[o o o]

Originally Posted by Glice

Anyone got any recommendations on French rap?

Out of the recent bands, one of my favourite is La Caution. They are one of the most innovative as far as the music is concerned. Here are the videos for two songs from their last (double) album "Peines de maures / Arc-en-ciel pour daltoniens":

La Caution – Code Barre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cdUtM80bO0

La Caution – Thé à la menthe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akFZtK0GVU4


and two from their previous album « Asphalte hurlante »:

La Caution – Toujours électriques
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnYdcPInaeM

La Caution – Casquettes grises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-3WqqlaTGY


Maybe I will simply continue with youtube links, it makes this easy…

A track I really like by Karlito, from the album « Contenu sous pression » (the rest of the album is great too, as much as I can remember) – the video is nice too:

Karlito – La rue cause
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0dKvYmBPaE


Then, maybe I can mention Booba, the arrogant muscled ego-trip rapper, nearly a caricature of the gangsta-rapper rapping about crime and money (he is also mocked for dressing and acting "like an american rapper"): he's apparently really famous now in France and selling a lot of his records. In general, French rappers are always torn between the politically-conscious and the individualism, but Booba did not hesitate at all between the two. Then again, sometimes, for a short moment, on certain songs, he also seems extremely lucid about what is doing, what "role" he is playing… some sort of nihilism... And he writes great lyrics, sometimes it feels like he is having one punchline after another… Some writer even wrote a long article about Booba’s lyrics at the Nouvelle Revue Française (prestigious literary magazine), comparing Booba to Céline and other writers, and calling the violent images in Booba’s lyrics "métagores" (a mix of "métaphores" and "gore"). He is certainly gifted with words, but I guess one does not realise it immediately.
Anyway, here are four videos, which probably don't do him justice (a list of some extracts of his lyrics would be a better way to develop the interest of other people in his music… then again, if you don't speak French…):

Booba – Mauvais garçon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcwq2lyAon4

Booba – Repose en paix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_lbiuvVHjY

Booba – Garde la pêche
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i35YW36H7NA

Booba – Boulbi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AifzEVPbJ_c