Timal on Apple Music (original) (raw)

Fusing the Caribbean influences of his Guadalupean heritage with the streetwise sensibilities of his upbringing in Paris’ eastern projects, Timal contrasts an affinity for beach-bred riddims with a ferocious hardcore rap style. Taking his name from an affectionate term for a boy in Guadeloupean Creole, the MC born Ruben Louis in 1997 firmly implanted himself in his native France’s rap consciousness with a string of eruptive freestyles posted online between 2016 and 2017. His much-anticipated major-label debut, Trop chaud, arrived in 2018, led by menacing single “Arrivant'' and rap français/dancehall emulsion “Cartel,” introducing tropical heat to a diverse and increasingly melodic hip-hop scene. Meanwhile, Timal’s gruff and insistent Auto-Tuned delivery conveyed the frustration of wanting to leave behind a world of poverty and pain when low-income communal living is all you know. With a delivery that split the difference between melancholic and boisterous, Timal expanded on the theme with 2020’s Caliente, forging a distinctly bittersweet harmony by pitting his most combative verses (“La 13”) against downcast tales of coming of age in segregated France (“Le temps passe”). Alongside Afropop-infusing luminaries Niska and Ninho, Timal has stomped into a leading role amid a new generation of culture-swirling artists redefining the modern French rapper.