Damso
William Kalubi (born 10 May 1992 in Kinshasa), better known by his stage name Damso (French: [damso]), is a Belgian-Congolese rapper, singer, and songwriter.
Damso | |
|---|---|
.jpg.webp) Damso performing at Vieilles Charrues Festival on July 21, 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Kalubi |
| Also known as | Dems |
| Born | 10 May 1992 Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo |
| Origin | Brussels, Belgium |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | |
Early life
Kalubi was born in Kinshasa, Zaire (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo). When he was nine years old, he and his family left the country because of the bloody armed conflict and moved to Belgium. They eventually settled in Matonge, a largely Congolese neighborhood in Ixelles, Brussels. William’s mother is Rose Marthe
Education
After completing Secondary school, Damso's parents encouraged him to continue his studies. The artist then proceeded in majoring in marketing and psychology. However, Damso spent more time in recording studios affecting his grades negatively. This led to a clash with his parents, especially his dad, a medical doctor in Kinshasa. [1] "I was even kicked out of the house!" explained Damso. This became a major time of struggle for the artist, which led him to live in various squats of the city and led no choice for Damso to trade or sell his goods for money. The artist states: "I did marketing and psychology, but racism took a toll on my life choices. I never really felt accepted because of that. I tried to find jobs, I had interviews, but it never worked out. Maybe it's because of my height, I'm intimidating, I don't know. It's also what pushed me into illegal activities; I wasn't trying to be sly, I just needed cash. All of this makes you angry, but it also makes you want to make your own choices. Working behind a desk with a boss who calls you a "dirty nigger" has never been an interest of mine. I didn't want to accept such treatment, just because I have to pay my rent at the end of the month. It motivated me." [1]
Career
Damso started his rap career in 2006 by performing at local and underground events. At the start of his rap career, he formed rap collective OPG with childhood friend Dolfa. They later recruited Ducke, Lio Brown, and Rex. He released his first solo project Salle d'attente online as a free download in 2014. In collaboration with his band OPG, and significantly inspired by his younger brother Mehdi Rais, he released his mixtape MMMXIII on 24 September 2014. Damso made his name in 2015 thanks to his song Poseidon, which appears on Booba's OKLM mixtape. Following this, he joined Booba's 92i collective and signed with Universal. [2] He made an appearance on Booba's album Nero Nemesis on the track Pinocchio, in collaboration with Booba and rapper Gato Da Bato. Damso's verse was noted by the public and the media, increasing his popularity and widening his audience. He was signed to Universal Music with whom he has released three albums, Batterie Faible in 2016, Ipséité in 2017 ,Lithopédion in 2018 and "QALF"in 2020.
Controversy
National soccer teams often commission musicians to create songs for big tournaments as a way of building morale and reflecting national identity. In 2018, the Belgian Football Association announced that it would hire Damso to prepare an anthem for its participation in that year's FIFA World Cup. However, the Belgian FA received strong criticism from the public and women rights group because of misogynist and sexist content of Damso’s songs. In March 2018, it announced that it had ended the collaboration with Damso “by mutual agreement,” according to a statement. The association went on to say, “We especially wish to apologize to all those who felt offended, discriminated against or diminished by the choice of the artist in question.” [3]
Awards
In France, all of Damso's albums have attained at minimum platinum certification. [4] On July 8, 2016, his first studio album, entitled Batterie Faible, was released on Booba's label: 92i Records. The project, fully mixed and recorded by Krisy, has been certified platinum with more than 100,000 sales in France. [5] His second album Ipséité was released on April 28, 2017 and was certified 3x platinum in less than six months; Ipséité is now certified Diamond with Damso over 900,000 cumulative album sales in France. [6] In 2018, his third and latest album Lithopedion was certified Platinum within a week of its release and is now certified 3x Platinum. He won the best musicer awards. [4]
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | Charts | Certification | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (Fl) [7] |
BEL (Wa) [8] |
CAN [9] |
FRA [10] |
SWI [11] | |||
| 2016 | Batterie faible | 195 | 2 | — | 8 | 19 |
|
| 2017 | Ipséité | 88 | 1 | — | 1 | 5 | |
| 2018 | Lithopédion | 11 | 1 | 64 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2020 | QALF | 2 | 1 | 36 | 1 [13] |
3 |
|
Mixtapes
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2014 | La salle d'attente |
As lead artist
| Year | Single | Charts | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (Wa) [8] |
FRA |
SWI [11] | |||
| 2016 | "BruxellesVie" | 22* (Ultratip) |
— | — | Batterie faible |
| "Amnésie" | 12* (Ultratip) |
68 | — | ||
| "Paris c'est loin" (featuring Booba) |
26 | 4 | — | ||
| 2017 | "Nwaar Is the New Black" | 8 | 2 [14] |
56 | Ipséité |
| "Tueurs" | 10 | 15 | 63 | En Douceur | |
| 2018 | "CQFD" | 42 | 26 | — | Non-album singles |
| "Fais-moi un vie" | 48 | 15 | 100 | ||
| "Mort" | — | 50 | — | ||
| "TieksVie" | — | 21 | — | ||
| "Smeagol" | — | 48 | — | ||
| "Mucho dinero" | — | 59 | — | ||
| "Ipséité" | 2 | 1 [15] |
26 | ||
| "Smog" | 1 | 1 [16] |
21 | Lithopédion | |
| "Feu de bois" | 32 | 2 | 30 | ||
| 2019 | "JTC" (with Kalash) |
46 | 16 | — | TBA |
| 2020 | "Œveillé" | 18 | 9 | 77 | |
| "BXL Zoo" (featuring Hamza) |
1 | 3 | 16 | QALF | |
| "But en or" (Kalash Criminel x Damso) |
34 | 10 | 92 | ||
*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.
As featured artist
| Year | Single | Charts | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (Wa) [8] |
FRA [10] |
SWI | |||
| 2016 | "Pinocchio" (Booba featuring Damso and Gato) |
— | 115 | — | Booba album Nero Nemesis |
| 2017 | "Vitrine" (Vald featuring Damso) |
17* (Ultratip) |
71 | — | Vald album Agartha |
| "Ivre" (Benash featuring Shay and Damso) |
— | 66 | — | Benash album CDG | |
| "Mobali" (Siboy featuring Benash & Damso) |
— | 56 | — | Siboy album Spécial | |
| "Mwaka Moon" (Kalash featuring Damso) |
1 | 1 | 25 | Kalash album Mwaka Moon | |
| "Noche" (Lacrim featuring Damso) |
— | 26 | 65 | Lacrim album R.I.P.R.O 3 | |
| "113" (Booba featuring Damso) |
— | 27 | 38 | Booba album Trône | |
| 2018 | "Rêves bizarres" (Orelsan featuring Damso) |
1 | — | 15 | Orelsan album La fête est finie - Épilogue |
| 2019 | "RVRE" (404Billy featuring Damso) |
404Billy album Process | |||
| "Tricheur" (Nekfeu featuring Damso) |
1 | Nekfeu album Les Étoiles vagabondes | |||
| "ParoVie" (D.A.V featuring Damso) |
TBA | ||||
| 2020 | "God Bless" (Hamza featuring Damso) |
10 | 8 | 75 | Hamza album Santa Sauce 2 |
*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.
Other charted songs
| Year | Single | Charts | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (Wa) [8] |
FRA |
SWI | |||
| 2016 | "Débrouillard" | — | Batterie faible | ||
| "Périscope" | 35 (Ultratip) |
||||
| 2017 | "Θ. Macarena" | 5 | 3 [14] |
45 | Ipséité |
| "Β. #Quedusaalvie" | — | 5 | |||
| "Ν. J Respect R" | — | 11 | |||
| "Ε. Signaler" | — | 7 | 62 | ||
| "Γ. Mosaïque solitaire" | — | 6 | |||
| "Ζ. Kiétu" | — | 8 | |||
| "Δ. Dieu ne ment jamais" | — | 9 | |||
| "Η. Gova" | — | 13 | |||
| "Κ. Kin la belle" | — | 14 | |||
| "Λ. Lové" | — | 15 | |||
| "Ι. Peur d'être pêre" | — | 17 | |||
| "Μ. Noob Saibot" | — | 19 | |||
| "Ξ. Une âme pour deux" | — | 22 | |||
| 2018 | "Julien" | 5 | 4 [16] |
Lithopédion | |
| "Dix leurres" | — | 8 | |||
| "Silence" (feat. Angèle) |
— | 3 | 48 | ||
| "Baltringue" | — | 7 | |||
| "Noir meilleur" | — | 19 | |||
| "60 années" | — | 5 | |||
| "Même issue" | — | 10 | |||
| "William" | — | 14 | |||
| "Introduction" | — | 11 | |||
| "Festival de rêves" | — | 9 | |||
| "Perplexe" | — | 15 | |||
| "Au paradis" | — | 13 | |||
| "NMI" | — | 17 | |||
| "Tard la night" | — | 23 | |||
| 2020 | "Deux toiles de mer" | — | 2 | 9 | QALF |
| "Life Life" | — | 5 | 22 | ||
| "Coeur en miettes" (feat. Lous and the Yakuza) |
— | 6 | — | ||
| "Mevtr" | — | 7 | — | ||
| "911" | — | 8 | — | ||
| "Sentimental" | — | 9 | — | ||
| "BPM" | — | 10 | — | ||
| "D'ja roulé" | — | 11 | — | ||
| "Pour l'argent" | — | 14 | — | ||
| "Rose Marthe's Love" | — | 15 | — | ||
| "Intro" [QALF] | — | 16 | — | ||
| "Fais ça bien" (feat. Fally Ipupa) |
— | 17 | — | ||
| "Thevie radio" | — | 23 | — | ||
References
- Jeune Afrique Interview http://www.jeuneafrique.com/336516/culture/damso/
- Damso Biography https://www.universalmusic.fr/artiste/18446-damso/bio
- Belgium Drops Rapper from World Cup Song After Sexism Outcry https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/arts/music/belgium-damso-world-cup-song.html
- "Les certifications". snepmusique. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
- Batterie faible Platinum Certification https://www.booska-p.com/new-batterie-faible-de-damso-est-certifie-disque-de-platine-n78555.html
- Albums sales https://genius.com/artists/Damso
- "ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". ultratop.be. Retrieved Dec 8, 2020.
- "ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS". ultratop.be. Retrieved Dec 8, 2020.
- "Damso". Billboard. Retrieved Dec 8, 2020.
- "lescharts.com - Discographie Damso". lescharts.com. Retrieved Dec 8, 2020.
- "Discographie Damso - hitparade.ch". hitparade.ch. Retrieved Dec 8, 2020.
- "Gold/Platinum". Ultra Top. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
- "Top Albums (Week 39, 2020)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- "Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles (téléchargement + streaming) – SNEP (Week 17, 2017)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
- "Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles (téléchargement + streaming) – SNEP (Week 18, 2018)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
- "Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles (téléchargement + streaming) – SNEP (Week 25, 2018)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
