doctor in neuroscience turned successful rapper, the unique journey of Pierre Hugues José

Neuroscience doctor turned rapper. This in one sentence is the crazy destiny of Jordy Blanc, better known by his artist name: Pierre Hugues José. Childhood, importance of his family and his native Haute-Saône, desire to make a living from his passion… PHJ looks back on his journey in an unfiltered interview.

Civil name: Jordy Blanc. Stage name: Pierre Hugues José. Two sides of the same man. Two names to differentiate two personalities united in a singular destiny, with a strong Franche-Comté accent.

At 35, PHJ brings a breath of fresh air to the French rap scene. Doctor in neuroscience until the age of 27 before giving up everything to devote himself to music, the artist from Haute-Saône today offers technical pieces imbued with humor and frequent references to his department and his city of Vesoul, which he carries as a standard. Long meeting with a particular personality, refreshing, but also enriching.

Who are you Pierre Hugues José? It is to answer this question that we wanted to meet the famous “unemployed rapper“. But not just anywhere. At home, that is to say in his native Haute-Saône, a territory of which he is proud, a territory of which he has become the ambassador. Unsurprisingly, the artist gave us meet in Vesoul at the Café Français, in the city center, a place where he is accustomed.

Seated at a table, a coffee and a glass of water in front of him, Pierre Hugues José then told his story. Starting at the beginning: childhood. From the early years when young Jordy Blanc was far from the exuberance of PHJ. “I was a bit introverted” he confides. “I played Pokémon, I built models with glue, I liked playing football, I started learning music at Valli and then video games, especially“.

I was comfortable, peaceful, all alone in my little room. Zero risk capital. I didn’t like crazy stuff. I used to go to the skate park, but I was terrible at it because I was afraid of getting hurt. I was making music on the side while the others were doing tricks.

The music precisely. She accompanied Pierre Hugues throughout his adolescence. After discovering the piano, the artist remembers his rap records from a friend’s big brother’s room, listened to after school. Or even a poem competition won in class, revealing a taste and talent for writing. However, it is towards sciences that PHJ will turn after leaving high school. And for a long time: physics degree in Besançon, followed by two masters.

During his studies, Pierre Hugues encountered his Haute-Saône accent for the first time. “It was the accent that bothered me, because it made me different” he says. “Today, it is my strength, because I accepted who I was. But at 18, you’re not accepted so easily, and you also want to fit into the norm“.

Besides this, the young man continued his studies in Paris and Bordeaux, for his neuroscience thesis. If this daily life interests him at the start, doubts arise very quickly. “I thought about quitting in my first year of thesis. I was all alone in my lab, without being able to share what I was doing, because it didn’t speak to many people.” he testifies. “I didn’t want to do this for 10 years. Might as well do something I really enjoyed. But I had started, so I had to finish“.

On the other hand, once I had the thesis, I said: “I want to make a living from my lifelong passion, music”. The others didn’t understand anything, they took me for a UFO, they even said: “he’s a complete idiot.”

Back to square one at 27. Doctor in neuroscience, laboratory research engineer, PHJ”leave everything to return to making sound“at his parents’ house, ten minutes from Vesoul.

A welcome return to basics. The almost thirty-year-old reconnects with his origins. With, to succeed in making his mark in rap, one certainty: the accent, the expressions and the way of speaking that he tried to smooth must become a strength. Jordy Blanc therefore officially becomes Pierre Hugues José.

He decides to play the humor card by regularly publishing videos on social networks where he puts himself on stage, using local expressions, with strong Haut-Saône phrasing.

I’m often asked the question: aren’t you overdoing it? Are you playing a character? No. I overplayed and invented a life for myself when I was in Paris and I tried to blend in, trying to “urbanize” myself, to change my codes.

Besides that, he does not give up music and tries his luck in online competitions. Spotted, he is then selected to participate in the Printemps de Bourges in 2022. His offbeat, crazy side pleases. And the adventure is launched.

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Today, PHJ has made his mark, between humor and rap. On the music side, he has released several singles, two EP’s (the last of which was on October 25) and travels to festivals, including the last one, at home, at the Eurockéennes.

Besides that, he has hundreds of thousands of subscribers on his social networks, and his personality has allowed him to carry out several audiovisual projects which will see the light of day in the coming weeks. Pierre-Hugues José, who moved to Paris, is finally making a living from his passion.

Without forgetting Haute-Saône. In addition to returning there regularly, Pierre Hugues José sees in his character a way of bringing to life the culture of his little corner, and its habits.

“It’s a mix of sociology and games, with the codes and what makes our region” he explains. “We have the accent, we have precise terms, expressions. I just watched my grandmothers how she spoke to their kid, to my uncles, to my dad“.

My grandmothers had ways of speaking and doing things. And we try to convey all that a little, to keep two or three things that built us.

You will have understood, like Brel, Pierre Hugues José sings Vesoul. Just one detail: he grew up there. Childhood, relationship to one’s origins, importance of family, desire to live from one’s passion, journey and vision of rurality… So many themes that Pierre Hugues José explores for more than forty minutes, without language.

An interview prepared by Antoine Comte, with the help of Greg Adnot, Joé Gutleben, Mostepha Bouchaour, Bertrand Poirier, Marc Perroud, Vincent Grandemange and Clément Jeannin.

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