by Without certain people and their knowledge/skills, some rappers would never have had the careers they have today. It’s a crucial and complex stage in their careers, which in the worst cases can end careers or in the best cases, launch new ones … Okis fortunately falls into the latter category.
Funny tweeter on OL club in his spare time, he is mainly influenced by rappers of his generation such as 1995 or la 75ème session, but his first connection to rap goes back to his older sister who listened to Sinik, Nessbeal at the time. After “reasoning” himself about a potential musical career, he finally opted for a more traditional career in journalism, particularly thanks to a neighbor, journalist for L’Équipe that covered most OL matches. A daydream for the young Okis. Despite this more traditional career choice, he started writing his own lyrics during his studies with no particular career ambitions and rapped them to his mates when he returned back to Lyon. After graduating from Sciences Po Rennes, he began his career as a journalist, working for the Tribune de Lyon. In November 2021 he became unemployed, with the ambition of writing a book on Lyon’s rap, he felt more predestined for a career as an author/journalist in the image of Nicolas Rogès, a great cultural journalist who has written for Libération or l’Abcdr du son. But his buddies, who had bought him an audio interface over two years earlier, urged him to record a project. Well, he already had 7 years of rap under his belt… So he recorded his first EP, OK, which was released in January 2022. But unlike many artists, Okis felt that this first project was more of an achievement than a first milestone in his discography. But against all odds, the EP was quickly appreciated, particularly by key figures in the industry. Two of them played a particularly important role in his future career…
Sandra Gomes, a regular of the Code Review and Abcdr du son, discovered him through author and podcast host Said Delarbre, a mutual friend of hers and Okis. Native of Lyon herself, she was moved by his lyrics, which describe the daily life of a “banaveur” roaming in the 69 department capital. Awakened by his talent, she decided to accompany the rapper in his career, setting herself the goal of documenting and making this young Okis shine. Familiar with the places he describes and cherishes in his lyrics, she offered to direct his first video clip, PELO2VILLE. In her documentary Réalisatrice, Directrice Artistique… L’Épopée de la Création d’un Album de Rap, she mentions the Cour des Voraces as a location in which she wanted to shoot. The latter is an iconic building in the city of Lyon, which at the end of the 19th century was home to the “canuts” (silk weavers) during the first workers’ revolts. In other words, a historical place of French unionism, a cause close to the artist’s heart. Konbini’s latest music editor is also co-producing his second video, Tour de Magie, alongside Maxime Boudehane, an established director on the French-speaking scene, in a nutshell… The song, very summery in its musicality, is impeccably transcribed visually, through shots showing the everyday life of the city of Lyon, centerpiece of okis’ music. The visual representation of his lyrics, of his city, of his person in the broadest sense, will play a crucial role in the rest of his career.
In November 2022, his first album was recorded and entirely produced by Mani Deiz, who we’ll be talking about shortly. For this album, he was accompanied by a team that included Sandra Gomes and the label 386LAB, who worked with H Jeune Crack, Leo SVR, Hash24 and others, helping him with the tracklist, choice of singles, overall storytelling and, above all, music videos. Indeed, even if the public’s interest in music videos is waning, adding visuals to songs remains important for emerging artists. It’s a way of reaching and attracting an audience other than the artist’s initial, often small, fanbase, especially when the videos are as elaborate as Okis’s.
The team as a whole managed to produce videos of the highest quality, all of which are very different from one another depending on the directors and the text they feature, while remaining coherent within Okis’s universe. Of course, this is the result of the team as a whole, but we’re forced to note that Sandra Gomes is present on each of the videos, either as director or as artistic director. For his first single, Okis decided to release Textiles, his best text according to himself, on a soaring, gentle Mani Deiz beat. Accompanied by a “continuous tracking back” video, in the words of Sandra Gomes, and directed by Marty%, a director from Lyon and rap fan, the song will be released in June 2023. For the record, Marty% happened to meet Alpha Wann in Tokyo that summer, who congratulated him on the clip. Sandra Gomes, artistic director here, also assumes this role in the video released one month later, Roi des Banaveurs. The clip, directed by Boris Mouraret, a director who has worked with Teddax Max (a major figure in Lyon’s rap), uses a series of still shots from the parking lot to the lake, through the employment agency, to depict Lyon’s “rouille” (rust), or doing nothing/passing time. The video was a huge success, being the most viewed video on his channel with 65K views. But still, no announcement of a project. In fact, it will happen in the next video, J’arrive. A long, emotionally-charged song with no chorus, that evolves throughout the track (Anecdote on this clip in our last real). To transcribe this song visually, the team took a fairly clear-cut approach, shooting the whole clip against a black background, with Okis rapping solo and personifying his song by embodying his torments and thoughts in his gestures and facial expressions. On November 3rd, date of the album release, Okis published the music video of La Meuf du snack, aka Maman Fromage, a love song in his own style, a theme not often addressed in his music. Like Textiles, the clip is directed by Marty% and features the same chick, like a sort of visual spinoff. But in contrast to the colorful Textiles clip, here Marty% decided to use black and white for all the shots, a simple touch at first glance, but one that adds depth and authenticity to the video. On the shoot, the team also welcomed Mani Deiz, who is of course present on the beat, but who also takes part on the intro of the track. A way of getting together for the release of the album and making the transition to the next part of the article…
We’ve been talking about Okis’ album for a while now, but it’s actually a joint album. OK, let’s back up a bit. Mentioned several times already, Mani Deiz is initially a rapper who’s been around since the late 1990s, but that is best known for his work as a producer. Member of Kids of Crackling collective, he tried his hand at beats on cracked softwares before getting his first MPC, a turning point in his career. Working with some of the biggest names in French rap from different eras, from Kool Shen to Caballero and Jeff Le Nerf, his projects have influenced many artists, including Okis. Indeed, the latter explained in an interview that he had started rapping on Mani’s beats, until his buddies, who had offered him the producer’s entire instrumental projects, made him realize that perhaps he should write and rap on other types of beats… Good advice, but fate works in a mysterious way. Mani Deiz stumbled across this little 8-track EP a few days after its release and sent a message to okis to congratulate him, and promptly offered to produce him. Keeping in touch, he met at the producer’s home in mid-2022 and worked together on the album. They choose the samples, rework the beats, and manage to complete 13 tracks in 3 and a half days… It’s also thanks to him that Okis was able to have Limsa d’Aulnay on his album, a rapper with whom Mani had already worked before, notably on 4 Décembre, the intro to Logique Vol.1. Genuinely, it’s a blessing for Okis, who, for his first collaboration with a beatmaker, is working with his “chief French beatmaker”, as he describes him in Le Code. From the OK EP, rather raw in production, Mani Deiz manages to take Okis’ music into another dimension, marking once again the decisive role that a beatmaker/producer plays on an album.
The role of the entourage, especially for an emerging artist, is often decisive. Particularly when it’s made up of influential personalities who know the business, it can transform a career. An opportunity that Okis richly deserves. Although his success is based above all on his talent and hard work, the support of Sandra Gomes and Mani Deiz, among others, has been priceless. Since the release of OK, their advice and involvement have helped shape a career crowned by the excellent album: Rêve d’un rouilleur. To conclude on their importance, during the conception of the latter, Mani Deiz introduced Okis to beatmaking and composition, which now occupy most of his time. Regarding, Sandra Gomes she continues to put him in the spotlight, most recently by inviting him to appear on her new Konbini show, Processus.
