Looks like Yves Kambala hadn’t much to offer for Grand Dossier volume 3 by using old images from 2001 and spring 2002 compared to volume 1 and 2, who had images of current topics. Did he lost footages or was due to him being busy with being the main MC for Koffi concerts around Europe during the 2002-03 tour ?

Was Papa Wemba talking about General Defao and Adolphe Dominguez how they started to appropriate La Sape-cultus ? The Bilamba-Mabe ideology took Kinshasa by storm (2002-2004) and brought a new generation of sapeurs. But I feel like the hype didn’t follow in Europe, probably due to the economic change (local monnaie replaced by euros), Chekula becoming more difficult in different European countries, the raise of Pentecost churches in Europe and people that were into La Sape or Music slowly realizing that they had to put their own family first instead on wasting their money on clothes and musicians.

Although Wemba talking about artists that were appropriating La Sape and giving them space to conclude that they knew nothing. I heard that both Papa Wemba and Emeneya were called out by politicians from LD Kabila’s regime (1997-2001), who blamed them for messing the youth up with La Sape-cultus, which made them being less vocal about brands and clothes when being in Kinshasa from 1999/2000. But I don’t know if it’s true. Also that JKK raise to power in 2001 made Wemba decide to make his comeback. I remember politicians and journalists using the book “Les Enfants de Mobutu et Papa Wemba” from 1988 often as example to attack Papa Wemba in 1997 and 1998.

Emeneya used to hype Masamoto up during his trip to Kinshasa of 1997-98, but when looking to old interviews made from 1999/2000 you will see him talk more about society, to raise awareness about brand-clothes being expensive and from 2000 even starting to wear jeans, which became at some point his identity. However some people say that it was due to important sapeurs/donors being jailed (such as Mifune Kiabelva) and others deciding to support other artists, which made not being able to get expensive clothes like during the 1990s.

Next to talk about La Sape, Emeneya advices the youth not to waist money on expensive clothes, as they could buy a villa in Kinshasa or Brazzaville with the money he spent on his Zénith outfit. At the same time he’s attacking sapeurs who abandoned Versace for Carlo Pigniatelli, probably because of Wemba being into