Diamant Noir

Little awaited at the highest level of the Beninese rap, Amir ALLI and Anouar DAMALA (the two members of DN) are brought to the front of the West African hip hop scene by the success of their first album, “Faux frères, Vrais Jumeaux” In September 2005.

Hip hop is for DN, a powerful communication medium allowing them to address directly to the youth of the black continent. Adulated and taken as an example by the great majority of young Beninese, Diamant Noir is today a reference and a model of success in hip hop in the sub-region of West Africa. Their cultural mix (African, studying in Europe, influenced by the American beats), their talent, and the weight of the subjects covered in their texts, are unavoidable assets that have reached a wide hip hop audience extending beyond the Borders of Africa.

Through their music, Amir ALLI and Anouar DAMALA hope to create a movement to both revalue the western look on Africa, but also to tie all the youth to the reconstruction of a modern Africa, discharging the burden of evils Of the past …

The group’s second album “Born to Shine”, released in 2007, came definitively to establish the group’s dominance on the Benin Hip Hop.

Today Black Diamond is at the head of its production box Cotonou City Crew (CCC) producing Beninese talented artists who are Bsyd, NastyNesta, Blaaz and D.A.C. CCC has organized several national tours, the launching of its artists but also events to youth destinations (themed evenings, school visits, etc …).

Diamant Noir is one of the first groups in Benin that understood the importance of the internet. So they launched their blog, while maintaining a presence and significant popularity on the facebook site with more than 45,000 friends on all of their accounts! Their compilations with the CCC, WAR1 and WAR2 free on the Internet have passed to more than 40,000 downloads each, proof of their popularity.

Thanks to their privileged contacts with many international artists, DN has already collaborated with Olkainry, Black kent, Anofela, Grodash, Lylah of the Goddesses, DJ Myst (Official Brasco dj, Nessbealetc) and many others.

The group released its third album “Audio biography” on August 20, 2010 which has been a success to match the previous ones. 2010 was a rich year for Black Diamond who collected 3 trophies at the Hip Hop Awards ceremony: Album of the Year, Clip of the Year and Mixtape of the Year.

In August 2010 always, they also made the first part of Akon at the Giant Concert of Independence.

Always concerned by the youth of Benin, they have successfully initiated the festival of “Benin Youth Day”, a series of concerts, documentary screenings and debates in the main cities of Benin.

They also produced the documentary “I have a say” co-written with Abdoulaye Bio-Tchané, former Africa Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Diamant Noir remains the major group in terms of presence on the Beninese stages, being systematically called to perform the first parts of foreign artists, namely La Fouine, Kassav, Magic System, Mokobé, Chindima, MedhyCustos etc ….

They are currently preparing for a mixtape and their fourth album “DN4EVER”.

Black Diamond is more than a group of Hip Hop, it’s a movement on the move …