Badi looks back at the year of “Mauvaise Ambiance”

The album Trouble-fête by the Brussels-based rapper Badi was released this year as a cocktail of hymns for the social and decolonial battles that were fought against the background of the global health crisis.

And just like Angèle, Lous and the Yakuza, and Roméo Elvis before him, last October Badi defended the colours of Brussels at COLORS. Wearing a jacket with the names of victims of police violence (Adama Traoré, Semira Adamu, Adil...), the rapper performed “Mauvaise ambiance” live in the studio of the influential music platform from Berlin.

“This is Belgica / Pays de la bière et de la N-VA / Des mains coupées et des cervelas / Responsable de la mort de Lumumba,” Badi inveighs to tense beats. The rapper targets your body and your conscience with political-ironic punchlines. “People used to think my music was too socially engaged, but that has changed since Black Lives Matter.”