Ministère A.M.E.R.

The Ministère AMER (Action, Musique Et Rap) is a French hip hop group from Sarcelles, consisting of the rappers Passi and Stomy Bugsy (both of whom are also major solo artists in the French hip hop scene), DJ Ghetch, and the producer/manager Kenzy. The group is also associated with other major French hip hop artists such as Doc Gyneco and Hamed Daye. The group’s name means « ministry of action, music and rap ». Also « amer » means « bitter ».

In 1989, Futur members of the Ministère AMER created the association AMER. Founding Members are Stomy Bugzy, Passi, Hamed Daye, Kenzy, Moda, DJ Desh and were soon joined by DJ Ghetch. In 1991, they officialy formed the group. The same year they signed with the independant Label Musidisc and realised their first EP « Traitres ».

The second album, 95200, came out in 1994 and was widely praised by the critics. Dog Gyneco joined the Group since this album. In 1995, their song « Sacrifice de poulet », which appeared on the soundtrack to the film La Haine, provoked the French Minister of Interior, Charles Pasqua, to attack the group in court. The court’s ruling forced the group to pay 250,000 francs of fines, but Mr Pasqua’s demands for banning sales of Ministère AMER’s discs were unsuccessful. However, radio stations were reluctant to play their music after this incident, and the only station who continued to do so was Generation 88.2, an underground parisian station dedicated to hip hop music.

In 1996, members or Ministère AMER focused on their solo carreers. Stomy Bugsy realised two solo albums (Le Calibre qu’il te faut and Quelques balles de plus) which sold more than 300 000 copies. Passi’s album « Les Tentations » sold more than 400 000 copies. Doc Gyneco is the most successfull one, selling more than 800 000 copies of his first album « Première Consultation ».

Members of Ministère AMER were immensely popular and changed from their hardcore and provocative style to songs that try to federate people.

In parallel to their to success, they created the mythic Secteur Ä. Eventhought they had solo carreers, they kept collaboring on each other’s albums .

Starting 1998, Ministère AMER’s members announced their comeback. They started working on an album in 2004, but only one song got out on the internet, « Le Colis ».
In 2006 they worked with Johnny Hallyday on a track called « Le Temps passe » about time spent in Jail.

Stomy Bugsy announced Ministère AMER’s comeback in 2014 on his Twitter. The information was quickly confirmed by Passi. To celebrate the twentieth birthday of the album « 95200 », the band got back together for one night only at the Olympia, Paris, on september 22nd 2014.