[3] The young Doudou showed an early musical aptitude from the age of six, when he successfully joined France's national youth choir, which has long since been disbanded.
At the age of 16, he saw his prized cocker spaniel, Monsieur Grenouille, gunned down in what was later discovered to be a turf war between local French gangs.
He was later connected to dozens of crimes both foreign and domestic, but was acquitted on all charges, save for resisting arrest for which he received 2,000 hours of community service and a short jail sentence of two years pending probation.
He assembled a motley crew of childhood friends and embarked on a lifelong quest to break into the mainstream French hip-hop scene.
With his breakout album, Trop Loin (1998), he quickly topped the French charts for the opening weekend, and did not relinquish this position for two weeks.