La Fouine French Rapper Born in 1981

Early life

Laouni Mouhid, who performs as La Fouine, was born on 25 December 1981 to Moroccan parents whose family came from Casablanca. He grew up west of Paris, in the Yvelines area, in a family of seven children. His brother Hakim is also a rapper and performs under the name Canardo. La Fouine has said that he left school at fifteen to concentrate on rap. As a young man he belonged to a local collective and took part in a short-lived group formed for a regional music competition, where he won second prize. His stage name, French for "the beech marten", refers to his slim build.

Career

His first mixtape, Planète Trappes, came out on 26 October 2004 and gave him early credibility in French rap. His debut album, Bourré au Son, followed in 2005 and was influenced by the California style of rap. Its singles "L'unité" and "Quelque chose de spécial" received radio play. His second album, Aller-Retour, was released on 12 March 2007, with "Reste en chien", recorded with Booba, as its first single, and it was later certified. In 2008 he and Canardo founded the independent label Banlieue Sale, which signed a distribution partnership with Sony BMG and worked with artists including Fababy and Sindy.

He also became known for the Capitale du Crime mixtape series, whose first volume appeared in 2008 and was followed by further volumes in 2010, 2011 and 2014. The second volume ranked third in French album sales in its first week. His third album, Mes repères, came out in February 2009 and was certified platinum, with guest appearances including Soprano and Sefyu. La Fouine vs Laouni, a double album released in 2011, was also certified platinum. Its singles included "Passe-leur le salam" with Rohff, and "Caillera for Life" with the American rapper The Game. In May 2011 he gave a concert at the Zénith in Paris.

The mixtape Capitale du Crime Vol. 3 (2011) included guests such as T-Pain and Ace Hood, and it was certified gold. The album Drôle de parcours followed in 2013, accompanied by a book with the same title published in November 2013, and the album was certified gold as well. In 2013 he launched the hip-hop collective Team BS with Fababy, Sultan and the singer Sindy, who had appeared on the television talent show Popstars, where La Fouine was a judge. The group's self-titled single reached the charts that year, and its project was certified gold within weeks of its release in 2014.

Later releases include Nouveau monde (2016), Capitale du crime Censuré (2017), Sombre (2018), Bénédictions (2020) and XXI (2021). He then returned to the series that made his name with Capitale du crime Radio in 2024, the album État des lieux in 2025, and further volumes of Capitale du crime Radio in 2025 and 2026. In May 2017, at the Mawazine festival in Morocco, he played to an audience of about 150,000 people, the largest of his career. He has said that he is proud of his Moroccan roots.

Alongside music he has acted in films. His screen credits include the action film District 13: Ultimatum (2009), Un Marocain à Paris (2012), The Grad Job (2014), Alibi.com (2017) and the miniseries Dans l'ombre du tueur (2018). Earlier, he appeared in District 13 (2004). In 2005 his title "Ferme ta gueule" answered a track by the rapper Kamelancien, which started a public rivalry between the two. They reconciled in 2011 and recorded the song "Vécu" together.

Recognition

La Fouine won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best French Act in 2011 and the Best Male Artist award at the Trace Urban Music Awards in 2013. He is reported to have sold more than one million albums. In 2015 he was the French rapper with the largest following on social media, with about two million YouTube subscribers, seven million followers on Facebook and four million on Twitter.

Public roles

He founded the clothing line Street Swagg and the label Banlieue Sale. In 2016 he shaved the goatee that had been his trademark look.