Flamboyant producer/rapper Young Paris brought a thoroughly modern African sensibility to hip-hop, incorporating both traditional rhythms and EDM elements into his sound. Born Milandou Badila in 1989 in Paris to Congolese immigrant parents who later moved to New York, he was brought up between the three countries and grew up in an arts-rich environment, his father being the founder of the Congolese National Ballet and his mother a playwright. Inspired as much by the Congo's thriving fashion scene as by its traditional music, he started out as a model and dancer, appearing in Vogue and Harpers Bazaar and launching his own diversity-celebrating lifestyle brand, Melanin. Influenced by hip-hop and house, he started his music career in 2011 with the single "Euro Swag," but it was only with the 2014 EP Rap/Electronic that he began to attract significant attention. Laying the blueprint for his later productions, it saw him develop a unique style that incorporated traditional African rhythms into contemporary electronic production, over which he rapped in a languid fashion. He was invited to perform at the Kanpe Kanaval in Montréal and the Afropunk festival in Paris, and in 2016 signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation label, which released his debut album, African Vogue. The EPs Let Me Love You and Afrobeats dropped the following year. ~ John D. Buchanan