La Fouine, Psy 4 de la Rime, Rohff and Stromae, Gims announced that he wanted to take a break. He also intends to take care of his marriage and his children, whom he says he has seen too little because of his career (the oldest of his four children was born around 2008 and the youngest in 2013). The new Sexion d'Assaut album is then scheduled for November 2015.
In September 2013, he collaborated with singer Vitaa on the single "Game Over". The song topped the singles charts in France. On 22 November 2013, Gims unveils his new clip "Changer", which ranks 17th for the week of 1 December 2013. With this ballad, Gims hopes to reach a new, wider audience. In February 2014, Gims was nominated in the Urban Music category at the Victoires de la Musique, but the prize went to the rap group 1995. His solo career was nonetheless a success. According to the magazine Challenges, the singer was the second highest paid French artist of 2013, behind Mylène Farmer but just ahead of Johnny Hallyday.
Then, Gims unveiled the second extract of the Blue Pill called "Laissez passer", the music video of which brings together his family, his father and his brothers. At the end of July, Gims continues with "Longue vie" (Red Pill) with Lefa which marks his return to the music scene, the music video reunited all the members of Sexion d'Assaut. The tracklist and the release date of the album were announced by Gims on social media: the album will be released on 28 August. At the end of August, a new single: "Brisé", is available. Subsequently, he released 4 other singles from his double album ("Tu vas me manquer", "Je te pardonne", "ABCD" as well as "Sapés comme jamais"). Then he announced the reissue of his album which will be released on 26 August 2016. Mon cœur avait raison runs out to 700,000 copies.
On 23 April 2016, Gims gave a concert before the football match between Paris Saint-Germain F.C. and Lille OSC for the 2016 Coupe de la Ligue final. He performed excerpts from three of his hits "Est-ce que tu m'aimes?", "Bella" and "Sapés comme jamais". Unfortunately, applause was overtaken by booing and hissing by the spectators upon his arrival on the pitch. When the rapper shouted to the audience "Shall we continue?", the spectators shouted "No!" Interviewed about the incident later on, Gims revealed that he did not hear the whistles when he sang but that this negative response did not shock him. He pointed out that many of the football fans were already drunk, and some of them were for Lille, while Gims is Parisian. He even has a lyric in "Sapés comme jamais" about how "Paris is magic." The rapper acknowledged that there are a lot of people who do not like his music but said he would still do it all again, for his fans.
Ceinture noire is currently certified by the SNEP as a double diamond disc with over 1,000,000 sales. On 28 September 2019, Gims officially became the first French-speaking rapper to fill the Stade de France with more than 72,000 spectators.
The Sexion d'Assaut made its comeback in concert at Paris La Défense Arena on 25 September 2021, a date officially set for January but postponed due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic. On 28 August 2020, Kendji Girac and Gims unveiled their title "Dernier Métro", produced as a duo. The same day, he released the first single, "Yolo", from his upcoming album Le fléau. On 17 September 2020, on Netflix, a documentary was released retracing the last ten years of his career titled . On 25 September 2020, he released the second single from Le Fléau, entitled "Immortel", a purely rap song reminiscent of Gims's early freestyles with Sexion d'Assault.On 2 December 2020, Gims unveiled the tracklist of Le Fléau with 17 tracks, including features from Vald, Kaaris, Heuss l'Enfoiré, Leto, Bosh and Gazo. The album was certified platinum a month and a half after its release. On 17 March 2021, Gims published a new freestyle named "Pyongyang" in collaboration with l'nsolent. On 5 April 2021, he published on streaming platforms a new track called "GJS" in collaboration with Jul and SCH, as well as the track "Belle", in collaboration with Dadju and Slimane. He appears in a video supporting right-wing candidate Valérie Pecresse in the run-up to the 2021 regional elections in Île-de-France.
On 28 April 2021, Gims announced the reissue of the album entitled Les Vestiges du Fléau which will be released on 28 May 2021. On 19 May 2021, he published the list of titles composed of 10 tracks including 8 collaborations and two solos . Among the guests of the reissue, in addition to Jul, SCH, Dadju and Slimane, participate, in particular, international singers such as the Egyptian Mohamed Ramadan, the Tanzanian Rayvanny as well as the German-Albanian singer Dhurata Dora. On 28 May 2021, the same day as the release of the reissue, Gims released the clip for "Only You" in collaboration with Dhurata Dora. On 8 October 2021, he released a new single in collaboration with Vitaa named "Prends ma main". In November 2021, he participated in the collective project Le Classico organisé, on Jul's initiative, bringing together more than 150 rappers from Bouches-du-Rhône and Île-de-France.
On 22 April, Gims, in collaboration with co-headliners Youssoupha and Fally Ipupa, spearheaded a philanthropic, sold-out concert titled Solidarité Congo at the Accor Arena. The event, which featured thirty prominent musical acts—including leading figures from the French rap scene as well as internationally acclaimed and Congolese artists—was organized to raise funds for child victims affected by the Rwandan-backed M23 insurgency in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The proceeds were allocated to Dadju's Give Back Charity. Initially scheduled for 7 April, the concert was postponed in observance of the International Day of Remembrance of the Rwandan genocide.
According to an investigation by the newspaper Le Parisien, his first application for nationality was blocked for failure to pay fines for traffic offenses, as well as to his inability to establish the center of his material interests in France; the performer and his family lived too much in Morocco and not enough in France to be considered French. In early 2022, he relaunched the procedure for obtaining French nationality. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, estimated on 25 January 2022 on France Inter that the rapper's recent comments on the New Year did not demonstrate "good proof of assimilation into French society", going to against article 21-24 of the Napoleonic Code. However, the minister assured that his request would be, like all the others, re-examined by his services. He has a Congolese diplomatic passport obtained in 2022.
Gims converted to Islam in 2004. Originally a Catholic, he said in 2016 that conversations with Barack Adama, his friend from the group Sexion d'Assaut, convinced him to convert to Islam, as well as an interview with an imam. In 2005, he joined the revivalist movement of the Tablighi Jamaat, which he then left and now considers a cult. He says in a documentary dedicated to him on Netflix: "There were people who ended up dead, committed suicide in Iraq. People who were close to me, and that freaked me out. I don't know where I could have ended up." Gims also is an anime enjoyer; having multiple anime references in his music. One example is in his hit song "SPIDER," where it references and One Piece—two very popular animes.
The second album is divided into two parts: an "urban pop / R&B" oriented, widely broadcast by radio and music channels, and a "Rapping" oriented as it did when it started. The humorist of the web Jhon Rachid deplores that the second part "old-fashioned rap" is less known than the first, which hurts him "rap" (title of his show on YouTube). As for Joeystarr, he often criticizes him on social networks, calling his music "music for prepubescents". The slammer Grand Corps Malade said in an interview that he does not adhere to the music of Gims, which is "teenage pop" with "poor lyrics and an unpleasant voice".
The Booska-P site evokes "Gims-bashing" in an article presenting the most hated French rappers which also include Bigflo & Oli, Jul and Booba. Rap "purists" like Joeystarr or Jhon Rachid cited above reproach him for the touches of pop and dance; some calling his music "camping music" or "zumba". Hated by a part of the rap fans, he is also hated by a part of the general public who do not like rap and prefer variety or rock. Literary critic Éric Naulleau has called Gims's "Bella" "the worst text he's ever heard".
| 2020 | Himself | Documentary |
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