‘There was no way he was a weak character’: How Bubba got involved in Prime Video’s Ourika

Ourika, already number 1 on Prime Video, is causing a sensation on the small screen just days after its release. Created by rapper Eli Yaffa, aka Bubba, and Clement Godart, along with Clement Gournes and Vincent L’Antoine, this fiction follows the rise of a gangster and a cop who are forever linked beyond their boundaries.

Cart is set in 2005, when the suburbs are in turmoil and the Jable family is reigning in the cannabis trade. But a big drug raid blows up the clan. Driss, the youngest son, is forced to take over the family business, even though he planned a career in finance.

In front of him is William, a rookie but ambitious neighborhood cop who is willing to do anything to prove himself to the bosses, determined to take him down. Their meteoric parallel rise will change their fortunes forever.

The series is directed by Adam Bessa (Tyler Reiki, Mosul, Harka), Noham Eje (Bardo, Les Amandiers, Une Affaire d’Honneur) and Salim Kechiush (La vie d’Adèle, Mektoub My Love, Lupine, L’Enfant du). Heaven) but Bubba’s presence in a minor role.

Bubba, origin of the cart

Although he is the originator of the Urika series, Bubba did not undertake this fictional project alone. The artist collaborated with Clément Godard, a former narcotics cop he met through mutual friends in 2016 while the cop was running an undercover operation, to flesh out the story.

“Bubba was very interested in this world”Clement Godard explained to us,“He wanted to know a little about the current state of drug trafficking. He said, “Your life is pretty crazy, and it would be great if we could talk about it.”

The Ourika project took a long time to come together, but once it started, it took a year to write, for which Bubba and Clement Godard assembled a crack team of Clement GurneySabina Dabadi Vincent L’AntoineSylvie Chanteux and Mehdi Fikri, and directed by Collection Director Marine Francou (Engrenages).

Then, it took a year of filming under the guidance of experienced directors for a muscular production, namely Marcela Said (Lupin, Gangs of London) and Julien Despo (Profilage, Paris Police 1900, Les 7 vies de Léa), so the cart sees the light of day.

The rapper invested 100% in the project without taking a big role, as Salim Kechiuche (Musa) explained:

“He was the foundation of the series, the writing, the costumes, the music, everything. But he chose not to be cast, which I think was very smart for the first approach. He came down with great humility. .”

The first role is already amazing for Bubba

In Cart, Bubba plays Métis, a bandit who first seeks revenge on the Jable family, but who eventually joins forces with Musa and Dries against their enemies. But Metis is a complex character who imposes and acts only in his own interests.

Even though Bubba only plays a supporting character, he shouldn’t be too worn out either. “There was no doubt that he was a weak character”They explained to us Marine FrancoSeries Collection Director:

“We were inspired a little bit by the character of Omar in The Wire, who is the kind of character who comes up like that, who is quite surprising, and who always weighs the balance of power in our thugs,” I said at one point. We’ve said it ourselves, and we’ve said it elsewhere in the series, he reigns a little. Or as Mom says at one point, she always goes to the strongest side.”

And so he forms an alliance with Dris Jeblis, who becomes a kind of “godfather” in the thug community. Adam Bessa, who plays the role of Driss, testifies to an intense meeting and great experience with Eli Yaffa, aka Bubba:

“It was something powerful, it was a real exchange. When we meet Bubba, we understand why he’s in his twenties. He’s a humble person, he’s someone who works hard, he’s someone who knows how to surround himself, he’s someone who has a vision , he is the one who knows how to find gems, the one who has a sense of detail.

An artist who recently released his eleventh studio album End of lifeHe managed to integrate into the cast, offering a sober but charismatic interpretation of his character in the series. “He succeeded in going to a world other than himself, he succeeded in his bet”concludes Noah Eje, William’s translator.

The Ourika series is available on Prime Video.