Meeting with Ichon: “To compose this album, I didn’t drink anymore, I didn’t smoke anymore… I had become a samurai.”

With his bat hair, leather jacket and cow print boots, Ichon is a man with a sharp style who seems to be unable to resist. After a mixtape as depressive as it is arrogant, Just do it, released in 2017, this “good kid” [from the name of the Bon Gamin collective, founded with the rapper Loveni and producer Myth Syzer] last year, the 31-year-old signed an introspective first album with a clear title: For real. Ichon has thus made a special place for himself on the French music scene, mixing rap and variety,  with his romantic songs where he tells his existential quest. As perfectionist as he appears nonchalant, Yann Bella Ola, his real name, has revealed himself to us more authentic than ever.

 

Number:  In 2021, is Ichon still a rapper?

Ichon: Before, when I only did rap, I defined myself as a singer, in a spirit of contradiction. Rap is synonymous with youth, so today, I force myself to keep the word rapper, I find it funny.

 

You have made romantic rap your credo…

Love is everywhere. Everyone loves someone, secretly or not. I have tons of romantic songs on my computer, I even feel like I’m cheating when I write about it! But now I’m trying to focus on deeper themes.

Speaking of love, what is your relationship to masculinity? 

I don’t want to fight but I think it’s cool to be seen as a person who covers his tracks. I confess that I do not personally reflect on this question. 

 

In French rap, you are a bit of a wise man. What is your message?

My father says bluntly that I’m a philosopher, I like it! Since my beginnings, I simply want to tell the story of my quest, hoping to inspire people. In any case, I only manage to write about how I feel. 

 

What’s the craziest thing you’ve done for your audience?

I was inspired by a performance by Marina Abramovic [The Artist is Present, 2010, MoMA] where she sits at a table and looks her audience in the eye. Everyone sat down in front of her, and almost all of them wept. So I wanted to create this similar relationship with the people who listen to me. When Pour de vrai was released, I asked the people who follow me on social networks to write me letters. I received more than two hundred. I have only read forty of them and I have even cried during some readings… Then I met twenty of these people in Paris and tattooed them.

 

What does this reissue bring to the album Pour de vrai released in 2020?

A few years ago, I had moments of madness, because of fatigue, drugs, excess, bordering on the hospital. Fear of life, more than death. When I seriously returned to music to prepare Pour de vrai, I marginalized myself. When I started playing sound, I didn’t drink alcohol, I didn’t smoke, I didn’t eat meat, I lived with my parents, I didn’t go out anymore, I only played the piano, I was a samurai. The previous year taught me that I couldn’t live only in my bubble. Mixing is super important, especially for an artist. I love to party, I love to laugh, I love to see people. It’s a part of me! I found more balance with others and myself and the album testifies to that.

 

You were also a model for Maison Martin Margiela, your videos have a very polished vintage aesthetic.  How do you build your image?

I’m constantly collaborating with directors, musicians, producers [Loveni, Myth Syzer]. Discussions are essential. For the direction of my videos, I have been working with Louis Lekien for a few years (Noir et Blanc and Sous la pluie) In this case for the video for C’est pas le moment, I wanted to deconstruct romance in cinema. I had this idea that a woman fell from a building. I like everything to be simple, no need to put special effects. Everything is already there! Everything is already beautiful! When I was younger, I thought we had to magnify everything, now I prefer what is more natural. Now, I want to push the experimental side more. I want to turn to acting. No one has offered me anything interesting yet but even if no one asks me, I will go for it, whether for myself or for others. I also want to turn to clothes, to do what is most perfect in my eyes and create clothes that I love.

It took you three years to compose your album Pour de vrai [2020],  which you are currently republishing. What was your creative  process?

A few years ago, I had some crazy moments. Because of fatigue, drugs, excess… I was on the verge of going to the hospital. I was more afraid of life than of death. When I seriously returned to music to prepare For real,  I needed to marginalize  myself : I didn’t drink alcohol anymore, I didn’t smoke anymore, I didn’t eat meat anymore, I lived with my parents, I only played the piano. I was a samurai. Now, I’m out of my bubble, I’ve found more balance with others and myself. This reissue bears witness to this.

 

What does it mean to you to be an artist?

Some artists create characters and surround themselves with a legend. For me, it’s another school,  the school of reality. To be an artist is to remove illusions. I’ll remove the legend, I’ll tell you everything.

 

Your clips have a super polished vintage aesthetic, you were also a model for Maison Margiela… Is music no longer enough for you? 

I like experiments… And I now want to turn to acting. For the moment, no one has offered me anything interesting yet. But even if no one asks me, I’ll go it alone.

 

Encore + pour de vrai[911], by Ichon, available.