Mohamed Sylla, whose real name is 28, will appear free Monday before the Paris Assize Court for intentional homicide, alongside eight other defendants.

"I had projects that pay off, but the poto ruined everything (...) I had to fill my Bercy, sorry mom I ruined everything, "he sings in "Tout gâcher", on his third and last album "Mansa" released in 2021.

Perhaps a reference to his car that was used to run over the victim at the beginning of the brawl in 2018, against the backdrop of alleged settling of scores between rival gangs.

A vehicle that he often loaned, according to several actors in the file. Witnesses said they formally identified MHD at the scene, the rapper has consistently denied it.

After a year and a half of detention, in the summer of 2020, he was released under judicial control, banned from going to Paris, obliged to clock in at the police station every week and required to pay bail of 150,000 euros.

With his "afro-trap", a mix of hip-hop and African music, everything went very quickly before this judicial episode: more than 400,000 copies of his first album ("MHD") in 2016 sold, on stage at the prestigious Coachella festival in California in 2018 alongside Beyoncé and Eminem, or brand ambassador Puma.

Pizza, PSG

He even landed a first role in the cinema, the one that... of a young man accused of murder in "My Brother".

Also in 2019, a new international tour awaits him with a gala evening at the Accor Arena (Bercy) in Paris. But he was imprisoned in January.

Since his release, he has remained productive as a new single, "Jungle", was released on August 25. In the clip, he is seen emerging unscathed from a car accident, hair short and goatee on his chin. He performed on the same date in a hall in Bordeaux for a mini-concert. "Mansa" is now a gold record (threshold of 50,000 sales).

Born in the Vendée, in a family of five children of parents of Senegalese and Guinean origins, he grew up in Paris. His second album, in 2018, is entitled "19", in tribute to the Parisian district where he lived.

He first earns his living through odd jobs as a pizza delivery man. In 2015, a "freestyle" (improvisation) posted on social networks made him noticed. His life changed the following year: his hit "Afro Trap Part.3 (Champions League)", to the glory of PSG while he supported the Girondins de Bordeaux, was relayed by the Parisian players.

Madonna, Macron

He lives his "childhood dream", as he confided to AFP on the occasion of his visit to Washington, in 2017 during a tour in the United States and Quebec.

The rapper was even invited to the Elysée Palace by François Hollande in 2017 to meet Guinean President Alpha Condé and by Emmanuel Macron in early 2018 on the occasion of a day of the Francophonie.

MHD met with similar success in Conakry, Guinea, where he was forced to cut short a concert in 2016 in front of too many audiences.

The following year, he performed safely in a stadium of more than 60,000 people.

Consecrated by the international star-system (Madonna plays her music to her son and the Canadian rapper Drake borrows a dance step from him), he is crowned by the press as the "Little Prince" of "afro-trap".

He is still followed by 2.6 million people on Instagram, listened to by nearly 4 million fans per month on Spotify (queen platform of music streaming) and his clips exceed one billion cumulative views.

© 2023 AFP