“The sonic genius behind the finest in French rap and pop”

La Presse

“A mixer who understands the spirit of the times”

Sebastien Tellier in Les Inrocks

Nikola Feve, better known under the acronym Nk.F is a composer, music producer and sound engineer who has worked with the finest French rap in recent years: “Ipséité” and “Lithopedion” by Damso, “La fête est finie” by Orelsan, “Commando” and “Mr Sal” by Niska, the most recent tracks of Booba and all the albums of PNL. This self-taught and cutting-edge sound researcher is an unavoidable figure of the French rap scene, but not only: his unique sonic signature can also be found in the pop and electronic music worlds with artists such as Angèle, Sébastien Tellier or Sia.

Nikola Feve, better known under the acronym Nk.F, had a rough start in both life and music in Paris suburbs between precarious jobs and a makeshift studio where he recorded a large number of rappers (Ol’ Kainry, Alkpote, Unité 2 Feu, etc.) long before rap started leading the French charts. As a composer and sound engineer, he got his main inspiration from the early days of electronic music, notably the most experimental projects of the Warp Records, Underworld or Burial labels.

Nk.F left school at a very young age, nurturing a stronger relationship with music than with his notebooks. He learned it all by himself, deciphering the hundreds of pages of manuals delivered with all the instruments and software that fell into his hands thereby learning English by the force of circumstance, most of them not being translated. Today, he retains this thirst for learning, this curiosity that encourages him to experiment and to refine his technique a little more each day. This is what drives him to work with up-and-coming artists as well as superstars, and not to limit himself to one musical genre. Angèle, Sébastien Tellier, Yelle, Synapson: lately, they have all called upon the services of this man who says he is “looking for strong emotions, freshness and freedom”.

He then built a solid reputation for his work on the greatest rap and French pop albums of the last decade: “Ipséité” and “Lithopedion” by Damso, “La fête est finie” by Orelsan, “Commando” and “Mr Sal” by Niska, “Brol, la suite” by Angèle, the most recent titles by Booba, and last but not least the full discography of PNL, the illustrious duo of the Andrieu brothers.

Despite its success, Nk.f has not changed one iota its way of doing things. He remains a hard-worker, a meticulous sound craftsman “Because it’s my job,” he says. I’m at the service of a piece, I can’t rush it. “This science of detail is undoubtedly what encourages artists to call on his services. Even if it’s sometimes for the wrong reasons: “People think I’m a magician or that I can turn a piece into a hit. However, I do not create talent, I am simply there to highlight a work, to give it a definitive color. ».

Read more

The Fader – PNL’s World Or Nothing : a French duo ushers in a new era of rap that speaks to the whole globe (US Magazine Cover, June 14, 2016)

La Presse – Le Montréalais qui fait sonner la France (August 11, 2021)

Les Inrocks – Nk.F, le “troisième homme” de PNL, raconte Sébastien Tellier (May 26, 2020)

i-D (Vice) – Qui est Nk.F, l’ingé son derrière les plus grands noms du rap français ? (Sep 15, 2019)

Arte Radio – Beatmakers : Trackbastardz pour Damso (July 11, 2019)