Augure, the French word for “omen,” points at metaphysical signs foretelling good and bad fortune. The omens in Baloji's work refer to a metaphysically charged worldview, common in Congolese society, which affects how certain people are perceived. The artist's name, as stated on his website, highlights this worldview: in colonial times baloji, a Kiswahili word, referred to a person involved in occult activities, or a sorcerer, but today it mostly refers to scientists. The title Augure characterizes the lives of protagonists who are perceived as outcasts, figures in the middle, accused of witchcraft. The protagonists’ lives overlap with Baloji's autobiographic experiences, being born in Lubumbashi, DR Congo, and coming to Belgium as a child.
In hindsight, the artist's name does justice to his life story overcoming a challenging childhood. Despite, or perhaps because of, already being a famous rapper in the Belgium-based hiphop group Starflam, he faced prejudice when aspiring...