The return of the A. The rapper Alonzo from Marseille is releasing a new album, Northern neighborhoodsnext May 20 and for the occasion he covered the letters « MARSEILLE » at the entrance to his city and his northern neighborhoods. The opportunity to dive back into a career spanning nearly 25 years and take the listener on a stroll through the neighborhoods that saw him become a father.
For the release of the album you covered the letters “MARSEILLE” with a tarpaulin in the name of the album Northern neighborhoodsit must have been a kif for a child from these neighborhoods?
The idea may sound crazy, but it also seems obvious. When you pass the Estaque tunnel and return to Marseille, you land directly in the northern districts. It’s the first thing you see. I think my seniority makes me legitimate, and the fact that I defend Marseille, but also the northern districts. I wanted to mark the occasion with this album which bears the name Northern neighborhoods and hit hard with my team. It is very symbolic, for this sector, these districts of the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th arrondissements, which have known moments of joy, celebration, but also very sad and very dark moments. I wanted to put all that on the front of the stage, with great pride behind it.
What is this album regarding?
It is a difficult exercise to explain the spontaneity of the project in an interview. When I get back to the studio, I never know what I’m going to do. It is the spirit of the moment that will create this album. It’s a bit like my life, that of young Kassim who grew up in the northern districts, with lots of values. Who also made children in the northern districts. With a bit of nostalgia and a lot of hope. Joyful moments too, like when you listen to the intro Feet on the ground, in which I help a mother carry her shopping. This piece sets the tone of the album, around a community that helps and evolves together. I take the listener on a little stroll in that area.
Is that a quick glance in the rear view mirror?
No, I never look back, there are so many things ahead. Rather, it is the people around me who allow me to look back a little. Because I’m more of a go-getter, and I don’t think my mission is over yet. Today I remain in the competition to be better than the day before, whether in life or in music.
You come back with this album barely more than a year following volumes II and III of Capo Dei Capi, do you still feel the need to prove?
When you release a record, a project, it’s that you still have to prove, or to prove yourself. Look at Karim Benzema, he’s 34 and he’s still scoring goals. He still has something to prove and he is training to be better than the day before, he is better than when he was 20. Also because he has things to prove to him, like winning a World Cup or winning the Golden Ball. Football and rap are a bit the same, I still have things to accomplish, as long as I am physically well. And the statistics prove it.
Why did you accompany the release of the album with a documentary?
We decide everything as a team, and it’s more them who told me that it would be good to do it. There are people who knew me on 13 organized, that is, a little over a year ago. others with Binta in 2017, and that until 2002, the beginning of my career. I think this documentary will be used to align all my albums, and whoever watches it will realize my journey, which is not new. A long journey, strewn with pitfalls, with hard times, better times. With a morality to all that, not to let go. I had to make choices in my life, in my career, and they make me who I am today. This documentary gives strength and hope.
You have always been a father in parallel with your career, how did you manage that?
I had my first child at 16, and my sixth was born on December 26th. I think if it happened to me, it’s because I might take it. I think it’s a chance to have been a dad throughout my career, it allowed me to stay on track, to have a balance. When I see the careers of some young people, I don’t blame them for living their youth, but it’s very hectic, disorganized, and in the end, they lose their talent and their goals. I had a frame. I did not choose to become a father so young, it fell on me like a lot of young people, but unlike some, I always assumed. Milk had to be brought home, so I had to make choices.
For Capo dei Capi, you explained that you needed to have fun, and for this album?
When I make an album, there is always passion. So I always have fun in the studio. But with an album, unlike a mixtape, there’s a bit more seriousness, there’s a common thread. And of course it goes through confidences, feelings, emotions. I always take albums very seriously, regardless of the end result. That I decide to release it is that I am proud of what I have done. Whatever the criticism. I would never release something that I don’t like, or those around me. On a scale of 1 to 10, if I’m not at 7, or 8, nothing comes out.
25 years of career, 10 years of solo career, 40 years in July, is there a lot to celebrate this year?
There are so many things to celebrate this year. My wife’s 30th birthday, my 40th birthday, our 10th birthday, a new album, a newborn baby. It started well with my son, and it’s a bit rough but I hope that 2022 will be my year. I hope that the disc will be well received, and if God wants to lend me the health to be still at the side of my family, and to defend the disc.
