Music. Who is WarEnd, the new nugget of rap “made in” Toulouse?
Through Gabriel Kenedi
Published on
His name is Warren but his stage name is end of war ! Not yet thirty years old, this Toulouse rapper is starting to make a name for himself on the hip-hop scene in France. Accompanied by Bleu Citron, winner of the Buzz Booster Occitanie and winner of the Inouïs du Printemps de Bourges Occitanie, his first solo concert will take place at Live connection, on January 27. He is also preparing to release a new EP in early February.
Atlantic crossing
Native of Créteil (Val-de-Marne) where he spent ten years, end of war started music around the age of 16, in Saint-Laurent-de-La-Salanque, in the Pyrénées-Orientales. The change is more than radical. ” I was the only “weaver” (mestizoeditor’s note) of the surrounding villages. I experienced racism on a small scale, it touched me a lot, ”he says modestly.
On the rap side, he first imitates his favorite bands like the Sexion d’Assaut we I AM. “I wanted to find my thing”. He wrote his first freestyles and then landed in Toulouse for the first time, to study “at Mirail University”. A year later, he stopped everything, trained at home “every night for six months” in video, moved to Paris for three years to work in communication. After one Atlantic crossing on a sailboat that will last eight months – a founding experience – here he is again at the end of 2017 in Toulouse, where the music catches up with him again.
But who is John?
“I have nothing against those who make ‘top streams’ but that’s not my main objective. Me, I want to send a message”, explains the artist. Its name leaves no one indifferent: “It gives people the choice to put themselves on the side of peace or war”. He chose his long ago: “I never had a gun! »he smiled.
He adds :
“I would like people to understand that being different is not pejorative. The best compliment anyone could give me was to tell me that I was weird. When I arrived in the Sud, the people who told me saw it as an insult and did not know how to react when I smiled and said thank you to them”
Self-taught, great reader, follower of complex thinking WarEnd has created a universe of its own, with a dual character (WarEnd and John, mysterious alter ego sons). “I want to make it clear who John is, where he comes from. Why is everything so dark, will the light ever be there?” These answers will come as my career progresses, ”he assures.
A show “like a play”
His unique hip-hop, he defines it as “melodious” and “emotional”. His first two projects allowed him to win springboards and make the first parts of Josman we Bigflo & Oli. “My rap, I see it as a black stain with a lot of colors, which I add as my career progresses. My goal is to fill this canvas with color and leave only a black stain to remember the past”, he underlines with poetry.
After ten years in the rap, his low-cut career. His concert at Connexion, he sees it as a birth, nothing less. “It’s as if I was going to open a new door. The more time passes, the more I have the impression that in rap, few people do what I propose, even if I prefer not to hear it”, indicates WarEnd, who announces a unique show: “Expect a play!”“, he promises.
” It’s crazy ! »
He now works his prods with one of the Leos (two references that accompany many artists in their studio in Toulouse).
Where does he see himself in five to ten years? His answer sums up his personality well: “Of course I wish myself success, big halls, albums, gold records, says WarEnd. But what I would love to do in my heart is to buy my own sailboat and continue my life on it. I want a studio in it, live in it, be able to get away for two weeks if I want… There are things you see at sea that you don’t see anywhere on land: sunsets, incredible colors, purple moons . It’s crazy ! he concludes.
end of war
Concert at Connexion Live, January 27th. Ticketing on the Bleu Citron website
Release of his 3rd EP, “Mutation hg”, on February 3, 2023.
Was this article helpful to you? Know that you can follow Actu Toulouse in space My News . In one click, after registration, you will find all the news of your favorite cities and brands.