Like many artists who retire with big media announcements, Belgian rapper Damso will not keep his promise. On July 21, the man who established himself as the leader of Francophone rap with four albums certified from at least triple platinum -300,000 sales equivalents- to double diamond (1,000,000 sales equivalents) announced on his social networks that the last one. beyahscheduled for May 30, 2025, it would be the last album of his career.
Well, no. Before the deadline that he had imposed on himself, the rapper, who has countless collaborations (Angèle, Aya Nakamura, Werenoi, etc.) on his colleagues’ albums, changed his mind. The Brussels resident returned to the studio to record eleven songs featuring, among others, the singer Angèle and the hardcore rapper Kalash Criminel. While assuming his “disorder”titled this album, released on 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 years old, 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 catch my attention. I feel like I did what I had to do. I want to discover other passions, do design, furniture. I just tell myself that at 32 years old, I want to try new things. It’s time.
What is painful, difficult, in the recording industry?
Not that the industry is painful, but I checked a lot of boxes of those hard things to achieve in it. It was difficult to be number one. Finally I was. It was to make a gold record. Finally 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’ve achieved what I wanted to achieve, I don’t see what else I can do. It is 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 that of the teacher who teaches. When things get tough, that inspires me. There I am tired and that can lead to boredom.
You have done many collaborations since the beginning of your career. If you quit music, will the gig market collapse?
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