'To me, rappers are the last thermometer of a society' says Oxmo Puccino. Photo courtesy of Vincent Desailly PARIS -- Before he became a rapper, a French hybrid of Biggie and Chuck D, Oxmo Puccino ...

Only the tough survive the hardscrabble 19th arrondissement of Paris, tougher still to emerge with hope. That's the story, in reality and on record, of Oxmo Puccino, the rapper born in Mali (in 1974), ...

Wright Thompson is a senior writer for ESPN and is executive producer of TrueSouth and co-executive producer of Backstory. He is the author of New York Times bestselling The Cost of These Dreams. 'To ...