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French Hip HopMost French hip hop artists come from poor suburbs of Paris, Strasbourg, Toulouse or Marseille. Unlike African Americans who live in urban ghettos in the United States, the birthplace of hip hop, France has had a much wider social safety net, meaning that poverty has rarely been as extreme in France's North and West African immigrant communities (where most of the artists come from) as it has been in African American ghettoes. There are, however, ethnic French rappers, such as the Breton Manau. Hip hop first appeared in France in the early 1980s, just as the genre was achieving some success in the US. Paname City Rappin (1984, by Dee Nasty) was the first album released, and the first major star was MC Solaar, whose 1991 Qui seme le vente recolte le tempo, was a major hit. Some of France's most important hip hop crews include: - IAM (Marseille) featuring members with (North) African, French and Hispano-Italian roots. Inspired by East Coast rap.
- Suprme NTM(Paris) featuring members with Caribbean and French roots. Inspired by East Coast (hardcore) rap.
- NAP (Strasbourg), with African and Caribbean roots.
- La Cliqua (Paris) featuring Rocca, bilingual rapper with Colombian roots.
- KDD (Toulouse) hardcore
- Manau (Bretagne) rather commercial group mixing hip hop with Celtic music.
- MC Solaar, considered too commercial by some. He succeedeed in writing rap songs with a strong "Chanson Francaise" influence, and his lyrical style has been compared to Serge Gainsbourg.
- Sniper
- Saan Supa Crew (Have Brought out 2 albums, one featuring RZA).
- Zebda (Toulouse) a group of 7 with several albums and at least one very successful single.
The majority of French rappers are originally from Africa. Even though DJ Dee Nasty became the pioneer of hip-hop in France during the early 1980s, immigrants from Africa dominated the music scene as well. Many are Africans from former French colonies who have moved to France for education or a better life, or are the children of African immigrants. M.C. Solaar, who was born in Senegal, released his first CD in 1991. More African emcees include: Hip-hop groups from Africa also tour in France and other parts of Europe. Today, French Hip Hop has come full circle and back to its real origine, African American ghetto flavor. A new group of artists, under the gangster & gentleman label, is at the root of this HIP HOP revolution.
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