{"id":133268,"date":"2025-05-17T11:26:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T11:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/werenoi-top-rapper-in-france-for-album-sales-in-2024-dies-at-31\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T11:26:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T11:26:56","slug":"werenoi-top-rapper-in-france-for-album-sales-in-2024-dies-at-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/werenoi-top-rapper-in-france-for-album-sales-in-2024-dies-at-31\/","title":{"rendered":"Werenoi, top rapper in France for album sales in 2024, dies at 31."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">\n<figure class=\"article__media\">\n        <picture class=\"article__media\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/img.lemde.fr\/2025\/05\/17\/0\/0\/5000\/3335\/556\/0\/75\/0\/d3a225e_sirius-fs-upload-1-h0tkbks8a1ay-1747479232813-maxnewsspecial831901.jpg 556w, https:\/\/img.lemde.fr\/2025\/05\/17\/0\/0\/5000\/3335\/600\/0\/75\/0\/d3a225e_sirius-fs-upload-1-h0tkbks8a1ay-1747479232813-maxnewsspecial831901.jpg 600w, https:\/\/img.lemde.fr\/2025\/05\/17\/0\/0\/5000\/3335\/664\/0\/75\/0\/d3a225e_sirius-fs-upload-1-h0tkbks8a1ay-1747479232813-maxnewsspecial831901.jpg 664w, https:\/\/img.lemde.fr\/2025\/05\/17\/0\/0\/5000\/3335\/700\/0\/75\/0\/d3a225e_sirius-fs-upload-1-h0tkbks8a1ay-1747479232813-maxnewsspecial831901.jpg 700w, https:\/\/img.lemde.fr\/2025\/05\/17\/0\/0\/5000\/3335\/800\/0\/75\/0\/d3a225e_sirius-fs-upload-1-h0tkbks8a1ay-1747479232813-maxnewsspecial831901.jpg 800w\" \nsizes=\"(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw\" alt=\"Rapper Werenoi, in Paris, in January 2024.\" width=\"664\" height=\"443\"><\/p>\n<p>            <\/source>\n        <\/picture>\n        <noscript><br \/>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.lemde.fr\/2025\/05\/17\/0\/0\/5000\/3335\/664\/0\/75\/0\/d3a225e_sirius-fs-upload-1-h0tkbks8a1ay-1747479232813-maxnewsspecial831901.jpg\" alt=\"Rapper Werenoi, in Paris, in January 2024.\" \/><br \/>\n        <\/noscript><figcaption class=\"article__legend\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Rapper Werenoi, in Paris, in January 2024. <span class=\"article__credit\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Jean-Baptiste Quentin\/Photopqr\/Le Parisien\/Maxppp<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph\">Rapper **Werenoi**, number one in **album sales** in **France** for both 2023 and 2024, passed away at the age of **31**, as announced by his producer on **May 17** via social media platform X. <em>&#8220;Rest in peace my brother,&#8221;<\/em> he lamented, confirmed by various press outlets reporting the rapper&#8217;s death at the hospital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph\">Born **J\u00e9r\u00e9my Bana Owona**, Werenoi had an astonishingly rapid rise to **fame**, becoming the **top-selling artist** in France for two consecutive years, according to the **National Union of Phonographic Edit (SNEP)**. Despite his **massive success**, he remained relatively obscure outside the rap community due to his commitment to **media discretion**.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph\">Werenoi embraced a sense of **modesty** and **reserve** instilled by his **Cameroonian family** background. In an interview with the **Parisian** in January 2024, he expressed his surprise at reaching such heights, stating, <em>&#8220;It&#8217;s still a surprise, but it means that we have done a good job.&#8221;<\/em> He further noted, <em>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t celebrate it. You have to keep your head on your shoulders, in life in general. This is the education I received.&#8221;<\/em> He emphasized that **success** came swiftly, attributing it largely to **hard work**. <em>&#8220;I almost spend my life in the studio,&#8221;<\/em> he confessed.<\/p>\n<section class=\"catcher catcher--favoris\">\n<div class=\"catcher__content\">\n            <span class=\"catcher__title catcher__title--hide\">Read also |<\/span><br \/>\n            <span class=\"catcher__desc\"><br \/>\n                <span class=\"icon__premium\"><span class=\"sr-only\">Article reserved for our subscribers<\/span><\/span><br \/>\n                Album selection: **Alexandre Scriabine**, **Oph\u00e9lie Gaillard**, **David Bowie**, **Tunde Adebimpe**, **Werenoi**, **Salif Keita**.<br \/>\n            <\/span>\n        <\/div>\n<p>\n            <button class=\"lmd-btn-icon lmd-btn-icon--primary lmd-btn-icon--m js-lmd-dropdown-favorite-toggler\" aria-controls=\"lmd-dropdown-favorite\" aria-label=\"Lire plus tard\" aria-describedby=\"article-title-3418453\" data-article-id=\"3418453\" data-position=\"lire aussi\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/culture\/article\/2025\/04\/18\/selection-albums-alexandre-scriabine-ophelie-gaillard-david-bowie-tunde-adebimpe-werenoi-salif-keita_6597460_3246.html\" data-status=\"\"><br \/>\n                <span class=\"icon__favorites\" \/><br \/>\n                <span class=\"js-btn-icon-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Read later<\/span><br \/>\n            <\/button>\n        <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<h2 class=\"article__sub-title\">\u201cI Prefer the Mystery\u201d<\/h2>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph\">Originally hailing from **Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis)**, Werenoi expressed that he revealed everything through his music. His third album, **Black Diamond**, released in April 2025, opened with a striking confession in the title track, <em>Pony<\/em>: <em>&#8220;I have to empty my heart, I have to fill the notebook.&#8221;<\/em> **St\u00e9phanie Binet**, a journalist with the **World**, encapsulated his artistic essence as follows:<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__cite\">A few piano notes, a slightly modified voice with **autotune**, a feigned melancholy, and a touch of grime misogyny (<em>&#8220;It is good, it is beautiful\/We have already dismantled it, we have already reassembled it&#8221;<\/em>). On <em>Jealous<\/em>, he did not even credit the singer **Sneaky** in the track listing; only **SDM** and **Vacra** were honored in that regard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__cite\">His artistic universe leaned toward the dark and pessimistic; however, his melodies remained striking, especially when compared to the likes of **Damso**, **Ninho**, **Gunna**, and **Lil Tjay** on tracks like <em>Gulfstream<\/em> and <em>Ftr<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph\">Werenoi often presented a neutral expression while donning sunglasses, reserving his emotional expressions solely for the audiences at his concerts. <em>&#8220;I prefer to keep my private life for me. To talk too much can lead to revealing things you don\u2019t want to say. I prefer the **mystery**. I say enough about myself in my texts,\u201d<\/em> he stated, reinforcing his commitment to privacy.<\/p>\n<section class=\"author\">\n<p class=\"author__detail\">\n            <span class=\"author__name\">The World with AFP<\/span>\n        <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article__reactions\">\n        Reuse this content<br \/>\n    <\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" rel=\"dofollow\">Breaking News General &#8211; 1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rapper Werenoi, in Paris, in January 2024. Jean-Baptiste Quentin\/Photopqr\/Le Parisien\/Maxppp Rapper **Werenoi**, number one in **album sales** in **France** for both 2023 and 2024, passed away at the age of **31**, as announced by his producer on **May 17** via social media platform X. &#8220;Rest in peace my brother,&#8221; he lamented, confirmed by various press [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8716,1675,1309,6339,3709,236,34726],"class_list":["post-133268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-album","tag-dies","tag-france","tag-rapper","tag-sales","tag-top","tag-werenoi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}