Kool Shen's Real Name: Bruno Lopes

Quick answer: Kool Shen's real name is Bruno Lopes. He was born on February 9, 1966, in Saint-Denis, just north of Paris, France. He is a rapper, actor and producer, best known as co-founder of Suprême NTM, and a professional poker player.

Kool Shen's real name

Kool Shen was born Bruno Lopes to a Portuguese father and a French mother from Brittany (Winamax). Winamax, the poker company that sponsors him, introduces him as "Bruno Lopes, alias Kool Shen," and notes that his stage name is inseparable from him. Online he has played under the screen name "93style93," a nod to the Seine-Saint-Denis department (93).

Early life and hip-hop roots

Lopes grew up in Saint-Denis and was drawn into hip-hop culture first as a breakdancer and graffiti artist in the 1980s. Those roots shaped the raw, street-focused style he later brought to rap.

Suprême NTM

With Didier Morville, known as JoeyStarr, Kool Shen co-founded Suprême NTM in the late 1980s. The duo became one of the most important and controversial acts in French rap, known for politically charged lyrics about life in the Paris banlieues and for albums such as Paris sous les bombes (1995) and Suprême NTM (1998) (Winamax). The group has reunited for concerts several times since splitting.

Kool Shen also founded the label IV My People, which helped launch other French rappers.

Solo career and acting

His first solo album, Dernier Round, came out in 2004. He returned in 2016 with Sur le fil du rasoir, which opens with a line joking that he came back to music for love, not money, because "that's what poker is for" (Winamax). He has also acted in French films.

Professional poker

Kool Shen began playing Texas Hold'em seriously in 2008 at Paris's Aviation Club de France and joined Team Winamax in fall 2012. His results include:

• Euro Finals of Poker Main Event (January 2012): first place, €100,000.
• WPT National Series Cannes (2012): first place, €108,000.
• SISMIX (2016): first place, €80,000.
• EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller (May 2022): second place, €703,990, his biggest score.

(Winamax). He has also cashed multiple times in the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Suprême NTM, Paris sous les bombes (CD/vinyl) Kool Shen, Dernier Round (CD)