Laouni Mouhid (Arabic: لاوني محيد]; born 25 December 1981), commonly known by his stage name La Fouine (lit. 'The beech marten'), with additional aliases such as Fouiny Babe or just Fouiny, is a French rapper and singer of Moroccan descent. He is owner of Banlieue Sale and clothing line "Street Swagg".

Born in Trappes in a family of seven children to Moroccan parents from Casablanca, Laouni grew outside Paris in the Yvelines. He is the penultimate of his six brothers and sisters, Hakim (aka the rapper Canardo), Kamel, Illham, Samira, Naima and Adil. La Fouine talked about this in "Je regarde là-haut".

He left school at the age of fifteen to devote himself to rap and took his first music lessons. La Fouine, who was called "Forcené" was an active member of the collective "GSP". It was part of the short-lived group "FORS" with DJ RV (Hervé), Le Griffon (Tarek Medimegh) And LaylaD (Layla Melloni Forcé), created mainly to participate at 2 R puissance ART in La Verrière, where he won the second prize.

In 1998, La Fouine was imprisoned. Since then, Laouni married, then divorced after becoming the father of a little girl, born in 2002, named Fatima, named after La Fouine's mother. His mother's death in 2005 inspired his song "Je regarde là-haut" He also experienced dark periods in foster homes and prisons. "I was only fifteen when I was expelled from school and placed in foster homes. I became an insomniac for most of the time. But it did not take me to sleep with me, if the cops were looking for me directly. I slept with people in cars, premises, etc.. It was misery", he said to the magazine Planète Rap.

La Fouine is a fan of amateur club ESA Linas-Montlhéry.

After releasing his first street-tape Planète Trappes that made him earn an early legitimacy in rap, he released his first album in 2005 called Bourré au Son strongly marked by the California style. The singles "L'unité" and "Quelque chose de spécial" meet critical acclaim and broadcast on many French radio stations.

After putting out Planète Trappes Volume 2 on the market launching especially his brother Canardo through three titles, La Fouine released his second album entitled Aller-Retour on 12 March 2007. The first single from this album was "Reste en Chien" with Booba. The second single was titled "Qui peut me stopper", "Banlieue Sale" with Gued'1 & Kennedy and "Tombé pour elle" with Amel Bent. Today, this album is certified gold.

After releasing the street-tape Capitale du Crime which highlights the rappers of Yvelines, the third album of the rapper Mes Repères released in February 2009 and received a gold disc certification in October 2009. It included three guest appearances especially with Soprano on "Repartir à zéro" and still with Soprano and Sefyu on "Ca fait mal (Remix)" and Canardo (his younger brother) on "Hamdoulah Moi Ca Va". Today, this album is certified platinum.

The disk Capitale du Crime Volume 2 released on 18 January 2010, ranks third in the album sales in France in the first week of its release. On this album are collaborations with Canardo, Green Money, Kennedy, Vincenzo, Chabodo, A2P Rickwell, Gued'1... ...

Source: Article "La Fouine" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.