The €225,000 Showcase Scandal: Rapper’s Death Linked to ‘Greedy’ Producer in Historic French Hip-Hop Exposé
In a landscape often defined by bravado and commercial rivalry, the passing of a rising artist should be met with solemn reflection. Yet, for the late French rapper Werenoi, his final chapter has been brutally rewritten, not by an epitaph, but by a scathing, in-depth exposé delivered by a fellow artist, Sadek. The former rapper’s explosive 50-minute live stream has sent shockwaves through the French music industry, transforming a quiet tragedy into a loud, agonizing account of alleged financial exploitation, coercion, and, most damningly, a direct link between an artist’s overwork and his premature death.
Sadek’s testimony does more than settle old scores; it lifts the veil on the darker, greed-fueled realities of artist management, revealing a system that allegedly pushed Werenoi to physical exhaustion, neglected his health, and ultimately engaged in a “diabolical” public relations war against his grieving mother. The narrative is one of a gifted artist caught in the grinding, unforgiving machinery of profit, where every ounce of his talent was ruthlessly leveraged until nothing was left.
The Whistleblower’s Revelation: Sadek’s Claim to the Narrative
Sadek, whose full name is Sadeq Bourguiba, positioned himself not as a rival or a competitor, but as the one person willing to hold the line against what he views as profound injustice. The live stream was a calculated risk, a move to publicly reveal documents and exchanges that contradict the official, sanitized version of Werenoi’s career trajectory and the controversies that shadowed him.
One of Sadek’s first bombshells was the assertion that he had, at one time, served as Werenoi’s ghostwriter. He provided screenshots of chat logs demonstrating the speed and professional cadence with which he crafted lyrics for Werenoi, highlighting a functional, if perhaps hidden, collaboration that underpinned the rapper’s early success. This detail establishes Sadek’s proximity and involvement in the artist’s life and work, adding weight to his subsequent claims about the producer, whom he refers to as “Babs” or simply “the producer.”
The public narrative, Sadek explains, was deliberately skewed by the producer to deflect from his own alleged misconduct. The producer had attempted to discredit Sadek by accusing him of having stolen a €200,000 advance. Sadek, however, countered this public accusation with concrete evidence. Presenting a formal contract on camera, he demonstrated that the actual advance, which was split between Sadek’s label (Instinct Production) and Werenoi’s co-created label (PGP Record), was not €200,000, but rather €110,000 to €120,000 before taxes.
Furthermore, Sadek detailed precisely how this advance was spent. He showed that the sum of €113,068 was used responsibly to cover the production and music video costs for several of Werenoi’s formative tracks—songs that were instrumental in launching his career. The money, according to Sadek, was an investment that built Werenoi’s marketability from the ground up, contrasting sharply with the producer’s portrayal of him as a thief who “ate” the money. This crucial clarification shifted the narrative, portraying Sadek not as the villain but as a savvy business partner who launched Werenoi on a tight budget.
The Showcases, the Debt, and the Criminal Complaint
The financial revelations escalated dramatically with the discussion of Werenoi’s performance schedule. Sadek claims the producer booked a relentless 15 showcase dates, primarily in nightclubs, where Werenoi was reportedly earning around €15,000 per night. This aggressive schedule generated an estimated gross revenue of €225,000.
Under the terms of their professional relationship at the time, Sadek insists he was entitled to a significant 30% share of this revenue. However, he alleges that despite the massive intake of cash, he received none of his share, amounting to approximately €45,000 to €50,000. Even more tragically, Sadek emphasizes that Werenoi, the star whose labor generated the money, also received only a fraction of this income.
When Sadek attempted to broach the topic with the producer, he was met with obfuscation and delay, proving to Sadek that the producer was a man “without his word.” Frustrated and convinced of the producer’s ill intent, Sadek took a decisive, uncompromising step: he decided to bypass civil litigation and pursue the matter in penal (criminal) court. This action underscores the seriousness of the dispute, suggesting that Sadek believed the producer’s actions went beyond a contractual disagreement and amounted to criminal misconduct.
The Plea for Freedom: Contract Rescission and Coercion
The pressure and financial distress were clearly taking their toll on Werenoi himself. Sadek produced a letter from Werenoi’s legal counsel, Mr. Henry Jamet, confirming that Werenoi had officially sought to terminate his recording contract with PLR Musique—the new label associated with the producer—on July 13, 2023.
The official reason for the termination was “defaults in payment of royalties.” This document is perhaps the most heartbreaking proof of Werenoi’s misery: despite his star rising and generating hundreds of thousands of euros, he was actively trying to escape a professional relationship because he wasn’t being paid what he was owed. He wanted out.
Sadek also described a shocking incident that occurred during a showcase in Marrakech around the time Werenoi was attempting to terminate the contract. The producer allegedly mobilized his “cavalry,” bringing a team to put immense pressure on Werenoi. The rapper, described as a person who genuinely disliked conflict and wanted a “tranquil” life, felt coerced and forced to comply, unwilling to engage in a potentially volatile confrontation. This act of intimidation serves as a horrifying example of the psychological manipulation used to keep the exhausted artist under control.
The Lethal Exploitation: Linking Overwork to Death
The most profound and emotionally wrenching part of Sadek’s exposé is his assertion that the producer’s greed and the resulting relentless work schedule contributed directly to Werenoi’s death. Werenoi did not die in a car accident; he died from health complications that Sadek believes were exacerbated by extreme physical exhaustion and constant, overwhelming pressure.
Sadek recounted a story that perfectly illustrates Werenoi’s deteriorating state: the rapper was reportedly too fatigued to attend a crucial bank appointment in Dubai to retrieve his card for accessing a significant sum of money, including a rumored €1 million advance that was blocked. Sadek notes that Werenoi was not a “negligent” person, concluding that such an oversight was evidence of profound, debilitating fatigue.
This “strong fatigue, exhaustion” was caused by “ever more intense working conditions” and an entourage that was “only thinking of exploiting this artist.” Sadek strongly believes that this extreme physical and mental depletion compromised Werenoi’s health, ultimately playing a key role in the complications that led to his death. While Sadek is careful not to accuse the producer of murder, he leaves no doubt: the producer’s pursuit of profit created an environment of neglect and intensity that was lethal.
The Diabolical Strategy: Targeting the Grieving Mother
The final, and perhaps most scandalous, detail Sadek revealed was the post-mortem smear campaign targeting Werenoi’s mother. In the wake of the rapper’s death, the producer allegedly used social media bloggers to attack the grieving woman, publicly exposing her—a person who had always sought to remain private—and portraying her as a “manipulative,” “greedy,” and “bad mother.”
Sadek condemned this as a “diabolical” strategy. The intent, he asserts, was not to honor Werenoi but to create confusion, distract the public, and buy time to obfuscate the paper trail regarding the “where is the money” question. By turning the family into a public spectacle and a perceived enemy, the producer attempted to divert attention from the central issue of the massive missing showcase revenue and unpaid royalties.
This complete exposé—from ghostwriting and financial fraud to coercion, the link between exploitation and death, and the targeting of a grieving family—paints a devastating picture of the cutthroat elements within the music industry. Sadek’s testimony is a historic moment for French hip-hop, demanding accountability and transforming the legacy of Werenoi from a tragic loss to a sobering cautionary tale about the high cost of artistic integrity against relentless, unregulated corporate greed. The courts, both legal and public, are now left to judge the true price of the €225,000 showcase scandal.
