Hamza

Hamza is a Belgian rapper and producer from Brussels, born on 1 August 1994, known for pioneering a smooth, melodic fusion of rap, dancehall and Afro-Caribbean-influenced sounds within the French-language rap scene. After early group work in 2012, he released his first free mixtape, Recto Verso, in December 2013 at just 19 years old, but it was his second mixtape, H-24, released in May 2015, that first drew wide attention to him.

He followed with a rapid string of releases that defined his laid-back, genre-blurring style: the mixtape Zombie Life in 2016, the dancehall-tinged EP New Casanova later that year, and the mixtape Santa Sauce released on Christmas Eve 2016. His fifth mixtape, 1994, arrived in October 2017 and was certified gold in France, further establishing him as one of the key figures bridging rap and Caribbean-inspired melody.

His debut studio album, Paradise, came out on 1 March 2019, followed months later by a deluxe edition with eight additional tracks; by late 2019 it was certified gold in France. That same prolific year he released Santa Sauce 2 as a surprise drop in December, followed by the three-track EP 140 BPM in 2020. Songs such as El Dorado, 1994 and La sauce showcase the smooth, atmospheric production and Caribbean-inflected melodies that have become his signature.