One of Bugsy's greatest idols during his teenage years was the American boxing star Muhammad Ali. And, for a brief period, Bugsy trained to follow in his hero's footsteps, taking part in ten local amateur matches. But Bugsy eventually abandoned the boxing ring, preferring to devote all his time and energy to his main passion in life, hip hop.

Bugsy decided to launch his own career after hearing Passi, another young rapper from Sarcelles, performing on a Paris radio station one day. Impressed by Passi's style and convinced that he could rap just as well, Bugsy began performing on the local circuit. In fact, he soon teamed up with Passi and the pair went on to form their own hardcore rap group Ministère A.M.E.R. The group went into the studio in 1991 to record their first E.P., "Traîtres" (Traitors). Then, the following year, Ministère A.M.E.R rocketed back into the media headlines with a hard-hitting album entitled "Pourquoi tant de haine" (Why So Much Hate?). The group's second album "95200", released in 1994, went on to cause an even bigger stir on the French music scene. Indeed, several leading music critics hailed "95200" as the Best Rap Album of the year.

However, Ministère A.M.E.R's aggressive stance was not to everyone's liking. And the group's violent, hard-hitting lyrics were certainly not to the liking of the police and the local authorities! In 1995 the group went on to record a controversial track for the famous rap compilation released as a musical accompaniment to Mathieu Kassovitz's film "La Haine". Ministère A.M.E.R's contribution to the compilation - "Sacrifice de poulets" (a song urging retaliation for police violence) - immediately fell foul of the authorities and the group soon found themselves facing charges of provocation and incitement to violence.

In 1996, after signing a recording deal with the multinational, Columbia, the budding young rap star went into the studio to begin work on an interesting mini-album entitled "Le prince des lascars" (King of the Streetwise Posse). Released in 1996, Bugsy's mini-album was produced by none other than Doctor L (who had already made a major name for himself on the French music scene working with another hardcore rap group, Assassin). Bugsy returned to the studio after the release of this mini-album to record his first full-length album "Le calibre qu'il te faut" (which was released in November 96).

Bugsy's solo sound marked a definitive break with the hardcore rap style of Ministère A.M.E.R. Developing a rich vein of humour in his lyrics and a more laid-back groove in his music, Bugsy looked to American cinema classics as a major source of inspiration. Indeed, many of the tracks on his album "Le calibre qu'il te faut" were directly inspired by old Pacino and De Niro movies. Bugsy also threw in a whole bunch of references to the Mafia and the gangster underworld - c.f. songs such as "Mon papa (est un gangster)" (My Daddy Is A gangster), "La guerre du rap" (The Rap War) and "Dernier pas dans la mafia" (Last Step in the Mafia), which Bugsy recorded as a duet with Akhénaton, frontman of the Marseilles-based rap group IAM. In fact "Le calibre qu'il te faut" was heavily influenced by the West Coast rap scene in the States, Bugsy skilfully reworking American references to create his own French version of gangsta rap.

One of the highlights of Stomy Bugsy's recent live schedule was a concert at Le Bataclan in Paris (on March 12th 98), where Bugsy was joined on stage by Doc Gyneco and a bunch of other rappers he used to hang out with in his teenage years. On May 22nd and 23rd Bugsy gave a mega-concert at the legendary Olympia in Paris, taking to the stage with several members of his old Sarcelles rap posse Secteur A. (Incidentally, Bugsy's old rap posse Secteur A has now become a leading independent 'company', producing and managing a host of up-and-coming French rappers). A live album of this special rap reunion at the Olympia was released shortly afterwards - much to the delight of French music fans!

In 1999 Stomy quit Secteur A and went on to set up his own label Show Lapins. Giving a helping hand to a whole range of up-and-coming young talents, Stomy was responsible for launching the careers of Novices du Vice (a pair of twins from Sarcelles) and Marseilles rapper Kybla. At the end of December '99 Stomy supervised the release of "Mixomatose", a collective album featuring all the artists from the Show Lapins stable.

Meanwhile, Stomy continued his burgeoning solo career, bursting back into the music spotlight in January 2000 with a brand new album entitled "Trop jeune pour mourir" (Too Young To Die). The album cover was emblazoned with a photo of the handsome young rap star, posing bare-chested with his shaved head wrapped in a bandana. The cover was an obvious tribute to murdered American rap star Tupac and the sound on Stomy's new album also owed much to American influences, the French rap star experimenting with a smoothly-produced West Coast style and a more lyric-focused hip hop (c.f. the title track "Trop jeune pour mourir"). Stomy's faithful accomplices, Passi and Hamed Daye, stepped in to give a helping hand on the new album, as did French pop star Jacques Dutronc who guested on the duet "Tombe à la place du cœur".

27-year-old Stomy, a responsible father as well as a best-selling rap star, had obviously matured on his new album. In spite of his new star status, Stomy proved he had not forgotten his humble housing-estate origins either - "On s'en sortira" (We'll Make It), the first single release from the album, showed he had not forgotten those less fortunate than himself.

Stomy Bugsy had always been a major fan of 70s black American music and in October 2000 he released a three-track EP entitled "Black Pimp Fada" (together with a five-track alternative) paying tribute to legendary American soul star Curtis Mayfield. 

Stomy went on with his film career, appearing in Fabien Onteniente’s ‘3 Zeros’ in 2001 and in ‘le Boulet’ by Alain Berberian in 2002. In March 2003 he released "4ème round"--his fourth album.

The album, which had been carefully thought over during two years, showed Stomy’s new maturity. As always, his friend Passi took part in the experience, especially in the opening track "Viens avec moi". But this time around, Stomy’s guest star was his own mother who sang in "J’suis né à Pigalle"—a tribute to the Cape Verdean sounds with a background of accordion. The two tracks "Pas d’celles" (None of those) and ‘Une femme en prison’ (A Woman in Gaol) with Kenny Rowland from Destiny Child are apparently an attempt at changing Stomy’s reputation as a randy devil.

The over-thirty-year-old artist who was born in the Parisian suburb of Sarcelles has been equally dividing his time between music and acting. As an actor, the singer also starred in one of the leading roles in the film "Gomez et Tavarès." (He also made a sequel to the comedy film about two police officers, "Gomez Vs Tavarès", which hit French cinema screens in 2007).

Stomy Bugsy guested on Passi’s album, "Odyssée", and joined his old colleague from Ministère A.M.E.R. in the studio to record "Le Temps qui passe" with Johnny Hallyday. In December 2004, Stomy flew out to attend the Burkina Rap Awards in Ouagadougou. Then, in January of the following year, he turned his attention back to his acting career, staring in Jean-Claude Flamand Barny’s feature film "Neg'maron" alongside Admiral T and Jocelyne Béroard. Meanwhile, the parallel music career he had embarked upon with La MC Malcriado continued in 2006 with the release of a debut album entitled "Nos Pobéza Ké Nos Rikéza." As far as live performances went at this point, Stomy Bugsy took to the stage more frequently with this foursome than as a solo act.

In the run-up to the French presidential elections in the spring of 2007, the rapper appeared on two politically-oriented compilations: "Ecoute la rue Marianne" and "Explicit Politik." From this point on, he changed his stage name back from Bugsy with an 's' to Bugzy with a 'z'.

The new hardhitting approach of Bugzy's songs set the tone for a new album, released in August 2007. On this new album, entitled "Rimes Pässionnelles", the singer made a break from the major labels he had been associated with from the start of his career and began working with an independent. A number of tracks on this new album were written by fellow rap stars such as Driver and Lino from the group Arsenik. "Rimes Pässionnelles" opened with a track called "Sois Hardcore" (Be hardcore) and closed with "Personne n'en parle" (No-one mentions it), a song on which Bugzy vented his fury at the arsonists who had set fire to a number of Paris hostels housing African immigrants in 2005, causing a number of deaths. The rapper also appeared on the TV chat show "Tout le Monde en parle" on this occasion, reading out the lyrics to his irate but moving song.

September 2007