Paris inaugurated its first hip-hop cultural center, La Place, in September 2016, some thirty odd years after the introduction of hip-hop and rap culture in France. Un ‘big up’ pour le hip-hop Cèfran – all due respect to the French hip-hop music sector, second behind the USA. Despite whatever stereotypes you might have about rap, it’s much more complex than you think. Read on to find out about how minorities in France’s banlieues (suburbs) faced with immigration issues endeavor to channel their incentives through rap and hip-hop with a historical and social purpose.
A subcultural movement which originated in the Bronx, hip-hop and rap are pillars of the music world, being the most practiced worldwide compared to blues, salsa, jazz, rag-time and rock’n’roll. Introduced as an urban, ghetto style music for teenagers, it rapidly spread throughout the world with the Universal Zulu Nation – a culture-orientated group of socially and politically aware rappers, graffiti artists, B-boy and B-girl breakdancers. Nine years after its birth in 1970 in the US, the French hip-hop and rap scenes were heavily influenced by youths of African, Caribbean and Arab descent in the French ghettos. They may not have been racially segregated like in their US counterparts, yet still, they endured racial discrimination. Numerous political agendas under-lied the development of their own musical style. Sociopolitical themes, such as colonization, slavery, women’s rights and immigration issues, were discussed in the lyrics, throwing into perspective France’s national motto, Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité – Freedom, Equality, Fraternity.

The Essential Guide To France's Rap And Hip-Hop Artists

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