Tiakola

Born in Bondy in 1999 and raised in La Courneuve, Tiakola, born William Mundala, entered the French rap scene with a profile that straddles singing and rap, fueled by R&B, Afro sounds and a melodic culture tied to his Kinshasa–Congolese roots. Initially active with 4Keus from the mid-2010s, Tiakola helped the group's emergence in the Seine-Saint-Denis rap landscape before launching a solo trajectory in 2019 with "Sombre mélodie." His writing relies on supple hooks, sung phrasing and a way of circulating codes between rap, urban pop and afro-rap while retaining a street anchoring. Tiakola then multiplied collaborations with artists like Dadju, Franglish, Gazo, MHD, Hamza and Niska, while consolidating his identity on "Mélo" in 2022. He extended this momentum with the joint album "La mélo est gangx" in 2023 with Gazo, and the mixtape "BDLM Vol. 1" in 2024. Between solo tracks, features and performances on increasingly larger stages, Tiakola occupies a singular place among a generation of French rappers in which melody plays a central role.