My Name is Sign, Paris is Mine

(2025)

Sign, a pioneer of French hip-hop, disappeared in the early 1990s. His friends lost track of him, and his family knew nothing of his graffiti past. In 2022, we discover that he’s been dead… for almost ten years. To understand what happened and to tell the story of this forgotten life, Karim Boukercha conducts an investigation that is as intimate as it is historical.

“My name is Sign, Paris is mine” is a unique project that combines book and documentary podcast. Through ten episodes accessible via QR code, author Karim Boukercha retraces three years of investigation into SIGN, the forgotten Parisian graffiti artist, gathering the voices of those close to him and hip-hop pioneers. This audio story finds its visual extension in a beautiful book rich in rare archives and previously unpublished photos. An original literary text links these two formats, extending the investigation in a sensitive and introspective form. Together, podcast, images and writing make up a narrative diptych in which each medium sheds light on the other, the better to bring to light a life hitherto kept secret.

Author: Karim Boukercha
Publisher: Wasted Talent
Published: May 2025
Language: French
Format: Hardcover
Size: 14 x 20 cm
Pages: 224
Retail price: €35

Paris Sign