Like many artists who bow out of the music business with a flurry of media announcements, Belgian rapper Damso will not be keeping his promise. On July 21, the man who has established himself as the leader of the French rap scene with four albums certified at least triple platinum (300,000 equivalent sales) and up to double diamond (1 million equivalent sales) announced on his social media channels that his final album, Bēyāh, due May 30, 2025, would be the last of his career.

Well, that's not the case. Ahead of his self-imposed deadline, the rapper, who accumulates countless features (Angèle, Aya Nakamura and Werenoi) on his colleagues' records, changed his mind. The Brussels native returned to the studio to record 11 tracks, which feature guest appearances from singer Angèle and hardcore rapper Kalash Criminel, among others. As he assumes responsibility for his "mess-up," he called the album, released on Friday, November 15, J'ai Menti ("I lied"). He spoke to Le Monde to take stock of nine years of rap writing, his short career and his future projects.

I still love music. It's more the industry I'm in that doesn't really speak to me. I feel like I've done what I was meant to do. I want to discover other passions, to do design and furniture. I tell myself that, at 32, I want to try new things. Now's the time.

It's not that the industry is hard, but I've ticked a lot of the boxes of those difficult things to accomplish in it. It was hard to be number one. Eventually, I did. It went gold. Eventually, I went platinum, diamond and so on. It was hard to manage a career. I did it. It's hard to write for someone. I did that too. I've achieved what I wanted to achieve, I don't know what more I can do. That's the challenge that drives me, and right now, I'm looking for another challenge, like design, finding myself in the phase of the student who's learning more than that of the teacher who's teaching. When things are difficult, that inspires me. Right now, I'm weary, and that can lead to boredom.

[Laughs] No! These features came naturally. It was a time when I was testing things out. And, again, what more can I do? I've done duets with Aya [Nakamura], with Angèle and, at the same time, with Disiz in alternative rap. I've done pretty much every genre, including hardcore rap with Zola. I'm very proud of all that. Perhaps now's the time to try other things. It's not interesting to do the same thing again. It's all been done and it worked. Well, so much the better. I'm off for new adventures.

You have 57.9% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.