article: One of 15 children of West African parents, he remembers bunk beds gradually filling up the bedroom until the window could no longer be opened. New arrivals then had to sleep in the living room of their flat on the south-eastern fringes of Paris. "We used to tell each other stories at night," the 40-year-old recalls. "I've always liked living in a housing estate because we're on top of each other. Mixing and sharing are part of life there." Mokobe, who has filled venues from Chad to California over a two-decade career, believes his banlieue roots have given him an edge as a performer. This picture belies the image of the ethnic hinterland of French cities as ghettos. The country often stands accused of failing to integrate migrants, leaving them to fester in crime-ridden poverty. Marginalisation is often blamed for regular waves of rioting and for the rise of home-grown jihadists, such as those who struck Paris last year and Nice in July. After the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January 2015, the French prime minister denounced "geographic, social and ethnic apartheid". But, wretched as they undoubtedly are, the banlieues are in reality hotbeds of upward mobility. Mokobe sees bright side of suburbs Entertainers like Mokobe and sports stars are not the only people to arise from the banlieue and thrive. Most of the rapper's childhood friends, he says, have moved on to have successful careers. Research shows that far from being ghettos, "Sensitive Urban Zones" in official parlance (ZUS) - are the parts of France that have the highest population turnover. Two-thirds of those who lived there 10 years ago have left and been replaced by newcomers, typically other migrant families, says Christophe Guilluy, a geographer. It is true that the ZUS score poorly on every economic indicator. Unemployment there is two to three times the national figure. Crime is rampant. But this disturbing social picture is not inconsistent with individual success. "The jobless banlieue-dwellers of today are not the same as yesterday's and will not be the same tomorrow," as Mr Guilluy puts it. For most residents, ZUS are transit zones. If they were traps, they would be full of pensioners. "Outside the tower blocks you would see men playing cards, just like in villages," Mr Guilluy says. But what first strikes you in any banlieue is how young people are. Those people who rioted in 1990 are now pushing 50 and have moved on. "It is not them who throw stones at police cars today," Mr Guilluy says. "This shows the very real economic integration of people who have left the banlieues." Moussa Camara has worked to channel the youthful energy of immigrant areas for almost a decade. In 2007, as a budding entrepreneur from a rough estate in Cergy-Pontoise, west of Paris, he decided to take action after police shot and wounded a local boy while chasing joy riders. Memories of nationwide banlieue riots 18 months earlier were still fresh and tensions high. Mr Camara convinced people that lobbying was the most effective form of protest and got them
summary: Like many French rap stars, Mokobe has drawn inspiration from growing up in one of the bleak "banlieues" (suburbs) where immigrants make up a large part of the population.