2023-05-03 17:43:08
In 30 years Boulogne-Billancourt has seen the birth of great French rap names: the Sages Poètes de la rue, Booba, Salif, LIM… A story recounted by author Nicolas Rogès in his latest book, Boulogne: a school of French rapreleased this Wednesday.
It is between the futuristic buildings of the Pont-de-Sèvres district and the Place Haute, in Boulogne-Billancourt, that the big names in French hip-hop – the Sages Poètes de la Rue, Kohndo, LIM, Salif, Booba – have been cutting their teeth for almost 30 years.
In order to retrace the history, the singularity and the influence of this rap scene of 92, the author Nicolas Rogès spent nearly two years investigating on the ground to meet the main actors and shadow figures who have contributed to the emergence of this musical movement.
More than 1000 anecdotes and 50 testimonies and stories gathered in a book: Boulogne: a school of French rappublished this Wednesday April 3 by JC Lattès, for which the writer confided in the microphone of BFMTV.com.
Influences across the Atlantic
Lover of American hip-hop, the author and journalist Nicolas Rogès discovered Boulogne-Billancourt rap later, in the early 2000s, in particular thanks to his interest in New York rap, a major source of inspiration for artists. of the Pont-de-Sèvres district at the time.
“In France, what reminded me the most of the movement of the New York scene, this rap which said both interesting things but which was also very strong on form, with samples of jazz, funk, soul , it was the Wise Poets of the street”, he affirms.
By taking an interest in this pioneering group from the city of Hauts-de-Seine, composed of Zoxea, Dany Dan and Melopheelo, Nicolas Rogès is led to discover other rappers from this scene such as LIM, Kohndo, Salif or Booba . Quickly, the author, originally from Grenoble, realizes that all these artists have one thing in common: they come from Boulogne-Billancourt.
Writing about the history of this scene and these major figures then becomes “obvious” for Nicolas Rogès. “It’s still incredible that so many French rap and French music artists have emerged in the same city or even in the same neighborhood and I wanted to understand why,” he says.
Need for representation
In the mid-1990s, when French rap was geographically dominated by Seine-Saint-Denis (NTM), Paris (Assassin), Marseille (IAM) or Val-de-Marne (MC Solaar), the Sages Poètes de la rue, a trio composed of the two brothers Zoxea and Melopheelo and Dany Dan, wishes to place Boulogne-Billancourt and the Hauts-de-Seine on the map of French rap.
As Nicolas Rogès tells in his book, the Sages Poètes de la rue and many future rappers from Boulogne at the time, found themselves in the working-class districts of Boulogne-Billancourt (Pont-de-Sèvres, Place Haute, etc.) their families, who came to settle in the town of 92 in search of employment, particularly in the Renault factories built nearby.
Lost within the rather bourgeois population of Hauts-de-Seine, the richest department of Île-de-France – Zoxea, Melopheelo, Dany Dan and their peers quickly come together around the same passion, rap, in particular American, which they discover on television.
To impose a style specific to the districts of Pont-de-Sèvres and the Place Haute, the Sages Poètes de la rue unite other followers in their entourage. “In Boulogne, we had this thing where we always wanted to be the best and surpass ourselves,” recalls Zoxea, interviewed by Nicolas Rogès in his book.
“I remember that we organized sorts of verbal contests with all the members of the Beat de Boul, Mo’vez Lang, Malekal morte, Lunatic, Sir Doum’s, Salif, Exs… And I think this healthy competition made us allowed us to stand out”, adds Zoxea.
Alliance between substance and form
Presented as a real school, with its teachers and its codes, Boulogne rap also differed at the time, according to Nicolas Rogès, from other scenes thanks to its technique and its pen, renowned for being rich in images and metaphors. and inherited from inspirations from across the Atlantic.
“When you listen to the texts of the Sages Poètes de la rue, Booba, Salif… there is something very strong in the way they tell things. There may be other artists who told essentially the same things, but not in the same way”, affirms Nicolas Rogès.
In his book, the author tells for example that the rapper Zoxea gave in the 90s rap lessons to young people on the Place Haute (including Booba) and made it a point of honor that his students mastered the technique and had a writing rich in metaphors, assonances, alliterations and multisyllabic rhymes.
“This alliance between content and form is fascinating to me and quite unique in rap in France”, adds Nicolas Rogès.
“Endless beginning”
If Boulogne-Billancourt is no longer as much a nerve center of French rap and a springboard for talent today as it was in its beginnings, the impact of its history “remains vivid, even nearly thirty years after its advent”, specifies Nicolas Rogès in the introduction to his book.
Witness the young artists of the city, such as Tuerie or Tissmey, quoted by the writer in his book, who are still ready to resound loud and clear the singularity and technicality of the pen of the Upper Square.
“If they have a quite different artistic positioning, Tuerie or Tismey, assured me that they have a deep respect for where they come from and what other artists do before them”, indicates Nicolas Rogès.
And this heritage is not limited to the rappers of Boulogne according to Nicolas Rogès. “In his latest album, Benjamin Epps, who is one of the headliners of French-speaking rap today, mentions Melopheelo and makes a reference to a text by Zoxea”, specifies the author.
He concludes: “it means that the artists of Boulogne have had a real impact and continue to influence many artists and different generations. It’s a beautiful story of eternal renewal.”
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