ABOUT THE HIP HOP CULTURE IN FRANCE
While rap already began making a name for itself in the United States by the late 1970s, it wasn’t until 20 years later, in the early 1990s, that it made its first french appearances. The interesting thing about this genre of music in France is that it didn't start out tabla rasa, as it did in the States with artists learning as they went along.  In France, the early, budding music masters already had already swallowed 20 years of american hip hop history (the French have always been keen listeners of american music, so it's no surprise that they followed the roots of hip hop from the beginning, while not turning out their own productions until much later). The combination of old school roots and new cultural enthousiam gave french hip hop a jump start on the genre, and in only 10 years, french hip hop has climbed its way to the top of the charts.

While many american rappers are still fixated on the idea that rap is all about guns, bitches and weed, french rappers have transcended that arena -- never having really fallen into the banality trap to begin with -- and rap instead about the inequalities inspired by racism, corrupt government and the hardships of life. They also reminisce about their youth, chase after women, and some do rap about weed ("Pass Pass the Oinj" by NTM). Don't worry, it's not at all boring, and none of it lacks its powerful impact to either make you feel groovy, boil your blood or kick your ass. Fortunately, the hip hop genre in France runs the gamit, so you can find what ever you're looking for (guns, bitches and weed or politcal criticism).

THE FIRST FRENCH HIP HOP ALBUMS
The first murmurings of hip hop in France came in 1991 when the rap compilation “Rapattitude” was released – followed by a second one launched in 1992 – featuring some of the very first french hip hop artists, such as NTM (standing for Nique Ta Mere, or in English “Fuck Your Mother”), IAM (Invasion Arrivant Marseille, “Invasion in Marseille.” Marseille is the second largest city in France, and its rappers rival those in Paris like the East Coast rappers rival those on the West Coast), MC Solaar (one of the few french rappers known in the United States; he has rapped with Missy Elliot and Urban Species), or ASSASSIN.

NTM, the biggest rap group out of Paris comprised of Joey Starr – an original black ghetto man whose police record continues to grow – and Kool Shen – his white, childhood buddy and current counterpart – released their first album “Authentik”, while at the same time IAM, the biggest rap group out of Marseille and NTM’s main rival, released their first album "De La Planète Mars” (making a reference to Marseille).

In the beginning, NTM didn’t rap so much as they did tag walls and trains, and they called themselves the SUPREME NTM 93 (“93” stands for the district from which they come in Paris’ Northeast side, a neighborhood called Seine Saint Denis). As they developped their graffiti art, they also worked on their flows, and soon found themselves recording rhyhmes in Paris warehouses, thus giving birth to their first and second albums: “Authentik” and “Le Monde de Demain” (in English, “The World of Tomorrow”).

THE FIRST RIVALRY
In 1992, IAM and NTM recorded together the first part of KRS ONE in Paris, but the two groups quickly realized their differences and forged a deep hatred for one another, thus prompting the long-lasting rift between Paris and Marseille rap groups. Fortunately, the animosity between the two principle rap towns in France has remained strickly verbal (public insults and musical taunting). For this reason, one cannot truly compare the rivalry in France to that of its american counterpart (the East Coast/West Coast hostility): Luckily in France, no one has been shot (let's remember West Coast’s Tupak Shukur and East Coast’s Biggy Smalls).

In 1993, IAM and NTM both released their own albums, finding themselves once again competing for the spot light. NTM released “J’Appuie Sur La Gachette” (in English “I Pull the Trigger”). For their part, IAM, comprised of six members of whom most are named after Egyptian pharos (Akhenaton, Shurik’n, Freeman, Kheops, Kephren and Imhotep) came out with “Ombre Est Lumière” (in English “Shadow is Light”). In 1995, IAM launched a concept they called Coté Obscur (The Dark Side) which served one main purpose: that of producing new groups coming out of the southern town of Marseille. In less than a year, France saw the success of FONKY FAMILY and 3ème OEIL (Third Eye) among several other new talents in the concept's two-year stint.

HIP HOP TAKES OFF
The emergence of these new Marseille-based groups pushed the Paris-Marseille opposition to its full amplitude. During the same year, a number of groups developped and released their albums in Paris from small auto-production studios or private disk houses: LA CLIQUA, LUNATIC, LA BRIGADE, ARSENIK, la MAFIA UNDAGROUND, and MINISTRE AMER.

In 1996, IAM formed the posse MDLR, standing for les Mecs De La Rue (The Boys from the Street), with FONKY FAMILY and 3ème OEIL. The result of this effort was the inter-collaboration between several different groups: Akhenaton with F.F., Shuik’n with 3ème OEIL …). Hip hop in France was really starting to pick up speed: Every passing year produced new groups, fresh talents and more competition.

By 1997, a stream of compilations came out featuring these new artists in addition to even more unknowns: Hostil Hip-hop and Invasion are two such compilations that topped the hip-hop charts. In Paris, the hip-hop world talked excitedly about its new genius, IDEAL J, who released his first EP Original MCs in 1996. The group is made up of Kery James, Teddy, Rocco and DJ Medhi, all whom appear on the Invasion compilation.

Two years after their 1995 release of “Paris Sous Les Bombes” (“Paris Under the Bombs,” the title of a track which raps about tagging the walls of Paris), NTM came out with an extended version with a remix of "Come Again Come," and one featuring NAS on “Affirmative Action.” Although the hard-core group had been prohibited from touring – or even singing – in France during the entire year of 1997 following a 1996 incident in which they insulted the police, NTM broke the law anyway by opening for WU-TANG in June 1997 at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

That same year, 1997, IAM finally released its long-awaited album (four full years after their last one). It was called “Ecole Du Micro D’Argent” (“School of the Money Microphone”) and featured FABE, RAZEL (from the ROOTS), EAST (an up-and-coming french rapper who unfortunately died in 1996 following a fatal scooter accident in the streets of Paris), SUNZ OF MAN (yes, of the famed american WU-TANG) and DADDY NUTTEA (a parisian rastaman). The group promoted their album with a tour of France, toting 3ème OEIL for the first part.

During this same year, the two rappers making up Paris’ MINISTRE AMER (Passi and Stormy Bugsy) each released their own LP solos: Passi came out with “Les Tentaion”s (“Temptations”) and Bugsy released “Le Calibre Qu’il Te Faut” (“Whatever Caliber You Need”).

In November 1997, Kheops (IAM’s DJ) released his own compliation entitled “Sad Hill” on which a number of Parisian and Marseillais artists appeared. This album marked the first time that the rival artists had ever united on the same disc. Appearing on Kheop’s compilation were IAM, Passi, Stormy Bugsy, Oxmo Puccino, le 3ème OEIL. From then on, the old quarrel between Marseille and Paris was put to rest, its only continuing apparations coming from the age-old enemies and roots of it all: IAM and NTM.

FRENCH H.H. GAINS NATIONAL RESPECT
The vertible explosion of hip hop in France in 1997 carried over into 1998 with a multitude of other new acts. February of 98 marked the first ultimate consecration for french rap with France’s equivalent to the Grammy Awards, les Victoires de la Musique,  winner of the Album of the Year going to IAM for their “L’Ecole de Micro d’Argent,” nearly one year after its release. This is the first time in the long-running history of the Victoires that a rap album had won such a prestige.

After the wide-reaching public approval of french hip hop in February, 1998 saw a number of new groups do extremely well on the charts and in record sales. One such new artist is Busta Flex, who released his first album in March of that year. He is accompanied by Zoxea (an MC from the Sage Poetes de La Rue, in English, the Wise Street Poets, a group from MC Solaar’s posse), Oxmo Puccino (who released his own album later that year), Lone and, most notably, NTM (Kool Shen, one of the group’s two members, produced Busta Flex’s album).

Busta Flex appeared for the first time on CUT KILLER’s 1996 mixtape, “Hip-Hop Soul Party 2”, a compilation which includes, SLEO, DAS EFX, WU-TANG, Busta Rhymes, FABE, KOMA, Mary J. Blige and Yvette Michelle. (CUT KILLER is one France’s most appreciated and sought-after DJs who has been hired to spin concerts for, among many other visiting american artists, WU-TANG, when they tour in France). On this album, the rapper, whose name reminds us of another famous american rapper, Busta Rhyhmes, does a french version of the american’s popular “WooHaa” song. Busta Flex also appeared on two cuts produced by Sully (a parisian producer).

One year before the 1998 release of his own first album, when Busta Flex was still part of 113 CLAN (a posse of MAFIA K’1-FRI), he had an infamous altercation with a rapper from EXPRESS D (a parisian group). During this legendary baston, 113 didn’t stick up for Busta Flex, and the hurt rapper left the group to rejoin NTM’s Kool Shen and his IV MY PEOPLE, along with Zoxea.

ROOTS START FORMING
By April of 1998, NTM took their turn at the new hip-hop success in France by releasing their fourth album (three full years after “Paris Sous Les Bombes”), simply self-titling it “Supreme NTM.” The new LP immediately went platinum, selling more than 100,000 copies in less than a month. Featured on the album are Lord Kossity (a rastaman in the posse), Mass (also in the Supreme posse), Jah Ize (a member of AFRO JAZZ, who released an album in 1997 on which appear WU-TANG’s Old Dirty Bastard and NTM), but also Busta Flex. In full swing, NTM lauched a french tour with Busta, Zoxea and Kossity in May and June of 1998, taking a few months off before finishing the tour in November and December of that same year.

In June 1998, ARSENIK (composed of Calbo and Lino), a group coming out of the huge parisian posse SECTEUR Ä (also the posse of MINISTRE AMER). The album was titled “Quelques Gouttes Suffisent” (“A Few Drops Will Do”), and a number of SECTEUR Ä MCs appeared: Passi, Doc Gynéco, Les NEG’MARRONS and Janik.

Just one month after ARSENIK’s release, IAM’s Shurik’n came out with his first solo album “Ou Je Vis” (“Where I Live”), with appearences from Freeman, Akhenaton (both from IAM), Faf LaRage (Shurik’n’s brother), Sat (FONKY FAMILY) and 3ème OEIL ... an extremely memorable album indeed.

At the end of this super-charged year, IDEAL J released his second LP “Le Combat Continue,” a very somber album but which clearly reveals the life in the french ghetto. After launching this somewhat hardcore album, IDEAL J toured France along with 113 CLAN (still fighting with Busta Flex) and DIFFERENT TEEP.

While in 1997 MAFIA TRECE (a parisian group from the 13th district) released a very well received “Cosa Nostra,” an auto-production that sold over 50,000 copies – extremely rare for an auto-prod – they only released one title in 1998, accompanied by a music clip, called “A La Recherche Du Mic Perdu” (“Looking for the lost Mic”) and did one tour toward the middle of the year.

It is also in 1998 – a very interesting year for french hip hop – that 2BAL 2NEG separated, only two years after their extremely popular “3X Plus Efficace” (“Three Times More Effective”). The 2BAL out of the two halves comprising 2BAL 2NEG went on to form BISSO NA BISSO, along with Passi, Arsenik and Mystik (an MC appearing and the compilations: the soundtrack for the popular street film “Ma 6-T Va Crack-ER” and another compi Cercle Rouge). The 2NEG dived into an auto-production projet that has never yet seen the light of day.

Enjoying a strong success from his concept-group-posse IV MY PEOPLE, Kool Shen (NTM) launches a french tour during the summer of 1999 with Zoxea and Busta Flex, who are all very well receieved by the public. Joey Starr (NTM), despite his conjugal and legal troubles, produced a compilation called BOSS (Boss of Scandal Strategyz) with rappers more or less known (2 TREPIDES, Kossity, FATCAP …) with DJ Spank. It was also during this year that LA CLIQUA (Rocca, Daddy Lord C and Raphael) released its first album just two years after the LP solo de Rocca and one year after that of Daddy Lord C. Despite its strong tracks and lyrical flows, this album didn’t make much of a dent in the charts. Some accredit this to poor promotion, but also by the lack of Kohndo (kicked out of the group in 1998 for reasons still unclear).

Perhaps one of the most important events in 1999 was the release of the compilation  “Première Classe, “ which regrouped more than 50 french hip hop artists from Paris and Marseille for the first time in one album. Among the notables are Calbo (ARSENIK), Vasquez (LESS DU 9, present on Hostile 2), Ekoué (LA RUMEUR), K-Reen (ROOTSNEG, appearing on Ma 6-T and Cercle Rouge), Shurik’n (IAM), Kery James (IDEAL J), Rocca (LA CLIQUA) and Hamed Aye (SECTEUR Ä).

FINALLY ...
In October of 1999, NTM released its LP live, and in the same month Akhenaton (IAM) released his new solo album. The french world of hip hop – huge fans of american rap, esspecially when it comes to WU-TANG – also eagerly bought up the new solo albums coming from the CLAN members (Raekwon, ODB, Ghostface and Method Man with Redman). It doesn’t matter if the flow is french or american (or even swahili), the point is that hip hop is, above all, an international movement that promotes the ideas of an open mind and the struggle against a closed system. The founding principle is: “Peace, Unity, Love and Having Fun” (a message that even non-english speakers have adopted as their slogan, as can be heard in numerous french rap songs, including NTM’s track “Tout N’est Pas Si Facile”, in english, “Nothing’s That Easy”). Even though the fighting between coasts, cities and individual rappers (a sad story in no matter what country) has fouled the mood for some – as ARSENIK says “Pisse sur l’unité, mec, et sors pas sans ton gun,” (in english, “Fuck unity, man, and don’t leave home without your gun.”) – we can’t let the bullshit taint the fun. Let’s not limit ourselves to one rapper, city, coast or country. We need to broaden our horizons and explore other breakbeats, since when we really get down to it, we’re all rooting for the same team.