Mohamed Sylla (born 10 September 1994), better known by his stage name MHD, is a French-Guinean rapper based in Paris, who is known for blending trap music with music of Africa; a genre he coined as "Afro Trap". He was previously part of the rap collective 1.9 Réseaux.
Born in Vendée to a family of West African extraction, MHD began his career as a rapper in Paris at the age of 18. He found success in the mid-2010s through material he published on social media (notably music videos on YouTube) and in 2016 released his debut album MHD, which sold more than 200,000 copies in 6 months.[4][5][6] He later received international recognition, and toured in Guinea[citation needed], England, Senegal and Morocco. His second album, titled 19, was released in September 2018, and he released his third album Mansa in July 2021.
In January 2019, MHD was arrested and charged with second-degree murder following investigation into the case of a young man who was beaten to death in the streets of Paris. He was remanded in custody for 18 months, and in 2023 was convicted of murder and sentenced to twelve years in prison. Claiming his innocence, he appealed the verdict and was released from prison in February 2024. His trial in the appellate court is pending.
Mohamed Sylla was born in La Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée, France) of a Senegalese mother and a Guinean father; later in life, he moved to the 19th arrondissement of Paris. As a child, he and his family would often listen to music from Africa; he cites Papa Wemba, Koffi Olomide, Salif Keita and Awilo Longomba as influences. His cousin Gazo is also a rapper.
As an adult, before reaching fame, MHD was delivering pizza, then worked as a waiter in a luxury restaurant in the 6th arrondissement; MHD has since talked about this experience, and the casual racism he was subjected to by the patrons. After getting his BEP restauration (French foodservice qualification) he began considering a career in the catering industry.
In 2012, aged 18, Sylla a.k.a. "MHD" (a stage name derived from his first name Mohamed joined 1.9 Réseaux, a rap collective in the 19th arrondissement. After years of spending time and money trying to make a breakthrough, he eventually quit the gangsta rap scene.
In August 2015, while on vacation, MHD posted a video on the Internet, of himself doing a freestyle over a song by Nigerian band P-Square. The video, which he said he did "just for fun", was received with success on social media, and the positive feedback inspired him to make a comeback into music. However, he had been disappointed with the world of French-language rap from his previous experience, judging there was too much influence from American trends. Taking from his parents' West African roots, he decided to provide diversity to the genre by adding cultural elements of this region into his music, such as musical genres, or singing verses in languages like Fula or Bambara. He coined this newfound genre as "Afro Trap". ...
Source: Article "MHD (rapper)" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
