French rapper Joeystarr shares a common history with his U.S. hip-hop counterparts. Growing up hard, he was thrown out of his family home in 1985 while still a youth. The artist was soon introduced to a life of hard drugs and violence, but also developed his love of hip-hop during this time. In 1989 he created a group called NTM with friend Kool Shen. When the successful group disbanded in 2000, Joeystarr ended up on the B.O.S.S. label, whose artists rose significantly in popularity during the early 2000s. In October of 2006 he released his solo debut record, Gare au Jaguarr, which hit number three on French national charts. Egomaniac followed in 2011. ~ Evan C. Gutierrez