Lino

Lino may be the stage name of rapper Gaëlino M’Bani, given birth to in Brazzaville, Congo in 1974, who all started the innovative France rap group Ärsenik along with his sibling Calboni M’Bani in 1992. Ärsenik made challenging, uncompromising hip-hop with hardcore beats and melodies motivated by traditional African and Arabic music, filled up with aggressively rapped socially and politically mindful lyrics, particularly associated with the struggles from the French underclass. Both from the group’s albums, Quelques Gouttes Suffisent… (1998) and Quelque Chose ? Survécu… (2002), had been TOP successes in France. Ärsenik also participated in French/African hip-hop fusion group Bisso Na Bisso, who produced in 1999 and released two albums that season, and collective Noyau Dur, whose self-titled record premiered by Because Music in 2005. Lino started focusing on his single profession in 2005, launching his debut full-length, Paradis Assassiné, on EMI in Sept of that season. The record was a high 20 strike, but was still regarded a industrial disappointment and Lino still left the label. He committed the next years to collaborations, dealing with rapper Stormy Bugsy in 2007 and adding to Bisso Na Bisso’s third recording, Africa, in ’09 2009. An recording of unfinished, unmixed Lino songs known as Radio Bitume premiered without his authorization in 2012. He authorized to Universal-affiliated label AZ, which released his long-awaited second recording, Requiem, in 2015. The recording was his most effective to date, striking number two within the French recording charts.