Orelsan - French Streets credibility
I’ve been waiting for quite some time for an artist similar to Mike Skinner to emerge in France. I just love the way The Streets brought some fresh air into the hip-hop realm, and I always thought a similar approach could emerge in France where an important part of the youth has no voice in the musical field. Sure we have many local rap/R&B artists, but they mainly focus on the “banlieue” (suburbs) universe, while the vast majority of French people just live in city outskirts. To learn more on what banlieue means in France, click here or here.
Anyway a few weeks ago this guy - soon dubbed the “French Eminem” by the press - released his debut album and claimed the spot. Orelsan comes from a small town west of Paris, and just like Eminem he became famous to a wider audience through scandal, namely the violent lyrics in his “Sale Pute” (Dirty Bitch) title. The buzz is still high today, and although Orelsan is not exactly the perfect match to its UK counterpart, it is still a worthy artist to look at.
- Watch Orelsan’s “Changement” video here.
- Similar artists in France (some of them I will cover in upcoming posts): Kamini, MC Circulaire, Klub des Loosers
