GRËJ

Born in Kosovo and immigrating to Switzerland at the age of 6 months to escape the war in the Balkans, GRËJ grew up with the hip-hop culture from the age of 8 after a friend gave him Dr. Dre's 2001 album. A fervent supporter of the movement and a great aesthete of its pioneers, GRËJ uses these influences to produce cutting-edge lyrics dealing with themes that revolve around his own experiences. During the pandemic in 2020 he decided to learn the art of beatmaking and produced the PIXELTAPE project. Finding it to be more than just a hobby, he never let go of it, using it as the fuel for most of his subsequent work. Inspired by old-school rap as well as newer artists, GRËJ is a fan of concept albums and projects: the Helvetian embraces the Japanese aesthetic on several occasions, first with Nintendo's PIXELTAPEs, then more generally with covers full of Japanese good vibes at the end of 2022 with CUISINE. - Swono, Genius France