Sniper 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....

 Band from the Val-d'Oise

Val-d'Oise

Val-d'Oise is a French department, created in 1968 after the split of the Seine-et-Oise department and located in the Île-de-France region. In local slang, it is known as "quatre-vingt quinze" or "neuf cinq"...

 department. The group consists of Tunisiano

Tunisiano

Bachir Baccour better known by his stage name Tunisiano is a French rapper of Tunisian origin.- Career :...

 (Bachir Baccour), Aketo (Ryad Selmi), and Blacko, formerly Black Renega (Karl Appela).

Biography

The members of Sniper first met at the 1997 Francofolies

Francofolies

Francofolies, common name of various music festivals including:* Les FrancoFolies de Montréal, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada* Les Francofolies de La Rochelle, in La Rochelle, France* Les Francofolies de Spa in Spa, Belgium...

 festival at La Rochelle

La Rochelle

La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...

. There, DJ Boudj and the three rappers Aketo, Tunisiano

Tunisiano

Bachir Baccour better known by his stage name Tunisiano is a French rapper of Tunisian origin.- Career :...

, and Blacko

Blacko

Blacko is a village and civil parish within the Pendle district of Lancashire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 595.The village is on the old turnpike road to Gisburn...

 met and decided to form the group, originally called Personnalité suspecte (Suspicious Character). This name was abbreviated to Persni and finally ended up as Sniper, an example of the French slang form, known as verlan.

The three members form a complementary group, as Aketo and El Tunisiano have developed more of a rap style and Blacko prefers an approach closer to reggae; meanwhile DJ Boudj takes care of the scratching

Scratching

Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...

. They began by making appearances on various mixes and compilations, such as The Power of Unity, Première classe (First Class) and B.O.S.S..

Controversies

The group has had multiple legal battles, notably for their lyrics in songs such as La France and for a song on the conflict in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 called Jeteur de pierres (Stone-thrower). The group was acquitted by the court of Rouen of charges based on La France but were later accused of antisemitism based on their treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on their second album, which provoked the ire of several Jewish organizations. The Minister of the Interior at the time, Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....

, called them "ruffians who dishonor France."

Du rire aux larmes

Sniper's career officially began in January 2001, with the release of their first album, From the laughter to the tears under the label Desh Music.
The album title indicates the philosophy of the group: a mixture of humor (of a verbal tournament between Aketo and Tunisiano) and from more serious texts (Taken for target), run in varied energetic tempos.
Song topics can be found in everyday life: racism, exits, girls. They do not forsake the rap form but avoid contributing to the stereotype of rap music as ghetto music.
The track list is as follows.

1. . Intro
2. . Sniper Processus
3. . Pris Pour Cible
4. . Faut De Tout Pour Faire Un Monde
5. . Intro Le Crew Est De Sortie
6. . Le Crew Est De Sorte
7. . Intro Tribal Poursuite
8. . Tribal Poursuite
9. . France
10. . Intro Du Rire Aux Larmes
11. . Du Rire Aux Larmes
12. . Aketo Vs. Tunisiano
13. . Sentence
14. . Quand On Te Dit
15. . Aketo Solo
16. . Fait Divers
17. . Rumba
18. . On S' En Sort Bien
19. . Bastielle le comprende

This album went double gold with more than 250,000 album sold.

Gravé dans la roche

In spring 2003, the group produced a more refined album, Carved in stone. This opus covers many subjects like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...

 with “Rock thrower”, global warming on "Chaotic vision" or the idleness of certain young people in “Too fast”. Lighter titles are not in "Process 2003" and "House receipt". The most known singles are "Sans (re)pères" (without father/point) and "Engraved in stone". "Panam All Starz" is a piece which gathers various artists of the Paris area, each one representing a department:

• Haroun (75)
• Mano Kid Mesa (77)
• Skadrille (78)
• Sinik
  Sinik
  Thomas Idir a.k.a. Sinik is a French-language rap artist. His father is Algerian while his mother is French.His meeting with Diam's at 14 was the turning point of his career...
  
   & Diam' S (91)
• Salif
  Salif
  Salif , real name Salif Wonka, is a French rapper based in Boulogne-Billancourt. He is of Malian and Guadeloupean origin. His musical career began at the age of thirteen when he and EXS formed the rap duo Nysay in 1995. Salif released his first solo album, Tous Ensemble - Chacun Pour Soi, in 2001...
  
   & Zoxea
  Zoxea
  Jean-Jacques Kodjo, a.k.a. Zoxea, was born on November 11, 1974 in Sèvres, Hauts-de-Seine. He was brought up in the Castéja Project of Boulogne-Billancourt in the suburb of Paris....
  
   (92)
• Tandem (93)
• 113 (94)
• Sniper
  Sniper
  A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
  
   (95)

The track list is as follows:

1. . Intro
2. . Processus 2003
3. . Visions Chaotiques
4. . Grave Dans La Roche
5. . Pourquoi
6. . Recette Maison
7. . Y A Pas De Merite
8. . Sans (Re)peres
9. . Ce Que J'ai Sur Le Coeur
10. . 35 Heures
11. . Hall Story
12. . Entre Deux (Ft Leila Rami)
13. . Trop Vite
14. . Jeteur De Pierres
15. . Interlude Mirco Ouvert
16. . Panam All Starz

As the group's popularity grew, so did their fan base. This popularity showed in the second album which sold more than 400.000 copies, nearly double the sales of their previous album. This success was notably due to the fact that they were less crude and refined their lyrics in order to produce a quality album.

Trait pour trait

May 22, 2006, Sniper returned on the scene of French rap. A few weeks after its release, their album placed n°1 in sales. However, the group changed. DJ Boudj left Sniper. The reasons were not detailed but it would be considered to be an argument, ”as in any family" explains one of the remaining members of the group. At that time, the group marked a clear evolution reaching a certain maturity whose first steps were already perceptible in their second album Engraved in stone.

1. . S.N.I
2. . Dans Mon Monde
3. . Trait Pour Trait
4. . Eldorado Feat Faada Freddy Daara J
5. . Zamalia
6. . Génération Tanguy
7. . Donne Tout
8. . La France, (Itineraire D'une Polemique) Avec La Participation De Cigi Et Olivier
9. . Hommes De Loi
10. . Il Etait Une Foi
11. . Radio
12. . Retour Aux Sources
13. . Elle
14. . Brule Avec La Participation De Joey Starr
15. . Fallait Que Je Te Dise

With this album, Sniper reached more than 1 million copies for all 3 albums and thus confirmed themselves as one the best rap artists in France.

Bilan

In three albums, Sniper convinced rap fans in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 that they were interested in many subjects, quite different from one to the other, such as religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

, international conflicts like Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

-US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

-Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, or love

Love

Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...

, respect

Respect

Respect denotes both a positive feeling of esteem for a person or other entity , and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem. Respect can be a specific feeling of regard for the actual qualities of the one respected...

, resentment

Resentment

Resentment is the experience of a negative emotion felt as a result of a real or imagined wrong done. Etymologically, the word originates from French "ressentir", re-, intensive prefix, and sentir "to feel"; from the Latin "sentire"...

, various injustices & inequalities, immigration

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

, the difficulties of life in the suburbs, the real/fake dream of occident and racism

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

, etc.

The group is subject to heteroclite influences: old style rap, in particular under the influence of Aketo, as well as drawing from texts in Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

, sung by El Tunisiano, but also Blacko

Blacko

Blacko is a village and civil parish within the Pendle district of Lancashire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 595.The village is on the old turnpike road to Gisburn...

's reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 work.

The group confirmed that a fourth album would appear once they finished their respective solos. However, Blacko

Blacko

Blacko is a village and civil parish within the Pendle district of Lancashire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 595.The village is on the old turnpike road to Gisburn...

 announced the 20th of February 2008 that he had separated himself from the group Sniper since July 2007. Intersection, the bonus for the album of Tunisiano

Tunisiano

Bachir Baccour better known by his stage name Tunisiano is a French rapper of Tunisian origin.- Career :...

in the works on February 25, 2008, will be, therefore, the last piece of the complete group. So a fourth album is not on the agenda any more.

External links

Official site of Sniper Desh Musique producer of Sniper Fiche Sniper MCM Interview and Mini-concert of Tunisiano - meeting with his public at the Fnac