Dubbed "the French Eminem," rapper Sinik was born Thomas Idir in Paris on June 26, 1980. Born to a family heralding from Algeria's mountainous Kabylie region, he survived a troubled youth marked by several prison stints by channeling his anger into hip-hop. In 2000 the first solo Sinik release, the EP Malsain, arrived. After co-founding his own Six o Nine label, Sinik issued the full-length Artiste Triste in 2003. The record proved a major underground hit, and in mid-2004 he signed to Warner Bros., which issued La Main sur le Coeur early the following year. The blockbuster Sang Froid hit retail in the spring of 2006. ~ Jason Ankeny