Orelsan

Aurélien Cotentin (born 1 August 1982), better known by his stage name Orelsan (sometimes stylized as OrelSan), is a French rapper, songwriter, record producer, actor and film director.

Aurélien Cotentin was born on 1 August 1982 in Alençon in Lower Normandy, where he was raised by his father, a middle school principal, and his mother, a teacher.

He initially listened to rock music and was also a fan of manga and comics.

While practicing basketball, he picked up the love of rap through his basketball friends.

In 2002, he issued a mixtape and was invited to contribute in various compilations.

Returning to France and working the night shifts in a hotel gave him the opportunity to write more.

He graduated with a French baccalauréat in Economic and Social Sciences before moving to Caen where he studied at l'École de management de Normandie, graduating in 2004.

While in college, he made friends with record producer Skread, who had worked with Diam's, Booba, Rohff and Nessbeal.

He also collaborated with Gringe in his initial works and formed the duo Casseurs Flowters with him in 2004.

Orelsan spent one year at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, where he had the inspiration of writing the song "50 pour cent".

In 2004, Orelsan formed the hip hop duo Casseurs Flowters with his colleague Gringe.

With help from French record producer Skread, they released their first mixtape Fantasy: Episode 1 in 2004 with 11 tracks.

Afterwards, the two decided to focus on building their solo careers.

In August 2006, Orelsan released his first clip on YouTube, called "Ramen", followed by a second one in 2007, called "Saint-Valentin", a sarcastic parody on Valentine's Day that attracted great following prompting him to release more of his work online through YouTube and Myspace.

In 2008, the record label 3e Bureau noticed his work and offered him an opportunity to produce an album in collaboration with 7th Magnitude, a record label founded by Skread and his colleague Ablaye.

In the summer of 2008, he promoted the release of "Changement", his first single released on 13 October 2008, and its music video through the TF1 Video and Nolife TV channels.

The video was Orelsan's first professionally prepared clip.

He has released four studio albums: his debut Perdu d'avance on 16 February 2009, his second album Le chant des sirènes on 26 September 2011, his third album La fête est finie on 20 October 2017 and his fourth album Civilisation on 19 November 2021.

On 16 February 2009, Orelsan released his debut album Perdu d'avance, a provocative album produced by Skread, that included 14 tracks.

With "Changement" as its lead single, it included tracks such as the title track "Perdu d'avance", "50 pour cent", "Soirée ratée", "Différent" and "No-life", with music video releases for all.

"Entre bien et mal" featured his Casseurs Flowters colleague Gringe and "La peur de l'échec" featured Guns N' Roses guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal.

At the end of 2009, Orelsan was nominated for the Prix Constantin award, and won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best French Act, pipping highly favoured David Guetta to the prize.

In 2010, Orelsan also collaborated with The Toxic Avenger on the extended play N'importe comment, releasing three music videos, a single and a maxi single containing remixes, all on the Roy Music label.

On 26 June 2010, Orelsan appeared on Skyrock's Planète Rap, joining Jena Lee on the song "Je rêve en enfer" from her album Ma référence with Orelsan adding his punchlines in a version known as "Je rêve en enfer (Reste en enfer)".

Also in 2010, Orelsan collaborated with Nessbeal in "Ma grosse" and was part of the Diversidad project, joining a great number of rappers from various European countries.

His work appeared in the collective album of Diversidad called Diversidad – The Experience Album.

In September 2010, during an interview with Canal Street, Orelsan announced that he was working on his new album that would come out in 2011.

On 30 May 2011, Orelsan released "RaelSan", a pre-release and lead single for his upcoming second album.

Its second single, "Double vie", was made available through YouTube and Skyrock on 9 June.

"Plus rien ne m'étonne" followed on 25 July, and finally "Suicide social" was released on 15 September.

The album Le chant des sirènes was released on 26 September 2011 with 16 tracks including popular tracks such as the title track "Le chant des sirènes", "Mauvaise idée" and "Finir mal".

A fifth single, "La terre est ronde", was released from the album on 24 December, and a sixth single, "Ils sont cools" featuring Gringe, was released on 22 June 2012.

Receiving generally positive reviews from music critics, the album was certified gold only one month after release in France, with over 50,000 copies sold, was certified platinum in 2012 with over 100,000 copies sold, and was certified double platine by the SNEP in 2018 with over 200,000 copies sold in France.

He is also one half of the French hip hop duo Casseurs Flowters, along with Gringe, with whom he has released two studio albums: Orelsan et Gringe sont les Casseurs Flowters in 2013, and the original soundtrack for their 2015 film Comment c'est loin.

Orelsan's artistry and rapping technique has drawn him comparisons to American rap legend Eminem on several occasions during the earlier stage of his career, primarily because both are prominent white rappers and both are known for their ability to switch between or combine violent and comical rapping techniques.

Over the years, Orelsan has been recognized as one of the most iconic and important French songwriters and lyricists of his generation.

He has a particular style of mixing humor and irony with heavy subjects and manages to reach and appeal to multigenerational audience and a much larger crowd of listeners than hardcore rap fans.

His third album La fête est finie has been certified double diamond, selling more than one million copies in France.

His latest album Civilisation was the No.1 selling music album in France for two consecutive years of 2021 and 2022.

In 2022, Orelsan was named "chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" (Knight of Arts and Letters) by the Ministry of Culture of France, rewarded for his creation in the artistic field and the contribution he has made to the influence of the arts in France and in the world.