French rap superstar Ninho has unveiled a harrowing childhood trauma in his newly released Netflix documentary Le Prix à payer, revealing he was buried alive and left for dead at age fourteen following a brutal neighborhood gang assault.
Ninho Coproduces Documentary Detailing His Decade-Long Career
- Ninho coproduced the 1-hour 35-minute documentary, which landed on Netflix on November 4, 2026, to pull back the curtain on a decade-long career that has yielded over four million record sales and the record for certifications in French rap.
- The artist recounts a violent confrontation in the Essonne department where a group of twelve individuals cornered him, inflicted knife and screwdriver wounds, broke his teeth, and buried him underground.
- His survival was fortuitous, secured when a passing school group participating in an orienteering race found him and alerted emergency services; firefighters later warned his parents that one more hour buried underground would have been fatal.
Uncovering the Dark Side of Stardom on Netflix
Ten years into a dominant career defined by record certifications and two massive Stade de France stadium sell-outs in July 2025, William Nzobazola—known as Ninho—is confronting the heavy psychological toll of his ascent. Le Prix à payer captures the artist examining the persistent anxieties, extortion attempts, jealousies, and betrayals that accompanied his rise to fame. Yet, the most jarring pivot in the film arrives when the narrative pulls back to a school day in Essonne when the rapper was just a fourteen-year-old student.
🚨NINHO RÉVÈLE AVOIR ÉTÉ ENTERRÉ VIVANT ET LAISSÉ POUR MORT À 14 ANS, APRÈS DES EMBROUILLES DE QUARTIER FACE À 12 PERSONNES AU COLLÈGE 😨 🗣️ « On était jeunes, j’avais 14 ans. On se prenait la tête souvent avec des mecs d’à côté et des fois, on allait dans leurs collèges, et on… pic.twitter.com/OzPiCmq2oD
Recounting the ambush to the camera, Ninho describes a routine escalation of neighborhood tensions that went too far. A white van pulled up outside a school, disgorging a dozen adversaries. As he attempted to flee into a nearby forest, an intercepted taunt triggered a physical onslaught. The blows landed, including one with a stone, before consciousness faded into total blackness.
Childhood Friend Corroborates Details of the Brutal Attack
The documentary features corroborating testimony from Ninho’s childhood friend Tito, who details the extreme violence of the encounter. According to Tito’s account in the film, the attackers subjected the teenager to stab wounds, puncture marks from screwdrivers, and broken teeth before covering his unconscious body with dirt. The young teenager was left buried beneath the earth until a school orienteering class happened to find him.
Emergency responders arrived to assess the damage, later informing the rapper’s parents that remaining buried for even another hour would have resulted in a fatal outcome. This near-death experience provides essential context for the artist’s repeated public hints regarding career fatigue and sudden desires to walk away from the music industry entirely.
| Metric / Milestone | Data Point |
|---|---|
| Record Sales | More than 4 million copies sold |
| Live Attendance | Two sold-out Stade de France dates (July 2025) |
| Documentary Release Date | November 4, 2026 (Netflix) |
Moving Past the Trauma
Despite the harrowing nature of the revelations in Le Prix à payer, the multi-platinum artist continues pushing forward with his professional schedule. The project balances the heavy psychological weight of his teenage trauma against the realities of maintaining his status as one of France’s premier hip-hop heavyweights. After earning a new platinum record, Ninho continues to move forward with his projects, determined not to be swept away by the weight of the past.
