walking upstream…
GIMS
Gandhi Alimasi Djuna, born in Kinshasa in 1986 and raised outside Paris, broke through as a member of the hip-hop collective Sexion d'Assaut before launching a solo career as Maître Gims (later shortened to GIMS) in 2013. His debut single "Bella" sold over a million copies and set the template for the melodic, genre-hopping pop-rap — hooky, Latin- and Afropop-tinged, built for stadiums — that made him one of France's most streamed artists. The son of a singer in Papa Wemba's Congolese rumba outfit Viva la Musica, he has repeatedly credited that childhood immersion in rumba, alongside a steady diet of American hip-hop and R&B, for his cross-genre instincts.
the sound in question
2013
BellaGIMS
walk the tributaries ↓
Papa Wemba1970s-90s · Congolese rumba / Soukous / Ndombolo
Gims grew up around Congolese rumba first-hand — his father, Djuna Djanana, sang in Papa Wemba's band Viva la Musica — and he has said in interviews that this upbringing in rumba, not just American rap, shaped his ear. The sapeur elegance Wemba embodied as the figurehead of La Sape resurfaces directly in "Sapés comme jamais," a song and video built entirely around that dandy, dressed-to-the-nines culture.
listen: upstream & heresource: Afropop Worldwide ↗
1992
Maria ValenciaPapa Wemba
2015
Sapés comme jamaisGIMS
listen forThe soukous-flavored guitar hooks and rumba-adjacent vocal runs sitting under Gims's pop-rap delivery, and the sheer pride in dressing sharp that "Sapés comme jamais" turns into a hook.
Booba2000s-10s · French rap / Gangsta rap / Trap
Gims himself initiated their 2013 duet "Longueur d'avance," saying Booba was someone he "listened to as a kid" and had deep respect for — proof that beneath the radio-pop veneer he still measures himself against the reference point of French gangsta rap's flow and street authority.
listen: upstream & heresource: PureBreak ↗
2006
PitbullBooba
2013
J'me tireGIMS
listen forThe harder-edged verses and minor-key beat Gims reaches for on "J'me tire," a rare moment of grittier, rap-forward delivery closer to Booba's register than his usual dance-pop lane.
Michael Jackson1980s · Pop / R&B / Dance
Gims has named Michael Jackson among his core listening and posted himself alongside a Jackson portrait captioned "let time do its work," a comparison press covered as him measuring his ambitions against Jackson's career arc. It shows in the dance-pop staging and vocal-hook-forward songwriting of tracks built for spectacle rather than rap bars.
listen: upstream & heresource: Generations.fr ↗
1982
Billie JeanMichael Jackson
2015
Est-ce que tu m'aimes ?GIMS
listen forThe multi-tracked, ad-libbed vocal hooks and choreography-first video treatment of "Est-ce que tu m'aimes ?" — pop craftsmanship over raw rap delivery.