Mike Lévy was born in
Lyon, France, on 24 June 1985 to Jewish parents from North Africa. He started producing music at the age of sixteen when he first played an
analog synthesizer. He released his first EP in 2008 through the label OD Records. In 2009, he founded the independent label Zone with the Hacker, Alex Reynaud and David Rimokh. In July 2012, Gesaffelstein made the cover of
DJ Mag with
Brodinski. The same year, his track "Viol" was used by
Citroën and
Givenchy advertisements. He co-produced two tracks on
Yeezus, the sixth album by American rapper
Kanye West, including the lead single "
Black Skinhead" and "
Send It Up", both tracks produced with West,
Daft Punk, Brodinski and
Mike Dean. On 28 October 2013, Gesaffelstein released his debut album
Aleph under
Parlophone Records and
OWSLA (in North America only), which had been recorded since 2011. His remix of "Shockwave" by the Hacker is featured in the
2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V, on the Soulwax FM radio station. He released the single "Conquistador" in 2015, collaborating with
Jean-Michel Jarre, which is present on the album
Electronica 1: The Time Machine. He also produced the soundtrack for the French-Belgian 2015 film
Maryland, directed by
Alice Winocour. In early 2018, he produced the tracks "I Was Never There" and "Hurt You" from
the Weeknd's
My Dear Melancholy, EP. He signed to
Columbia Records in November 2018, with whom he released the lead single "Reset" from his second studio album
Hyperion in the same month. In January 2019, he released a collaboration with the Weeknd titled "
Lost in the Fire" as the second single from
Hyperion, and later in March 2019 released another collaboration with Pharrell Williams titled "Blast Off".
Hyperion was released on 8 March 2019, to mixed reviews. On 3 October 2019, Gesaffelstein announced his surprise EP
Novo Sonic System, consisting of 6 tracks, which was released the following day. His track "Orck" was used as the pre-intro and outro theme music for
Apple's October 2021 event. He announced a collaboration with fellow Kanye West collaborator
KayCyy.
TW20 50, an EP containing 3 collaborative songs between the two of them, released on 11 March 2022. KayCyy and Lévy's second collaborative EP,
TW2052, was released on 26 May 2023. His third album,
Gamma, was released on 29 March 2024. Gesaffelstein co-produced and co-wrote on
Lady Gaga's Grammy-winning album
Mayhem in 2025, featuring on the sixth track, "
Killah". His remix of the
Mayhem track
"Abracadabra" earned him the
Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical at the
68th annual ceremony. His appearance at the ceremony attracted considerable attention, as he wore black gloves and his signature black reflective mask, reminiscent of the cover art for
Gamma, and accepted the award without speaking. ==Musical style==