“I want to find myself in the phase of the student who learns”

Like many artists who bow out with great media announcements, Belgian rapper Damso will not keep his promise. On July 21, the man who established himself as the leader of French-speaking rap with four albums certified at least triple platinum – 300,000 sales equivalents – up to double diamond (1,000,000 sales equivalents) announced on his social networks that the last , Beyahscheduled for May 30, 2025, would be the final album of his career.

Well, no. Before the self-imposed deadline, the rapper, who has countless featurings (Angèle, Aya Nakamura, Werenoi, etc.) on his colleagues' records, changed his mind. The Brussels resident returned to the studio to record eleven tracks which feature, among others, the singer Angèle and the hardcore rapper Kalash Criminel. As he assumes his “mess-up”he called this album, released Friday November 15, I lied. The opportunity to take stock of nine years of rap writing, his short career and his future projects.

It's still strange that, at 32, you already want to stop making Music. Why stop?

Music, I still love it. It's more the industry I'm in that doesn't really speak to me. I feel like I did what I had to do. I want to discover other passions, to do design, furniture. I just tell myself that, at 32, I want to try new things. It's time.

What is painful, difficult, in the recording industry?

It's not that the industry is painful, but I checked a lot of boxes of those hard things to accomplish in it. It was difficult to be number one. Finally, I was. It was to make a gold record. Eventually I did platinum, diamond, etc. It was difficult to manage a career. I did it. It's hard to write for someone. I did it too. I have achieved what I wanted to achieve, I don't see what more I can do. It's the challenge that drives me and, there, I want another challenge, like design, finding myself in the phase of the student who learns more than in that of the teacher who teaches. When things are difficult, it inspires me. There, I have weariness, and it can lead to boredom.

You have done a lot of collaborations since the start of your career. If you stop music, will the featuring market collapse?

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