“” Black Gold “is a perpetual challenge, it is a quest”, estimates the rapper Kaaris

Just a few months later 2.7.0 in September 2020, Kaaris returns with a new album of 11 tracks, entitled 2.7.0: Black Castle. A darker musical project, which notably marks the return of his collaboration with producer Therapy, with whom he had not worked for more than five years. 20 minutes met the rapper from Sevran a few days before this outing.

Rumors about “Château Noir” have been going around for several years, why have you waited so long?

I just had to take it out first 2.7.0 that’s all. It is its continuation in fact, this album is connected.

You’re working again with Therapy, a new collaboration that seems to have really pleased your fans.

I saw that there were a lot of people happy with this return, this merger. We reworked as before, him and I in a bunker, passing ideas, thinking about themes, directions… Nothing has changed, it’s the same feeling.

Therapy takes us back to your album “Black Gold” in 2013, considered by many rap fans as a benchmark of French rap. Is there a form of pressure in relation to that, of being constantly expected at the turn to equal or surpass it?

Black gold it’s a UFO, it’s not even a question of equaling or surpassing it, I think I’ll always be referred to this album because it really marked a generation. It changed the face of rap in 2012-13. Black gold is a perpetual challenge. It’s a quest.

How do you think it was impactful?

I can’t explain it to myself. I hear people say it but I don’t know exactly why. We did it like that, it marked people and I myself took a long time to realize it. I did not know.

Therapy also takes us back to your work with Booba, notably on the album “Futur” which is almost 10 years old. Looking back, what do you remember from this musical collaboration? Musically, was it a good time for you?

All periods of music are different, it was right after my mixtape ZERO, it created a launch. After there was the period Zoo [2013], then that of OG [2016] with Blow, Tchoin… There have been Gulag also which came out last summer which made a big noise. I like all periods. It was also good at the beginning, with the albums ZERO or 43rd Bima [2007], these are beautiful memories.

I don’t want to go back to the clash with Booba, but rather to this certain hostility that there can be between certain artists. Isn’t that a bit boring? And don’t we forget the music a little sometimes?

It is true that the problems make you forget the party since the music, at the base, is the joy. Yes, it’s boring and I think the public doesn’t give a fuck anymore. Me, personally, it does. I make my music, I am peace and love.

The title “Château Noir” quickly met with great success. The listeners were particularly challenged by your dedication to PNL in the chorus. What are your links with this group?

There is no link, we know them musically, that’s all. After that we like what they do in terms of music, their universe. They brought something soaring, different, which makes them unique. It’s just a dedication, basically I think it’s more of a rhyme than anything else.

“Château Noir” does not contain any feat, however, you wanted to make it a solo project?

I did a lot of feats on 2.7.0, then with the two songs that I balanced afterwards with Gazo and Freeze Corleone. On this one we sat down with Therapy and did it on our own. It was a desire. After that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t do feats again, but on this project I wanted to be alone.

From the cover or the first clip unveiled, this album promises to be quite dark, which is what your fans like. Is this the universe in which you feel the best?

I love music too much, I love it in all its forms. Why am I making dark music? Because I wanted to do that in this project. But in Dozo it was a little more open, and that doesn’t mean that I don’t like doing a Tchoin or one Diarabi. Then maybe there’s a bit of Therapy stuff as well. He, for example, could answer this question by saying “I only like when it’s dark!” “. When we join together we go in that direction.

The last track “Pegasus” is quite introspective, it takes stock a little. Is it aimed at anyone in particular?

No, it’s for me. I rarely do themes and wanted to end on that note in this project. Something a little more personal, to tell things that touch me a little more and to do less egotrip.

You are over 40, do you feel like you are settling down a bit over time?

No. I think we will settle down around 80 years old.

You have already been asked about the comments you can make in your songs about women, which are often linked to sexuality, who are a little sexist. Questions that we regularly ask certain rappers, who can answer that it is part of the codes of rap …

No, that’s not one of them. After sexist, what, because I say “Tchoin”? It’s a lot of egotrip, you’ll never find a text of mine where I talk about doing violence to others, to a woman, to a child… I like easy girls, that’s stuff like that. Afterwards, it is true that there are other women to whom that does not speak because they are not in this delirium, but, we, we understand each other.

It was more the fact of talking about women almost exclusively in a sexual register, which is a little reductive.

No, but even for men, I am a man too, I also speak of myself at this level. And why wouldn’t it be reductive when it’s for men? It’s sex that makes the world, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Didn’t you get out of a cauliflower anyway?

The question was to know if it was part of the codes of rap, these punchlines …

To tell you the truth, I was brought up in matriarchy. The mother is in charge. I have a deep respect for strong women who fight in life, and it is harder for a woman in life, than for a man. And I have a daughter too. Afterwards when I rap and I say “twerk”, there are places where I find myself and there are women who twerk, it’s not me who tells them to be there. And it is not reductive for them, if a girl wants to dance… It’s another universe, we are not in the same thing so we can have trouble understanding each other. I don’t know if you know what I mean.

Yes, but for example a sentence which struck me a little, it is in “Akrapovic”: “In Dubai their teucha is lubricated but the brain is not irrigated” …

Ah yes that one, it is heavy this punch. Everybody’s doing anything out there, woman, man … Everybody’s stupid, what I mean is it’s not just targeted at one person.

Finally, what do you think of the evolution of rap in France, and of the current scene?

There are good things, there are some really good rappers, you can’t deny it. There is the SCH album that came out and it’s incredible, he’s a friend, he’s someone I like. Then, to quote a lot of rappers I don’t really know how to do… I listen, I hear, there is Ninho who is a very very good rapper. There is a beautiful scene. They cannot really put themselves forward because we are in a bizarre period where culture is a little muzzled … But it is not only culture, there are many other core businesses that are suffering from it. .