"I think people were tired of seeing influencers show off their wealth on the networks (...) luxury cars, luxury clothes. Me, there's none of that!", Underlines NasDas, whose real name is Nasser Sari.

Every day, this 26-year-old fellow, in shorts and sneakers, finds his "team" of friends, on Place Cassanyes, the heart of Saint-Jacques, a gypsy district with a large North African community.

His stories show a "different daily life, in a different, poor neighborhood", "where children smoke instead of going to school", but "very lively".

"A gypsy can play guitar in the street at 4 a.m. and the neighbors come down to dance. Nobody calls the police."

"That's why people hung on!"

The afternoon is well under way, he emerges sipping a coffee, greets around, inquires about the health of one, the unemployment of another, promises a cell phone, invites you to have a drink.

Snap the "chiness"

Inseparable from his gang, he roams the streets with colorful buildings, but sometimes so cracked that they are supported by beams.

From afar, kids watch him.

"Come on, let's run! The first one has 20 euros", he throws at them hilariously, brandishing a ticket.

"Can't you get dressed?", he shouts at a woman in a neglected outfit.

"We are a family, we live together. In France, there are not many neighborhoods like that", estimates NasDas, explaining without further details that his avatar is the "shortcut" of his first names Nasser and Das Algerische (l 'Algerian in German).

Born on June 3, 1996 in Saint-Jacques, he lost his father, a native of the Sahara, at a young age.

His mother, a worker in a "salad factory" in sachets, raised her five children alone.

NasDas, the Perpignan influencer, in the streets of his city, June 3, 2022 Lionel BONAVENTURE AFP

"I also worked at the factory and elsewhere before all that," he says.

The adventure began in 2018 with "a stupid video where I slapped a friend for fun. It made my twenty friends laugh. So I continued (...) to snap my daily life (. ..) the bitch (female dog of life) of the neighborhood".

NasDas is paid to promote brands, companies.

"In turnover for 2021, we exceeded 500,000 euros."

He could keep everything, spin the good life in Dubai.

"But my neighborhood is my life. If I leave, it's the end!", told AFP the first snapchateur in France, who recently sparked controversy by communicating his bank card number, quickly blocked after multiple simultaneous commands.

Mayor or garbage collector?

"Once paid the taxes, the VAT, I decided to redistribute (...) in private and by about fifty associations (...) We are at 300/400,000 euros", he adds , proud that "more than 4,000 people eat every day".

One of his few personal follies is a big 4x4, but in a limo version in order to accommodate his "team".

Nora Ben Ali slips in, petite, between fans fond of selfies and dedications, to thank him.

"I needed accommodation and Nasser gave me 1,000 euros (...) He does this all the time, not only for necessities, for leisure too", explains this mother of four children.

Further on, he signs the T-shirt of Florian Dumontier, 17, who came from Rouen "to see NasDas because it's impressive what he does".

NasDas (c), the Perpignan influencer, in a street in his city, June 3, 2022 Lionel BONAVENTURE AFP

The success of the influencer, approached for a Netflix series and a comedy, also seduced rappers Soolking, Algérino and Mazz, 25, proud to shoot a clip with this "good guy" who "helps people".

"Complaints office" of Saint-Jacques at the town hall National Rally (RN), NasDas plays derision when residents push him towards politics.

"Basically, we're puppets. We just film each other. We didn't know that it could interest millions of people!", He laughs.

But "everything I have to do to help the neighborhood, I will do it. If I have to be mayor, I will be mayor. If I have to be garbage collector, I will be garbage collector!"

© 2022 AFP