Known for his affiliation with fashionable French electro label Ed Banger Records,
DJ Mehdi was a producer/remixer of hip-hop and electronic dance music yet is first and foremost remembered as a DJ. Born Mehdi Favéris-Essadi in 1977 in the French commune of Gennevilliers (i.e., a northwest suburb of Paris) of Tunisian descent, he grew interested in hip-hop after discovering
Public Enemy in the late '80s.
DJ Mehdi established himself as a DJ/producer in the trailblazing French rap group
Ideal J, whom he joined in 1992 and who released two albums: O'Riginal MC's Sur une Mission (1996) and
La Combat Continue (1998), the latter featuring the hit single "Hardcore." Around this same time he began doing outside production work, most notably on the 1997
MC Solaar album
Paradisiaque ("Wonderbra") and a couple
113 albums (Ni Barreaux, Ni Barrières, Ni Frontières, 1998; Les Princes de la Ville, 1999). In addition, he founded the short-lived Espionnage label in 1997 along with
Manu Key, whom he had worked with in the rap groups Different Teep and
Mafia K'1 Fry.
DJ Mehdi began crossing over into electronic dance music in 2000 with the release of
Espion le EP, an Espionnage compilation that included a diverse array of styles that blurred the lines between hip-hop and dance. A couple more years of production work on albums including
Karlito's
Contenu Sous Pression (2001) and
113's Fout la Merde (2002) led to
(The Story Of) Espion, his full-length debut album, released by the EMI sublabel Delabel. In search of management,
DJ Mehdi turned to
Pedro Winter (aka
Busy P), a fellow DJ whom he had known for years and who not only was well known for successfully managing the career of
Daft Punk but was in the process of founding his own label, Ed Banger Records. Under the moniker of Espion,
DJ Mehdi made his Ed Banger debut in 2003, producing "Anything Is Possible," the B-side of Justice's "Never Be Alone."
DJ Mehdi's next release on Ed Banger,
I Am Somebody (2006), a four-track EP featuring remixes by
Kenny Dope of
Masters at Work, was billed to himself and became an underground sensation, later being licensed for use in a 2007 commercial for XM Satellite Radio in the United States. A full-length album on Ed Banger,
Lucky Boy (2006), followed the release of
I Am Somebody, as did Loukoums (2006), a rare outtakes mix album released as a tribute to the late
J Dilla, whose Stones Throw album
Donuts (2006) was its inspiration. In the wake of this success,
DJ Mehdi released Lucky Boy at Night (2007), a remix edition of its predecessor; Lucky Girl (2007), a four-track EP; Your Way or Mine? (2007), a blue-vinyl split 7" on Arcade Mode with
Kavinsky; and Mixmag Presents: Ed Banger Ménage-à-Trois (2008), a mix CD also featuring
Feadz and
Pedro Winter. Mehdi died in 2011 when he fell to his death after a roof collapse. He was 34.
–
Jason Birchmeier, Rovi