Timal has already been in the game for 7 years. And yet, with each new release, the rapper from 77 seems to have the status of the "challenger" who will come and challenge the headliners. This is mainly due to the incredible energy and freshness he exudes every time he takes the mic. And it's an energy we've been enjoying here at Project X Paris, during our hot collaboration with the rapper.
Timal, fire in his voice
Is it possible to touch the hearts and ears of listeners when you rap almost while shouting? The answer is obviously yes. While most rappers of past generations tried to sound as "cool" as possible, giving the impression of gliding over the instrumentation, others ended up choosing a different voice. The one where you use the microphone to pour out your rage and transmit a kind of raw, contagious, wild energy. One of the first to hit it big with this style of rap was DMX, in the USA. A crazy voice, some tracks where he almost screams in certain choruses, incredible charisma on record, but above all a real weapon of war when he takes to the stage to turn the crowds upside down. In France, we've also had our rappers in this style, capable of transmitting this kind of energy on a track. LIM in particular at the time, and today it's Timal who holds the torch for these artists who push their voices to a very high level of volume when they rap. And it's fair to say that in this style, he's extremely effective, even formidable.
For some 7 years now, the rapper from Champs-sur-Marne in the 77 region of France has been terrorizing the game with every release. In the early days of his career, he had a pronounced penchant for freestyles, and that's not to our displeasure. The artist literally flooded YouTube with his ebullient verses in 2016 and 2017, with several series of freestyles that left their mark on listeners, some exceeding 10 million views (all of them at least a million). We're thinking in particular of the "Rapports" series of freestyles, but also the "Trop Chaud" as well as his long series numbered from 1 to 15, with practically only masterclasses. As you'll have gathered, he's a mic devourer and an instrumental burner, and he's made all this part of his artistic identity, even going so far as to name his albums "Trop Chaud" or "Caliente". He's not necessarily the kind of rapper who's going to make you a theme album and tell you a story, his aim is rather to string punchlines together until you're in the same warrior state of mind as he is. And it works!
But there's more to Timal than that. There's already a big nod to the West Indies in his name, since he's of Guadeloupean origin. And above all, at 25, the rapper is still evolving and has added quite a few strings to his bow. For example, his feat with Booba, "Caméléon", featured on the album "Arès" released in 2021. Or his feat with Heuss L'Enfoiré, "Bruce Wayne", but also many other tracks. You can feel his desire to maintain his image as a mic-burner, but also to surprise listeners with more upbeat tracks, always with success. We've also seen him go international, with a well-drilled collab with Digga D for "Frenches". A truly recognized talent, he took advantage of the resurgence of kickage in 2016 to seize his chance and burn any mic he could get his hands on, a bit like Fianso (only younger). In fact, they did a big, aggressive feat at the time.
Timal & PXP: the hottest collab ever
An artist with energy to spare, and just as well, because at Project X Paris, we love that. We had big plans for this collaboration with Timal, and it's fair to say that the shoot completely lives up to our expectations, with an AD specially inspired by the artist and his discography. In his videos, he seems to be a fan of streetwear that's rather sober and effective, even if he sometimes indulges in more colorful outfits. So we started by letting him try out our great classics from the Signature capsule. In particular, our cult PXP hoodie, the black Signature hoodie with the stylized white logo on the chest. Worn with a brand-new black Project X cap, this time with the brand name in capital letters and a new logo reworked for the occasion. Small sunglasses, white cargo-style pants for the bottom, and a pair of black and white sneakers The outfit is sober, but devilishly effective, especially in this hangar setting with flaming cans, a nod to the rapper's universe.
A universe we continued to exploit in the second part of the shoot, this time with a few more flames, arranged in an arc around the rapper for maximum "badass" effect. We move on to something a little more ambitious, with a complete hoodie + hoodie set. Signature jogging bottoms in the same color. This time, we opted for brown, a shade that's less common but still extremely stylish and warm, an effect enhanced by the reflections of the flames. Here again, we added the little details that kill, with the white Project X Paris cap (the new model with the reworked logo and the brand name in capitals) and very sober white sneakers, but which have exactly the stylish effect we were expecting. Timal is feeling very comfortable in the outfit, and it shows in the photos, as he poses more and more and has fun with the lenses pointed at him.
Since everything was going so well, we took the opportunity to have him try on some slightly less ordinary pieces. Here, in the third part of the shoot, we find him, still in the warehouse, flamethrower in hand and wearing a superb jacket. Or rather, a quilted teddy jacket, with diamond-effect stitching and snap fasteners for closure. Again, the color is brown, a little lighter, with "old school" logos on the torso and sleeves, reminiscent of the academic styles of US students in the '90s. The teddy jacket is worn over a cream-colored sweatshirt, not forgetting of course the ever-present white cap. The whole look is paired with light-colored cargo pants, and a pair of sneakers a little more eccentric than the previous ones. Finally, to round off the shoot in style, we decided to give Timal one of our latest trends: the Smiley capsule, whose logos feature famous emojis, reworked in a street style. A total success on the rapper, with an embroidered smiley hoodie (in black) worn with a large cargo pants also in black. All this with an oversized varsity-style jacket with embroidered patches, one of our finest pieces. The real showstopper, with the flaming PXP logo placed behind the rapper during the shoot. As you can see, this collab with Timal was more than hot, and we hope to be able to do it again soon, as his universe really inspired us.
WHO WE ARE
Project X Paris is the desire to carry the streetwear movement since 2015 with increasingly stylish collaborations. A French brand of hype clothing available in over 30 stores, at over 1500 retailers worldwide and on projectxparis.com 24/7.