Shay (rapper)
Vanessa Lesnicki (born 16 August 1990 in Brussels), known by her stage name Shay (/ʃaɪ/, SHY; French: [ʃaj]), is a Belgian francophone rapper.[1] After a collaboration with Booba in 2011, she had many releases, notably a hit with "XCII" on the label 92i. She gained great fame with her release "PMW" (an abbreviation of "Pussy Money Weed").[2] Her debut album Jolie Garce was released 2 December 2016 and was certified gold.[3] The follow-up album Antidote was released on 10 May 2019. Her style is a combination of hip-hop, rap, trap, urban pop and R&B. She is signed to Capitol Music France (a sublabel.
Personal life
Born to a Belgian computer scientist father of Jewish origin and a Belgian tax expert mother of Congolese origin, Shay grew up in the communes of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode in Brussels. She is the granddaughter of the Congolese singer Tabu Ley Rochereau, the first artist from Black Africa to perform at the Olympia in Paris in 1970, who named her Shay, which in Yanzi means "She who brings light". She claims that he was the first to introduce her to the world of music, having introduced her to his public when they had never even considered this career for her. She is also the niece of the rapper Youssoupha, who, moreover, winked at her in his song Polaroid Experience.
Born into a modest family, her father, by getting a job at the European Commission, obtained the right to send his three children to good schools. However, not being able to stand the gap with her friends from wealthier backgrounds, she dropped out of school.During her teenage years, she skipped school, got into bad company, started selling drugs and caused her parents a lot of trouble. Her parents decided to send her to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a year in the hope that she would come back transformed. When she returned to Belgium, however, this was not the case. She also stayed in Djibouti for a few months in 2009.
Admiring the New York bandit Frank Lucas, who inspired Ridley Scott's film American Gangster, and the Colombian drug trafficker Griselda Blanco, she dreamt of herself as a bandit. A burst of pride led her to take the CESS, the Belgian equivalent of the baccalaureate, as a free candidate, which she obtained.
Discography
Albums
| Title | Year | Peak positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (Wa) [4] |
FRA [5] |
SWI [6] | |||
| Jolie Garce | 2016 | 48 | 60 | — | |
| Antidote | 2019 | 5 | 15 | 43 | |
About Antidote : After a long silence, Shay unveiled an extract from a track entitled Notif on social networks. She also unveiled her return to the studio with producers Heezy Lee, Junior à la Prod and Le Motif on Instagram. At the same time, Shay also collaborated with Jul on the track Pim Pom, taken from the latter's album Inspi d'ailleurs. She made her comeback and unveiled the track Jolie on 30 November 2018, accompanied by a video clip directed by Guillaume Doubet. On 11 January 2019 Shay released Cocorico, the second single from her new album, which she had previously announced would be released in 2019. On 22 February 2019 she released the track Notif, eagerly awaited by her fans, accompanied by a video clip that, like the video for Jolie, was directed by Guillaume Doubet. Leaving doubt and feeding multiple theories on the name of her second album by playing with numerous clues from her first three extracts, she finally revealed the name of her second album, Antidote, which was released on 10 May 2019. She declared that she had originally recorded two albums, even going so far as to make the video clip of one of the tracks, before abandoning them, no longer feeling musically connected with them. On 1 July she released the clip of the popular single Liquide in duet with superstar French rapper Niska. The track was certified gold.
About Jolie Garce: In 2014, Shay finally joined the 92i label of her mentor Booba and released several singles like XCII and 1200 which were well received by her audience. In early summer 2016, Shay released the first single from her album. The hit, entitled PMW, was quickly successful and was certified platinum single. On 7 October 2016 Shay released the music video of the hit Biche , a song from her album, which was viewed more than 7 million times. Her hit Cabeza was unveiled a few weeks later and was a certified gold single. On 17 February 2017 Shay unveiled the music video of her gold single Thibaut Courtois, which is dedicated to the goalkeeper of the Belgian national football team with the same name.
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (Wa) [4] |
FRA [5] | |||
| "XCII" | 2015 | — | 153 | Non-album song |
| "PMW" | 2016 | 9 (Ultratip*) |
33 | Jolie Garce |
| "Biche" | — | 72 | ||
| "Cabeza" | 29 (Ultratip*) |
107 | ||
| "Jolie" | 2018 | 30 (Ultratip*) |
38 | Antidote |
| "Cocorico" | 2019 | — | 102 | |
| "Notif" | 15 (Ultratip*) |
22 | ||
*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.
Other charted songs
| Title | Year | Peak positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (Wa) [4] |
FRA [5] | |||
| "Thibaut Courtois" | 2016 | 16 (Ultratip*) |
39 | Jolie Garce |
| "La go" | — | 178 | ||
| "Liquide" (feat. Niska) |
2019 | — | 21 | Antidote |
| "Ich liebe dich" | — | 73 | ||
| "Cœur Wanted" | — | 87 | ||
| "Amour & désastres" | — | 107 | ||
| "Même pas bonne" | — | 111 | ||
| "Désillusions" | — | 114 | ||
| "Pleurer" | — | 152 | ||
| "Villa" | — | 174 | ||
| "Oh oui" | — | 192 | ||
| "Prends ton time" | — | 200 | ||
*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.
References
- Le Monde: Shay, la « bad girl » du rap francophone (in French)
- Obs: Rap cru et ambition assumée : le féminisme selon Shay (in French)
- 20 minutes: Après cinq ans de travail, Shay sort son premier album «Jolie Garce» (in French)
- "Shay discography". ultratop.be. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
- "Shay discography". lescharts.com. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
- "Shay discography". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 22 May 2019.