What does a French rapper have to say in the age of a global turmoil? Beaucoup. Not only about politics and social situation, but life, death, religion and post-colonialism. And it will definitely be more than “I’m a young money millie in aire, tougher than Nigerian hair… I’m a venereal disease like a menstrual bleed” or “I'll take you to the candy shop/ I'll let you lick the lollipop/ Go 'head girl, don't you stop/ Keep going 'til you hit the spot.” There are points when, glancing at the top 40, I loose faith in the purpose of American hip hop, at least other than providing a requisite metronome for nightlife. It seems that for lyrics that still convey a message other than “I have money and I want to oof you,” a real music lover is forced to look abroad.
French rap has frequently bloomed not in the France of postcards and lovely architecture, but in the poor, racially-divided neighborhoods and rough school courtyards of the ghettos. Unlike the pampered palaces in Los Angeles and New York, the French rap scene is fresh, energetic and hugely international. These protégés sing about social injustice, racism, globalization, but also the universal themes of life, death and love. It doesn’t hurt that the lyrics are in French, with its sibilant, natural rhythm and ever-evolving slang enriched by dozens of immigrant influences.
Sinik
You probably might have watched James Blunt’s latest clip and wondered what this English eye candy is doing next to a stocky, tattooed rapper. After pairing up with Blunt in Je Réalise (I come to realize), French-Algerian artist Sinik finally earned a much-deserved dose of international attention.
Sinik (real name Thomas Idir) experimented with rapping groups like Amalgame (in 1996) and Ul’Team Atom (in 2000) before finally going solo. He also scored a tour with another big name of the national scene, Diam. His first album, La Main Sur le Coeur (Hand on Heart), became a double golden disc with over 200,000 sold copies, right after it came out in 2005. Sang Froid (Cold Blood), repeated Le Main’s success later that year.
Sinik’s lyrics touch on such essentials as life, death, violence, religion and individualism, and are poetic, though occasionally feature some amusing profanity and sarcasm, like when this tall and strong looking rapper sings:
"I want to resemble Britney Spears / I’m a consumer; I want my tunes to be sold / I am stubborn, I smoke even though I know that smoking kills."
Je Réalise is a slower, pensive work, that contemplates the fragility of life, and its TV-friendly pace was doubly benefitted by James Blunt’s cinematic presence.
Diam
Diam kicked off her glam career at 15; and since then she’s only improved. Born in Cyprus and raised in France, this feisty young lady is the auteur behind several consecutive gold albums on the French music market, including her first big break, Dans Ma Bulle (In My Zone) in 2006. She is known for political activism and outspoken nature: she openly declares her dislike of politicians as far-right nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen and France’s current moderate President, Nicholas Sarkozy.
Diam achieved the stuff of every beginning musician’s dreams before she was out of her teens—she signed a deal with BMG Music Publishing at 18, and then signed a contract with Universal records in 1999. Her 2003 album Brut de Femme was her international breakthrough, and went on to become a golden disc, and fomented a cult of rap songs that embrace social problems and feminism, like the track Juste Être Une Femme (Just to be a Woman).
MC Solaar
Known mostly for recording the album Jazmatazz with Guru and the mastermind behind the song closing one episode of “Sex And the City”, La Belle et Le Bad Boy, MC Solaar is one of the few internationally-recognized French rappers. He was also a guest rapper on one of Missy Eliot’s tracks.
Born in Dakar, Senegal as Claude M’Barali, his family relocated to Parisian suburb Villeneuve-Saint-Georges when Claude was just six months old. MC Solaar’s first single, Bouge De Là, was a French hit in 1990 and hit platinum, as well as his first album, Qui Sème le Vent Récolte le Tempo (Who Sows on the Winds Gathers Rhythm). He’s the artist of hits like “Les Colonies,” “La Vie Est Belle” and “La Concubine De L'Hemogolbine.” MC Solaar has garnered acclaim for his complex political inquiries:
I've seen the concubine of the hemoglobin
spraying volleys of normal bullets, and claiming casualties
in the ranks of Adam's descendants (…)
they move along like pawns to defend bombs.
Keny Arkana
Keny Arkana, a French woman of Argentine descent, sings with anger and determination. This raging star of French rap scene is an activist and a committed alter-globalist, lobbying for democracy, economic justice, environmental protection, and human rights ahead of purely economic concerns in the globalization movement.
A citizen of Marseille, Arkana began rapping in 1996 and quickly gained recognition on the local underground scene, launching her first mixtape in 2003. Her first album Entre ciment et Belle Etoile was released in October 2006. Arkana’s lyrics are full of political manifestos and youthful energy, but she can also be pensive and existential, as proved by the songs like “Dur D'être” (Life’s Weight).
Akhenaton
Akhenaton (real name Philippe Fragione) is a rapper, a producer and another product of Marseille’s music market. A part of IAM, he’s known as the band member as well as a solo artist. In 1981, he discovered hip hop music, and started visiting New York City on a regular basis. In 1988, Fragione debuted as a hip hop theorist--he published an essay in a music online magazine Vé: La deuxième génération du hip-hop (The Second Generation of Hip Hop). His lyrics are pure poetry on a scholarly level, as seen in the song "Prometheus":
Many people are today the descendants
Of Prometheus, and his vision they inherited.
They call it a detail and butcher their own people
Without scruples – a real essence of battle
Another example that history has its eyes on
exploitation of the blind by the one-eyed
And if the earthly life is only a vagabond’s exaggeration
Why do we tear the flesh in the skies of Babel?
NTM
NTM takes its name from the French slang, an abbreviation for “Nique Ta Mère,” which is a quite straight-forward expression for fornicating with your mother. Formed in 1989 in the Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis department, NTM consists of Joey Starr (born Didier Morville) and Kool Shen (born Bruno Lopès), and together they have released seven albums with Sony Music Entertainment. They
