Carlou D is an outspoken voice from Senegal’s hip-hop generation. He was born Ibrahim Loucard in 1979 and grew up in a musical family in a suburb of Dakar. He left school at 16 and started performing locally. A successful single release in 2002 brought him an invitation to join the country’s first hip-hop group, Positive Black Soul.
Carlou D toured the world with the group, whose songs spoke out about social and political ills. He left the band in 2004 and went on to a successful career with his own band. In 2007-8, he sang the lead in the Prince Claus Fund production of "Bintou Were, an Opera of the Sahel", which premiered in Bamako, Mali, played to sold-out audiences at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam and Theatre Chatelet in Paris. Carlou D is a follower of the Sufi sect Baay Fall and his music draws its themes from their values of purity, simplicity and respect for others. His style combines elements of hip hop, Afro-jazz, rap and soul.
