by Jason AnkenyOne of small handful of women to infiltrate the male-dominated world of French hip-hop, "rappeuse" Diam's nevertheless enjoyed significant commercial and critical success culminating with 2003's award-winning Brut de Femme. Born Mélanie Georgiades in Nicosia, Cyprus, on July 27, 1980, she spent the majority of her adolescence in the Parisian suburb of Orsay and gravitated to hip-hop as a teen. By 14, she began writing her own songs, adopting the alias Diam's from a dictionary entry defining diamonds in terms of both their opulence and their impenetrability. By 1995 Georgiades was a fixture of the Paris rap circuit, often collaborating with the Instances Glauques collective. In 1997, she befriended rapper Yannick from the Mafia Trece posse, guesting on two tracks on their LP Cosa Nostra and performing on the anti-racism tour "Sachons Dire Non." While working a series of odd jobs, Diam's teamed with comp...