Nabil Salhi was born in
Boulogne-Billancourt, in the western suburbs of Paris, to a
Moroccan family. When his parents divorced, he went to live with his mother in difficult conditions in Hautes Noués in
Villiers-sur-Marne,
Val-de-Marne (an eastern suburb of Paris); his father remained in Boulogne-Billancourt. In 1996, he formed the rap and hip hop group
Dicidens, a trio also including French-
Martinique rapper Zesau and Korias. The group recorded various maxis in 1999 and 2000 and were signed to the independent record label Magma (later known as Paire d'As). He cooperated with the band
Lunatic. Their album
HLM rezidants released in 2004, sold 10,000 copies and was their first chart success, reaching number 78 on the
SNEP French albums chart, where it stayed for 3 weeks. Nessbeal was also involved with the collective 92I along with Lunatic, la Malekal Morte, Sir Doum's and others, and he took part in
Booba's first two releases. After growing dissatisfied with the progress of his career in 92I, he left and signed with the label Nouvelle Donne, where he released two solo albums.
La mélodie des briques in 2006 was his solo debut and peaked at #24 on the French charts. It was followed by the more commercially successful
Rois sans couronne in 2008, which reportedly sold 20,000 copies and peaked at #18. In 2010 he moved record labels to 7th Magnitude and released
NE2S, produced by
Skread. The album became his biggest success, with many collaborations with
Orelsan,
La Fouine, Bradley Jones, Isleym and
Indila. With the popularity of the single "À chaque jour suffit sa peine" ,
NE2S sold close to 30,000 copies, peaking at number 13 in the albums chart. In November 2011 came his fourth album and the second with 7th Magnitude under the title
Sélection Naturelle with collaborations with rapper
Soprano, La Fouine,
Mister You,
Mélissa Nkonda. It was also produced by Skread. but by the end of 2013 announced he was preparing a new release in addition to composing for the soundtrack of the film
La Marche. ==Discography==