Gambino La MG, the heir of Les Ulis

Great land of rap, the city of Les Ulis has marked the history of this music. At the mainstream level, notably with Sinik, but also in the underground scene, with the very strong rap / battle scene that emerged in this city.

Gambino La MG is the heir of this great school, and he continues to honor the 91's emblem with talent. Focus on the phenomenon.

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An ascent thanks to social networks As often in rap, the territory where the rapper grew up is important: his music feeds on his environment, mostly very urban, and the lyrics constantly evoke the setting where the artist honed his skills. For Gambino La MG, he was rather "lucky" for a rapper: he grew up in Les Ulis, one of the most well-known neighborhoods among rap fans, notably because of Sinik's incredible success in the 2000s, which clearly put the city on the map. An individual commercial success that hides behind it many other talented rappers from the same city, forming a very dynamic rap scene, especially in the underground and battle scenes. The city is therefore loaded with rap, and the young rapper obviously drew on this energy to launch himself. In fact, it was thanks to the large number of rappers from Les Ulis that he was able to form his first group, La MG (for "Mauvaise Graine"). A group that was originally a simple Facebook page where all the young people from his city wanting to rap had signed up. Later, the more serious ones decided to form a real group, keeping the initials, to make real tracks.

For Gambino La MG, it had long been a serious approach, having discovered rap thanks to his father and uncles and publishing his first tracks on Youtube at 13, under another pseudonym. He was even supervised by Sinik during his very first recording at the municipal studio. With his group, he quickly experienced his first big buzz with "Rentre dans le 91" in 2018. Some artists, athletes, or influencers began to share Gambino and his friends' tracks, notably Niska, Virgil Abloh, or Anthony Martial, to whom they had dedicated a track in 2018. But it was difficult to turn the buzz into streams and income. And the 91 rapper took advantage of the lockdown to give everything he had via social networks. He started a series of freestyles on Instagram, which quickly took off with some tracks exceeding a million views. He was one of the first to import drill sounds to France, adding some afro sounds which gave quite unique tracks, both very gangsta and very danceable. A niche that has been adopted by most successful artists in French Rap today, showing that young Gambino was somewhat visionary.

Throughout his career, social networks have had a crucial importance. First social media, with Facebook, then Instagram for his freestyles, but also the street network, the Les Ulis network, which means the local music players are all very connected. After a first project named "En attendant Gambinerie," which gathers all his freestyles, we had this year the long-awaited "Gambinerie," released in March, which lived up to all expectations. Tiakola, Negrito, Larry, Chily, Naza, Leto, many answered the call of the young prodigy from the 91 for a dense project that promises very good things for the future. Meanwhile, Gambino la MG continues to reveal very effective unreleased tracks, like "Les Moussos" recently. He has also multiplied interviews and increasingly worked on the image of his clips. An aspect that interests us a lot at Project X Paris.

The PXP x Gambino La MG collab Because even though we do many collabs, what we prefer is when artists let loose, feel comfortable, and have an inspiring attitude for our graphic designers and designers. That was the case with Gambino la MG who has long understood the importance of image, especially in drill. We started gently with pieces that are big classics, suitable for almost all situations: the "university" streetwear, with clothes that refer to those worn by American students to show their belonging to their University. So we have a hoodie in university style with a big "P" logo on the chest, two-tone, and jogging bottoms in the same style, also with a big logo on the upper right leg. A set well highlighted by the small pair of TN worn by the rapper, as well as by the beautiful white Lamborghini, the star object of the shoot, which obviously pleased the artist, who also has one in his very latest clip "Les Mousso".

The Lambo accompanied us again on the next outfit, which is a bit more unusual and with a much lighter style. Pale tones and the softness of the dove take center stage with this set from the High Fly capsule. Loose sweatpants with blue dove patterns, with a crewneck sweatshirt of the same color, for a very effective look. Especially when adding a PXP bucket hat and the square shoulder bag with coin purse, adorned with "Project X Paris" logos. And obviously, always that pair of TN, a cult streetwear piece and characteristic of French street style, where the model had huge success while it could have been almost rejected elsewhere in the 2000s. Then, to get more into the artist's "UK drill" universe, we decided to put the Lambo away and call on another vehicle, perhaps less trendy but just as aggressive: the Yamaha snowmobile. A vehicle that perfectly matches the down jackets and parkas from the "Drill & Drip" capsule, tried on during the shoot. They are not yet available on the site, but they will become essential this winter!

Gambino la MG then tried an outfit from the "Squad" capsule. A very American capsule in design, with the characteristic typography of the logo, the cuts of the clothes, and the shape of the collars. The outfit and colors refer to the gangster imagery of US rap, mainly East Coast, with this baseball influence, but also the presence of a ski mask, the ultimate gangsta accessory, especially since the arrival of drill. A baseball-style hoodie with stripes, matching jogging bottoms, the black ski mask proudly mounted on the Yamaha: Gambino has a crazy attitude, just like in his clips. It was therefore a real pleasure to work with him and try to offer him something that suits him, wishing him the best for the rest of his long career. And hoping to work with him again in the near future!