Kery James

Kery James, real name Alix Mathurin, born 28 December 1977 in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, is a French-Haitian rapper, singer, actor, director and screenwriter.

Regarded by the specialist press and the public as a leading figure of political rap, he addresses in his work life in the banlieues and inequality in present-day France, against a backdrop of irony and bitterness. Kery James is also part of the Mafia K'1 Fry collective.

He began in rap as co-founder of the group Ideal J in 1991, which DJ Mehdi joined the following year as producer, achieving growing success at a time when French hip-hop was starting to gain recognition, until 1999, when the group split up following the murder of Las Montana, a close friend, which prompted him to first put a stop to his career. After two years away, he returned as a solo artist and released his first album, Si c'était à refaire, in 2001. In 2005, after appearing on the compilation Illicite projet with his track Je ne crois plus en l'illicite, he released his second solo album, Ma vérité, featuring the tracks J'aurais pu dire, Les miens and Hardcore 2005, featuring Iron Sy. He released his third solo album, À l'ombre du show business, in 2008, which shot to third place in the French charts within its first week. In 2016, his sixth album, Mouhammad Alix, leaned toward trap.

Also active as an actor and director, Kery James appeared in 2003 in the documentary DVD Si tu roules avec la Mafia K'1 Fry. After the 11 September 2001 attacks, he directed Savoir et vivre ensemble, in which rappers, singers and athletes call for unity. He plays a juror in À voix haute. In 2019, the film Banlieusards was released on Netflix, and on 27 September 2023 the sequel to this socially engaged story was released on Netflix, which he also wrote and directed alongside Leïla Sy.