page_title: DJ Arafat
section_title: Life and career
hierarchical_section_title: DJ Arafat / Life and career
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Arafat Dj et Debordo Likufa, des rivaux de longue date [1], sur un meme Scene à Abidjan This is an image from Ivory Coast
context_page_description: Ange Didier Houon, known professionally as DJ Arafat, Arafat Muana and various other stage names, was an Ivorian DJ and singer who made music in the Coupé-Décalé genre. "Jonathan", "202", "Dosabado", "Kpangor", "Zoropoto" and "Enfant Beni" were some of his major hits. He was popular in French-speaking countries in Africa. He was awarded the "Best Artist of the Year" at the Coupé-Decalé Awards in the year 2016 and 2017. He died in a motorcycle accident on 12 August 2019.
context_section_description: Arafat was born as Ange Didier Houon on 26 January 1986. He was the son of Tina Glamour, a popular singer, and the deceased musician and sound engineer Pierre Houon. He has an older brother well known as DJ TV3. Ange Didier started his music career in the early 2000s as a DJ when he was only 14 years old in Yopougon, a night-life district in Abidjan. He left for France to improve his career and even overstayed his visa. In 2005, he spent a month in detention as an undocumented migrant.
  The stage name Arafat refers to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat; he stated that Lebanese friends in the Ivory Coast gave him the nickname because he was “hardcore”.
  He was considered one of the most popular African artists in Francophone countries around the world. He became a star of his genre around 2009.
  He released 11 music albums primarily in the popular "Coupé-Décalé" dance music style, in his career that spanned fifteen years. BBC described him as the "king" of Coupé-Décalé, which means "cut and run", in Ivorian slang it means "to cheat someone and run away" and it began in the early 2000s during Ivory Coast's civil war. The music incorporates fast percussion, deep bass and hip-hop-style vocals. Arafat became the symbol of the flashy well-dressed lifestyle which is associated with the music. His song Dosabado is one of his most popular hits. He liked motorcycles and also featured them in his recent hit 'Moto Moto' released in May. He had multiple motorcycle accidents, one of which in 2009, was serious. Arafat's motorcycle accident in 2019 was fatal.
  Arafat later became popular in the Europe and the United States when some of the sports personalities popularized the dance steps of coupé-décalé genre. "Dosabado", "Kpangor", "Zoropoto", "Enfant Beni" and "Moto, Moto" were some of his major hits.
caption: DJ Arafat along with Debordo Likufa at a stage show in Abidjan
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