The Ministère AMER is a French hip hop

French hip hop

French hip hop is the hip hop music style which was developed in France, and is considered the second worldwide hip hop scene after the U.S....

 group from Sarcelles

Sarcelles

Sarcelles is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Sarcelles....

, consisting of the rappers Passi

Passi

Passi is a French hip hop artist who became famous in the mid-1990s with the group Ministère AMER, which included himself and Stomy Bugsy. He is most widely known, however, as a solo artist, as well as a participant in many other groups, such as Bisso Na Bisso and Dis l'heure 2 zouk.- Biography...

 and Stomy Bugsy

Stomy Bugsy

Stomy Bugsy is a French rapper from Sarcelles.Born of parents from Cape Verde, Duarte helped found hip hop group Ministere AMER, however in 1996 he decided to launch his own solo career...

 (both of whom are also major solo artists in the French hip hop scene), DJ Ghetch, and the producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

/manager

Talent manager

A talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...

 Kenzy. The group is also associated with other major French hip hop artists such as Doc Gyneco

Doc Gynéco

Doc Gynéco is a popular French hip hop artist of Guadeloupean origin. His music is typically characterized as a ragga/rap style, that has found its fan base in France. Born in Clichy-la-Garenne, France on July 7, 1974, Beausir's mother was Caribbean and his father white...

 and Hamed Daye. The group's name means 'ministry of action, music and rap'. Also 'amer' means 'bitter'.

Their first single, Traîtres, was released in 1991, and it was followed by the album Pourquoi tant de haine? in 1991. The second album, 95200, came out in 1994. In 1995, after their song Sacrifice de poulet, which appeared on the soundtrack

Soundtrack

A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

 to the film La Haine

La Haine

La Haine is a 1995 French black-and-white film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. It is commonly released under its French title in the English-speaking world, although its American VHS release was entitled Hate. It is about three teenage friends and their struggle to live in...

, provoked the French Minister of the Interior

Minister of the Interior (France)

The Minister of the Interior in France is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions, responsible for the following:* The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes...

, Charles Pasqua

Charles Pasqua

Charles Pasqua is a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's cohabitation government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government of Edouard Balladur...

, to attack the group in court. The court's ruling forced the group to pay 250,000 franc

Franc

The franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions and the former currency of France, the French franc until the Euro was adopted in 1999...

s of fines, but Mr Pasqua's demands for banning sales of Ministère AMER's discs were unsuccessful. However, radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

s were reluctant to play their music after this incident, and the only station who continued to do so was Generation 88.2, an underground parisian station dedicated to hip hop music.

Members of the band began to pursue solo careers after the release of their second album, and Stomy Bugsy released his first solo album Le calibre qu'il te faut in 1997. Passi also released Les tentations the same year. After the success these albums enjoyed, Kenzy created the record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 Secteur Ä

Secteur Ä

Secteur Ä was a famous 1990s French rap association based in Sarcelles, France and named after a sector in the region. This music collective was created by the Ministère AMER and artist Kenzy became its producer-manager....

 to accommodate Ministère AMER and other hip hop artists, such as Nèg' Marrons, Ärsenik

Ärsenik

Ärsenik is a rap group based in Villiers-le-Bel, France, founded in 1992, and made up of two brothers, Lino and Calbo , whose family is originally from Congo. Until 1997, the group also included Tony Truand, a cousin. In 1998, their first album "Quelques gouttes suffisent" went double gold...

, Doc Gynéco, Hamed Daye, and Tandem.

In 1997, the group's two albums were re-released as a limited edition double album. Since then, they were inactive for a long time, but regrouped in 2005 for the compilation Illicit projet.

Discography

• 1992: Pourquoi tant de haine
• 1994: 95200