Gandhi Bilel Djuna, better known by his stage nameMaître Gims or simply Gims, is a Congolese singer, rapper and composer. He grew up in France and currently lives in France and Morocco. He is a former member of the hip hop groupSexion d'Assaut, and released his major label debut album, Subliminal, in 2013. The album went to sell over one million copies in France and peaked at number two in the French album chart. His next two albums reached number one in France and Belgium and peaked on the top 40 across various European countries, including Denmark, Italy and Switzerland. He topped the French singles chart four times, including once as a featured artist, most recently in 2018 with his song "La même". The song was the most played in France in 2018 and it helped Gims to become the most played artist on French TV and radio for the same year. In 2018 he was the 7th most played artist worldwide on Deezer. Across his career he has worked with several international artists such as Sia, Pitbull, Lil Wayne, Stromae, Maluma, Sting and others.
Career
Gandhi Djuna was born in Kinshasa, Zaire, from where his family immigrated to Paris when he was two years old. Djuna started his music career while studying in junior high, collaborating with Sexion d'Assaut. He recorded his first track with Sexion d'Assaut "Coup 2 Pression" and worked with JR in the Prototype 2015 duo project. He decided to add Maître to his name Gims and also used the pseudonyme "le Fléau". He also worked on a number of independent releases, and a mixtape La Terre du Milieu as part of 3e Prototype after taking Dawala as manager. In 2007, he also worked as producer, wrote instrumental pieces and released his maxi Pour ceux qui dorment les yeux ouverts. On the maxi were tracks with Sexion d'Assaut, rapper Koma and a singer Carole. Continuing to record tracks with Sexion d'Assaut at two Inch'All Star battles, he became a well-known French freestyler. He also took part with 3e Prototype in a new street album called Le Renouveau. In 2011, Maître Gims issued a collaboration with his father Djuna Djanana in a new album of Djanana and in 2012, was the artist for a comic book called Au cœur du vortex. Maître Gims heavily promoted the release of his 2013 album Subliminal on 20 May 2013 as he announced with the video "Welcome to the Wa Part. 4: La Consécration". He also released a series of 6 consecutive releases included unpublished materials called Ceci n'est pas un Clip. On 1 March 2013, Maître Gims released "Meurtre par strangulation" as a first pre-release from the Subliminal album. On 15 March 2013, just two weeks later, he released a second track from the album "J'me tire", that topped the SNEP official French Singles Chart. Subliminal was a big commercial success and made it to number 2 in the French albums chart and number 1 in the Belgian French charts. On 2 December 2013, a new edition titled La face cachée was released by Wati B and Jive Records, containing 6 additional tracks in addition to the 18 tracks on the original Subliminal release. He has also started his own record label, MMC. Maître Gims released his second album, Mon cœur avait raison on 28 August 2015. The album is divided into Pilule bleue and Pilule rouge. The album reached number one in France SNEP and in Belgium Ultratop. The song Est-ce que tu m'aimes? reached number one in Italy FIMI and number 3 in France SNEP and was a popular hit throughout several European countries after its release. On 23 March 2018, Maître Gims released his third albumCeinture noire. The album includes a total of 40 tracks, including tracks like a remix of the popular Armenian hit Mi Gna featuring Armenian American DJ Super Sako and Spitakci Hayko, "Corazón" featuring American rapper Lil Wayne, "Loup Garou" featuring French rapper Sofiane, and La même featuring French singer Vianney. The album reached #1 in French charts SNEP for eleven weeks. On 26 April 2019, Gims re-released his album Ceinture noire titled Transcendance. The album includes 13 new songs and features collaborations with artists such as Latin singers Maluma and J Balvin, French singer and brother Dadju, French singer Vitaa, and English singer/songwriter Sting.
Monstre Marin Corporation (MMC)
Maître Gims created his own record label MMC that is affiliated with Universal Music France. He signed rapper Bedjik, rapper Yanslo, Vitaa, Coupé-Décalé artist DJ Arafat, DJ Last One who already DJs for Maître Gims and Amalya, a contestant in.
Personal life
Coming from a musical family, his father is Djanana Djuna, a vocalist in Papa Wemba's band. Maître Gims' brother Dadju is a French singer/rapper. Brothers Bedjik and Xgangs are also rappers in their own right. Maître Gims married young and is the father of six children. In 2013, following the huge international success of "J'me tire", Maître Gims launched Vortex, his own clothing line. In the music video for "J'me tire", he is seen wearing one of his Vortex creation T-shirts. He was Catholic but converted to Islam and took Bilel as his second name. Since 2014, Gims and his family lives in Marrakech and Paris.
