Frères Ennemis (Édition Zola)

Description

2017, they are barely adults and have things to say. They start from their own navels to tell their everyday lives. Without compromise. Without waiting, Koba LaD and Zola win people over because they have decided to be nothing but themselves. They move forward without fear, brave and determined. The first records are released. Social media goes wild. Today, when people talk about the two rappers, it is in millions. Millions of views, millions of streams, platinum records and packed venues. That is called success. The first tensions date back to 2019. The two rookies know each other but do not necessarily hang out together. The comparisons are first handled by the public. And on the internet, the Koba and Zola camps take shape. The artists’ entourages and egos do the rest. This rootless hatred does not stop Koba and Zola from listening to each other’s tracks. Rap remains that feverish, furiously alive competition. It is life and its trials that will take charge of drawing a new path for the two antagonists. The two artists eventually meet in a Paris hotel in September. Koba and Zola meet up in a room to talk one-on-one. No black eyes or scars on the way out. 40 minutes of discussion that one imagines intense and constructive. Off to Barcelona for a confidential two-week studio session in mid-September. A small committee. Only trusted people. “Among family,” confides someone close to them. The producers ask beatmakers for tracks. For Zola and for Koba, without ever specifying that it is for a joint project. It brews, it grows, it takes shape. The desire is there. Excitement. The record is finished in Paris. The Zola edition includes 13 tracks. 2 solo Zola tracks, all the others as duets. The title chosen for the album says it all: “Frères Ennemis”. And it really does look like a first in France. No matter how hard one looks, there is no trace in the archives of any initiative of this kind in French rap. This record is not just an unexpected fusion, it is a middle finger to the impossible, it is proof that forgiveness, in an era plagued by division, remains an admirable weapon, a force beyond compare.