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Adopting a new identity, Cameroon artist M\u00e9lo du Quartier says he wants music to bring people together
\nDayan N\u2019T\u00e9ni, known as \u201cLa M\u00e9lo du Quartier\u201d since 2025, is a singer of mbol\u00e9, a Cameroonian musical genre that has made a name for itself in Europe and has its own following (@lameloduquartier on Facebook)Facing two legal proceedings since 2024 for incitement to hatred\u2014one in France brought by ADHEOS\u00a0and the other in Cameroon brought by ADEFHO\u2014the mbol\u00e9 singer Snoopy la M\u00e9lodie\u00a0is trying to distance himself from his past as a homophobic artist in order to continue his career.Snoopy, whose real name is Dayan N\u2019T\u00e9ni and was formerly known by the stage name Capitaine du Ghetto, is known for a song \u201cLes nerfs des boys,\u201d whose chorus line is \u201cStab the fags.\u201dNew identity, new stanceSince 2025, he has once again changed his musical identity and now goes by the name M\u00e9lo du Quartier (\u201cNeighborhood Melodrama\u201d). The\u00a0 strategy has paid off, as he was able to travel to Europe with a visa in the hope of performing concerts for the Cameroonian diaspora and newcomers to the musical genre mbol\u00e9\u2014a style for which he is seeking to broaden his audience.However, as Didier Daeninckx once said, \u201ctime does not erase the past,\u201d and African LGBT+ activists in exile in Europe have been sounding the alarm for the past month, taking to social media to protest.This situation recently led to a new development that may mark the conclusion of this affair, as M\u00e9lo du Quartier has decided to apologize to the entire LGBT+ community and to those who were offended. He voluntarily canceled his May 30 concert in Li\u00e8ge, Belgium, and has said he is open to dialogue with human rights organizations.He is still scheduled to perform in other European countries, although the dates and venues of the shows have not yet been publicly disclosed.While the African music industry is experiencing a meteoric rise around the world, driven by its youth, Black diasporas, and the Francophone community, a controversy that has been ongoing for two years is beginning to tarnish this success story, even as the latest concert by Fally Ipupa\u2014nicknamed the King of Congolese Rumba\u2014at the Stade de France, over two days, on May 2 and 3, drew nearly 110,000 fans.La M\u00e9lo du Quartier, a Cameroonian mbol\u00e9 singer, is being accused by human rights organizations of inciting murder, hate speech, and macabre merchandising related to physical harm against homosexuals. He is being charged under Article 267 of the Cameroonian Penal Code, following legal proceedings initiated by Attorney Hugues Ars\u00e8ne Medou and Attorney Alice Nkom, the iconic and passionate long-time advocate for the LGBT+ cause in Cameroon, through the Association for the Defense of Homosexual Rights (ADEFHO) she founded.These T-shirts featuring the slogan \u201cStab the Faggots\u201d were handed out at M\u00e9lo du Quartier concerts.This controversy is reminiscent of many others that arose 20 years ago surrounding the English-speaking Caribbean music industry, which at the time presented homophobia as an entertaining diversion aimed at youth of African descent in Caribbean societies where homosexuality was largely criminalized and denounced as a white Western vice. At the time, the term \u201cmurder music\u201d was used to describe this musical repertoire, whose promoters paradoxically saw no contradiction in its emergence in countries they deemed deviant and morally decadent.These discourses even found echoes through mimicry in the Francophone Caribbean, via the leading figures of Admiral T and Krys, whose musical influence was never able to sustainably extend beyond the French departments of the Americas, due to the repeated LGBT-phobic controversies that persist to this day.La M\u00e9lo du Quartier apologizesFaced with economic risks and in order to avoid a domino effect of program cancellations, and under pressure from African LGBT+ activists in Europe, after nearly two years of controversy surrounding these lyrics, La M\u00e9lo du Quartier issued an explanation in a video posted on Facebook, in which, with a serious expression, he apologizes to everyone he may have offended. Below, 76crimes provides a verbatim transcript.See Also
\nDear friends, fans, and the entire community, my name is Dayan N\u2019t\u00e9ni, better known as La M\u00e9lo du Quartier. And today, I want to speak to you directly and with sincerity.Some of my past lyrics, particularly in older songs, were very hurtful and incited violence. I deeply regret this, as those words were unacceptable; I unequivocally condemn them today, because as I\u2019ve grown up, I\u2019ve reflected on them.I\u2019ve come to understand that music should bring people together, not divide them. No one deserves to be insulted, threatened, or excluded because of their sexual orientation. I apologize to the entire LGBTQ+ community and to everyone I may have hurt.I pledge to be more responsible in my lyrics and public statements going forward. Music is a means of expression, but it must also convey values of respect and peace.Thank you for listening. I continue on my path with humility, and I hope that my music will now bring joy and love. We are together\u2014this is the Family, La M\u00e9lo du Quartier. Thank you.
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\tRelated Adopting a new identity, Cameroon artist M\u00e9lo du Quartier says he wants music to bring people together Dayan N\u2019T\u00e9ni, known as \u201cLa M\u00e9lo du Quartier\u201d since 2025, is a singer of mbol\u00e9, a Cameroonian musical genre that has made a name for itself in Europe and has its own following (@lameloduquartier on Facebook)Facing two legal …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3659155457675267_172535249438148":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is.jpeg",1080,680,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is-300x189.jpeg",300,189,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is-768x484.jpeg",618,389,true],"large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is-1024x645.jpeg",618,389,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is.jpeg",1080,680,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is.jpeg",1080,680,false],"tie-small":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is-110x75.jpeg",110,75,true],"tie-medium":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is-310x165.jpeg",310,165,true],"tie-large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is-310x205.jpeg",310,205,true],"slider":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is-660x330.jpeg",660,330,true],"big-slider":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Even-after-changing-his-name-a-murder-music-artist-is-1050x525.jpeg",1050,525,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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