Ziak is a French rapper. He distinctively always appears masked and reveals no information regarding his identity.^[2] On November 12, 2021, he released his first solo album, Akimbo, certified with a gold disc.^[3] Ziak released his second project, Chrome, on February 24, 2023.^[4]

Biography

Ziak is a rapper who wants to be anonymous, his face and skin color are hidden by Clothing. Little is known about him.

On June 2, 2023, Ziak responded to an interview for the first time, in an hour-long episode for Clique X. We learned that he was born to a West Indian father and an Algerian mother, and that he was raised in mainland France by the latter, with very few resources. With his sisters, the family moved from city to city, more than twenty times, between his Ris-Orangis, Corbeil and Evry in particular. He lived for a time in the Pyramides district of Evry, but also in the so called RDN and DNG districts

His stage name, Ziak, comes from an expression commonly used in 91, Essonne, and particularly in Grigny according to him. “To do something in ziak” means to do it quickly, quickly and go away  . Thus, it confirms the theories which were based on the slang word “Sten”, meaning “good”, which already placed it in this department  .

Ziak is the subject of many theories regarding his identity and his past as a rapper. Until the interview for Clique X , Ziak never reacted, whether through publications on his social networks or in his songs. He declares: "I like that, I like that it fantasizes, that we wonder... but in fact, there are several guys? In fact, who is it, is it him? If that Turns out, is he an old one?” . However, it does not provide more information.

Career

Style

The themes in his music revolve around murder, violence and the desire to become rich. These themes are often addressed in English drill, UK drill ("drill" being a slang term meaning "to shoot someone")  .

He got into UK drill in 2017, when a friend introduced him to Harlem Spartans. He explains that he found it necessary to bring this music to France, to bring kickage back. "People sing, they're super loud... in England, they do that, and here no one does anything... the crazy people here have to do what the crazy people over there do." However, he tries to make it his own and not just imitate. He wants to do something French, and talk about things that take place in France  .

Most of Ziak's music videos have black and white as the predominant colors, guns or bladed weapons, and often violent acts. Its onomatopoeias and recurring expressions such as “Uuuuh!” » (pronounced “Uheuh!”) also give it a very recognizable style. His use of “ching” or “opp”, specific to London rappers, once again proves his interest in UK drill  .

He admits to not knowing who his inspirations really are. “In the end, I have listened to so many sounds in my life, that I find my inspirations by listening to myself again. I tell myself that in fact, this thing reminds me of so-and-so at the time.” He really liked Kery James and Sefyou, as well as Siboy and Kekra .

Picture

Ziak is easily recognizable by his bandana and his deep voice . The bandana is taken from UK drill, where artists prefer anonymity since they are often part of gangs. Due to these characteristics, a lot of memes about Ziak are spread. Part of them are about some of the lyrics of his songs like   :

• “Free all my friends” ( Double Dash, Gallery, 123 Soleil, Enough, Ronaldo, LG, C’est la vie );
• “3endi sem fi dem / عندي السم في الدم (السم)” ​​( Fixation, Prayer, Not Even a Squeak, Shonen, The Perfect Crime );
• “Those are real knives!” » ( Gallery );
• " Talking little ! » ( Akimbo );
• “Cut, cut, cut” ( Rum & Machete, Parasite ).

Ziak cultivates a mysterious image of himself. This is reflected in his low number of collaborations with other artists. Thus, he only made four featurings (LD, Maes, Trafiquinté and Kerchak) in his career. He also did a collaboration with Raplume. Rapper Maes indicates in an interview that he did not see his face during their collaboration. He expresses himself in his videos and concerts. He appeared in the 12th episode of the show ZEN (Season 2) in March 2023  and has already given an interview in Clique X for the 92nd episode of the series released on June 2, 2023. He never appeared on the radio (like Planète Rap ) or on a television set.

Controversy

In Rasputin, the title that propelled him to the forefront, Ziak evokes the death of his father. La F, another rapper from the drill world, openly provoked Ziak and his late father in a single called Félix Youssoupov. This man is precisely known for having killed Grigori Rasputin. Before the sound came out, tensions had started on social networks  .

The words of La F are unambiguous. We can hear "His biggest dream is to be like me", "He wants to go to war, bring his father back, oh yeah, that's true, he can't, he's dead" or even “You are going to die”. Everything revolves around Ziak's late father, but La F also accuses the rapper of lying in his lyrics and of inventing a difficult life. a life on the street: "he's here, he's hot for the internet" or "you're just lying to our little brothers (slut)".

Ziak responds to La F in his song Akimbo. "I called two heads from oi-t, they were ashamed of you, miskine (hcheum). They told me: 'He's not a bandit, he's just a little guy who makes a 'sique'." We also discover “ You will lose your life, in heaven, you will be slapped by my father (Amen) ”

And it's not over yet... at the end of January 2022, in Missed Call 10 , La F says: " And if his father slaps me in the face, don't you say I'll retaliate? ".

F publicly apologizes in June 2022, on the show Wsh. " These are things... with hindsight, I say to myself: yeah, really, we don't know each other. For my brother, sincerely, excuse me. Compared to that, there's nothing more , I am a man, brother, I take responsibility for my wrongs. "

Discography

Ziak has achieved four gold singles, one platinum single, one diamond single and one platinum record. One of his collaborations was also certified platinum, Fear with Kerchak, as well as Shonen in gold, which is the ninth title from his first album .

References