Stomy Bugsy: It depends on the problems. We are in France, a country where you can study for free. I lived for five years in the United States and there, school, you have to pay for everything: you want to be treated, you have to pay, you want to go to study, you have to pay. In France, there are also possibilities, but there are also plenty of problems. During rehearsals, in the studio, we sang our old texts and we laughed a lot, because we come from Sarcelles which is a bit like the village of Asterix, for us, which was conquered by the Romans. It’s a pretty special city, with a long heritage of very rebellious rockers. We are the product of our environment.
Is Sarcelles still your favorite city? Do you still live there or as soon as you were able to escape, did you leave?
Passi: When we were able to escape, we left. I left because we hoped for better. We were lucky that music opened certain doors for us, so we went further. I often say to those in difficult neighborhoods, if your job allows you to look elsewhere, to live differently, you have to do it. This is what we did with Stomy, with Ministère AMER or even our label. We haven’t stopped moving all over the world.
Stomy Bugsy: I go there every two weeks to give strength to associations and young people. My father is still there too.
Will the energy you put on stage be the same as 30 years ago?
Passi: I don’t play the same way I did 30 years ago. But there is one experience that we like with Stomy, it is the fact that we come from rap. We were breakers, dancers, so we always have a show side. Every time we’re on stage together, we push each other, there’s a showmanship. We have gotten older, but there is more cinema, much more for him than for me. We’re going to tell people the story of the beginning of rap and hip hop.
Stomy Bugsy: It will be even better on stage. We will use the experience we have acquired with our solo careers. Before, we sang in front of 10,000-20,000 people and now, it will be a little more cozy rooms.
Your punchline “knowledge is a weapon” remains a phrase that we remember.
Passi: Yes, it was the logo of the AMER Ministry, because we wanted to push people to educate themselves, whether at school, in the street, by all possible means. Because knowledge is always a key to many things. So yes, it’s a saying, a logo, a punchline that is still used today.
Are today’s rappers in the same dynamic as you were back then? What is your relationship with this new generation?
Passi: It’s a generation that is more Internet-savvy than ours, that has information more easily. It’s a generation. Today’s rap has become a little more Instagram. We develop less topics from start to finish. There are more images, more interactions. They are really two different generations. Today’s rappers are interested in Ministère AMER precisely to discover the beginnings of their culture. I think that this cultural work, this heritage work, has not been done enough. So, with these tours and all the series or documentaries that are starting to talk about this era, it contributes to this heritage side.
What do you want to find when you go on stage?
Stomy Bugsy: The public and the love of the people. There are lots of young people who come too, parents who come with their children, their grandchildren, to show them the rap of the past. We still have this passion and this love. And in Ministry AMER, there are a lot of messages that are very explosive, there is a lot of second degree. So there you have it, I can’t wait to meet our audience and celebrate with them.
Passi: We hadn’t toured with Ministère AMER, we only did solo tours. The last thing we celebrated was our 20th birthday ten years ago at the Olympia, it was quite exceptional. So there, even an AMER Ministry tour, for us, it’s the first big tour.
Finally, is it possible to reform the group for a new album?
Passi: Currently, we are preparing on a series of fictions. I think the new album will come when we finalize the series. There is a series in the works.
