“I have two masters degrees, a doctorate, more qualified than the head of state. » Pierre-Hugues José hardly exaggerates when he introduces himself in one of his titles. At 34 years old, the rapper has a truly atypical profile in his field. That of a former brilliant student who left everything in 2020 to explore his passion for music.
“Staying in a white coat with rats made me sad,” smiles the native of Besançon (Doubs), who grew up in a “village in Haute-Saône not far from Vesoul”. His city, the one he cites all the time and to which he dedicated a song, “because I did everything there from 15 to 20 years. » Like his high school therefore, before moving on elsewhere to a degree in physics and in particular a master’s degree “in signal and image processing”.
“Maths, physics and biology, I loved it and I was good without working too much. I told myself that I had to be profitable so I studied that,” he recalls. “Then afterwards, there was a thesis subject that I really liked in Bordeaux. I went to do it there. » The result, a 90-page document, is still accessible online. His title ? “Metabolic changes during brain activation: monitoring by proton and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy”. Fortunately, his texts are today more accessible to the general public than the title of his thesis.
At the time, the author was still called Jordy Blanc. “PHJ”* was not yet born, even if the music already attracted him. Rap of course with Sniper as first listens, then Orelsan, Disiz, Vald but not only that. “I wrote a lot of poetry and I was a fan of French songs. I even released two little albums that I distributed in the area… But that’s dated, I must have been 16-18 years old! », he laughs in his pronounced Franche-Comté accent. Strength ? In certain titles yes but on the phone too, the thirty-year-old cannot hide it. “I may have lost it a little when I lived far from my native region but it has settled back in… I have it for sure! I would really create a character for myself if I hid it. »
“I went from doctor to unemployed rapper”
The artist, who also produces numerous sketches, has nevertheless made it his trademark since the beginning of 2020, the year in which he turned his back on a well-established career in neuroscience to launch into rap. Not on a whim. “Before, I hadn’t had the c’s. Probably out of respect for my parents who are workers. In this world, we work, we don’t pretend to be our little prince. I did the work to prove that music was not a fad, that my choice was not a whim. »
The challenge was daring and Pierre-Hugues José gently took it up, from his childhood bedroom at his parents’ house. “Overnight, I went from doctor to unemployed rapper,” he imagines, he first tried “quite a few one-minute freestyles” on YouTube and other social networks. But it was with his five “RAP nursery rhymes” that he began to break through. Either readaptations, with flowery vocabulary, of children’s classics. Where “Let’s walk in the woods” becomes “It’s too good Pôle emploi” and “Sleep, the child does” turns into “1, 2, 3 beds”…
His first title “Méchant”, dedicated to domestic violence and clipped since then, then opened additional doors for him. Far from the digital channels previously used. “A manager spotted me and helped me find a turner. I was selected for the Inouïs stage, in Bourges in April 2022 and after that, it happened. » All over France for around thirty concerts in total, before the next ones planned in Romans-sur-Isère, Dijon and Bourgoin-Jallieu.
Each time, the rapper offers his own style. Energetic, very hairy with his curly tuft, often dressed in a sports jersey including that of his favorite club, FC Sochaux-Montbéliard… And above all armed with a language register all his own. With “the earthy accent” as he proclaims in “Bouyave”. A rap “made in the countryside” as opposed to that from the suburbs? “PHJ” does not claim it but likes to talk about this “France below” of the “dugs” to whom he comes and feels close. “Yes, but I am not closed to discovering other things, which is often the case,” he explains. “When I met people from wealthier backgrounds, I felt that they saw us like that. But it’s also our fault because we often close ourselves off and that’s how we are taken for idiots. »
Soon three singles
He wants to navigate between worlds to continue to attract a diverse audience. With the five tracks from his first EP before the next three singles “in October, November and December”. But also with his sketches visible on TikTok (560,000 subscribers), Instagram (260,000) or Facebook (180,000). Pierre-Hugues José often appears there in dialogue with his “delicious”, his partner. For humor that is always good-natured although often gritty. Here again, the thirty-year-old never holds back from releasing some daring expressions. Example ? “She tarbeules in the stake” or “I draw the cock, I’m bouyave guy”…
“It’s definitely going to be complicated to get on the radio,” he laughs. “But I don’t want to smooth it out, that’s really not the strategy. The day I do it, maybe I will deny myself. » In the meantime, the converted rapper now makes a living from his passion as an independent artist. “But in science, it would have been easier to make stones,” recalls the thirty-year-old without expressing the slightest regret. He took another path. “I put Vesoul on the map, Vesoul on the map”…