Instruments Rapper Parents Seyolo Zantoko Role Rapper | Name Kamini Zantoko Website www.kamini.fr Labels RCA Record label RCA Records | |
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Born December 8, 1979 (age 44) Marly-Gomont, PicardyFrance ( 1979-12-08 ) Occupation(s) Musician, Songwriter, Nurse Albums Extraterrien, Psychostar World Genres Hip hop music, Alternative hip hop Similar People Diam's, Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, Fatal Bazooka, Koxie, Sinik | ||
Kamini Zantoko (born 8 December 1979; his surname, of Congolese origin, means "defense") is a French rapper. In 2006, his songs and music videos about rural French life became an Internet phenomenon.
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Life and career
The son of a doctor from Congo-Kinshasa, Kamini grew up in the French countryside in the small Picard village of Marly-Gomont, which inspired his hit single of the same name.
After having received his Baccalaureat, Kamini left his hometown to settle in Lille, where he worked as a psychiatric nurse.
In 2006, working with some friends, he wrote the song "Marly-Gomont", which is a humorous recounting of the daily life in the rural French town and the difficulty of being a member of the only black family in the village. His music video, sent to numerous music industry giants on September 12, 2006, greatly amused the company employees.
The video was quickly put on air by French media, among them Fun Radio, Contact FM in New Zealand and the high-end social networking service, Skyrock.
Kamini also appeared on numerous prestigious French television programs, such as le Journal de Jean-Pierre Pernaut, Le Grand Journal de Canal+, Cauet, Laurent Ruquier, and Direct 8. In mid-October, without having toured or even played a single gig, Kamini signed a record deal with RCA for Marly-Gomont and two albums. On December 1, 2006, Kamini appeared on the French show Star Academy, a French version of American Idol. He was profiled in December 2006 by Time magazine as part of its Person of the Year articles on Internet-based content creators. The video has received almost 4 million hits since it was posted on the YouTube website in September 2006.
Because of his huge success and instant attachment amongst the French for his sound, dubbed the "rural rapper", Kamini was financially able to quit his nursing jobs.
He conceived the idea for, and co-wrote the comedy-drama film The African Doctor (Bienvenue à Marly-Gomont), which was released in 2016.