When I first came to France, I met a young American poet who was writing a thesis on French rap music. His favourite rapper, and prime example of 'poetry in rap' was MC Solaar who is now one of France's best known music stars. Here is an interview with MC Solaar by American poet Margo Berdeshevsky and here is a sample of work from his latest album 'Chapitre 7': a track called 'Da Vinci Claude', posted on YouTube in a bootleg version:
Even if you don't speak French, you can probably guess that the song is about cultural references mixed up in MC Solaar's head. The title of the song appears to refer to the book: "The Da Vinci Code", and, I suppose, Claude Monet, an artist like Leonardo Da Vinci. If you'd like to watch the original video, it is here but it lacks the charm of the bootleg version.
4 comments:
"Claude" is actually his first name (his last name's M'Barali). Hence his common nickname of "Claude MC", as well as play on words saying MC stands for "Monsieur Claude" in addition to "Master of Ceremony".
For more on French hip-hop, check out my podcast, Yo La La!
http://www.yolala.org
I stand corrected.
I still think he may have had Claude Monet in mind, however, after all, CM is MC backwards... ;-)
after all, CM is MC backwards... ;-)
Nice one, worthy of Solaar :)
Hi french hip-hop
I've just listened to your latest podcast on Yo La La. It's very enjoyable. Merci.
Post a Comment