After establishing himself as one of the figures of drill in France, the rapper broadens his musical universe with his first album Apocalypse. A development which could well mark a major turning point in his career.
In 5 years, Gazo has established himself as one of the standard bearers of drill in France. With his hoarse voice and his unique flow, the rapper managed to unite an entire audience around this musical genre, a dark evolution of trap, born around ten years ago in Chicago and popularized between 2019 and 2020 in the ‘Hexagon.
After the success of his project Drill FR in February 2021 and his mixtape K.M.T. in July 2022, Gazo returns this Friday November 29 with his first album, Apocalypse. If drill remains very present in this project, the artist experiments with new sounds, marking a musical evolution which could well mark an important turning point in his career.
From drill to melodrama
Propelled onto the music scene in 2019, Gazo made a name for himself by imagining his own version of drill, a musical genre characterized by an ultra-fast tempo, at 140 BPM, twilight soundscapes and lyrics that reflect the difficult daily life in the street is often dark and violent in France.
With songs like Burberry act, Drill FR 4, or CELINE 3X the artist quickly imposed his own style and established himself as a leading figure of the genre on the music scene.
But from 2021, with his project Drill FR and sa mixtape K.M.T., Gazo is gradually evolving his musical palette. He incorporates more melodious influences into the drill and dares to sing choruses, like the songs DIE, EUPHON, or MAMI WATTA.
“I started going into melodrill drills, I liked that because it wasn’t yet heard in France. And now, it’s a bit of my playground, I prefer melos more,” confides the rapper in the show CKO, broadcast on YouTube.
This step aside allowed the rapper to attract a new audience and gain fame. In February 2024, he was awarded a Victoire de la Musique jointly with the singer Vianney, with whom he also collaborated on the title Prideunveiled on November 22.
“Diversify our ways of doing things”
But for his first album Apocalypseunveiled this Friday, Gazo pushes this musical evolution even further. The artist explores a multitude of new sounds on which we did not expect him, such as electro and dance on Birthdaythe sexy drill on Even more she likes it or afro on Cell.
Gazo owes this musical evolution in part to beatmaker Flem (Freeze Corleone, Alpha Wann, Central Cee), who collaborated on most of the tracks on this album alongside producer Sherkovie.
“Flem is one of my first collaborations in my big drill sounds and over time, we have managed to diversify our ways of doing things,” explains Gazo on the microphone of the CKO show.
“Basically, it had its branch, it was seriously dark, (…) but here we managed to do something else and bring other colors,” adds the artist.
In this album, Gazo also broadens his musical horizon by inviting many mainstream artists, quite far from his usual universe, such as Yamê, Jul, Orelsan or Fally Ipupa.
But the artist still remains faithful to his DNA and highlights the younger generation with collaborations with rising stars La Mano 1.9 and Morad. He also opens internationally with the song Wembyin duet with American rapper Offset.
An original promotion
Gazo also showed originality in promoting his debut album Apocalypse. At the end of October, the artist announced listening sessions in the form of concerts, across France in order to preview his new album to his fans before its release.
To secure a seat, fans could purchase a special pack available for pre-order on the official Gazo store. Priced at 40 euros, it included a CD Apocalypsean exclusive poster and an invitation to this show in the city of your choice. The artist will also defend his first album during a tour, which will include Paris La Défense Arena, on April 18, 2025.
