Zoxea

Rejecting the gangster rap that dominated French hip-hop throughout the 1990s, MC Zoxea cultivated an old-school jazz-funk sound and came to be viewed as one of the nation's most compelling urban artists. Jean-Jacques Kodjo entered the world in Sevres in 1974 and initially joined forces with Melopheelo and Dany Dan to create Les Sages Poètes de la Rue, a group that rose to prominence through its contribution to the soundtrack of the cult film La Haine. While continuing as a core member of the trio, he pursued additional projects by establishing the Beat de Boul collective and the IV My People crew and by contributing to releases from Suprême NTM and Busta Flex. His solo debut arrived in 1999 with A Mon Tour d'Briller; after founding the KDBZik label in 2003, he issued the follow-up Dans la Lumiere in 2005. He devoted most of the remaining 2000s to his various groups before returning to solo work in 2012 with the album Tout Dans la Tête.