The other soundtrack of the film “La Haine”, the story of a pivotal moment in French rap

Mathieu Kassovitz’s film, adapted this fall into a musical, was a shock in 1995. Inspiring at the time an album bringing together IAM, Sté Strausz’, Ministère AMER Assassin, La Cliqua… It unleashed the rage of a generation.

«L“Haine” as a musical? Twenty-nine years after the film’s theatrical release, the idea may be surprising. It’s hard to imagine the trio staged by Mathieu Kassovitz singing “It’s time for concrete towers”, to the tune where Patrick Fiori, Garou and Daniel Lavoie once shouted in the name of Notre-Dame of Paris. In fact, no one thought about it. At the heart of the show’s soundtrack? rap, Hate having been conceived as a hip-hop film. One of the first filmed in France. To drive the point home, he even treated himself to two original soundtracks. One brought together the titles heard on screen, mostly sung in English – from Bob Marley to the Beastie Boys. The other – La Haine, music inspired by the film –, BO fantasmée, in French, was much more flammable. Released on May 12, 1995, three weeks before the film, this fiery album remains one of the best achievements of hip-hop at the time.

In 1995, French rap was still young (rapattitude, the first compilation dedicated to the genre only dates from 1990) and already more than ripe, ready to explode. If MC Solaar, IAM or NTM have achieved a certain reputation, the “new school” is struggling to be heard, failing to arouse media interest. Mathieu Kassovitz is aware of this, being close to Assassin, a self-proclaimed group founded at the end of the 1980s by rappers Solo and Rockin’Squat (aka Mathias Crochon, brother of Vincent Cassel). “underground until death”.

I had in mind to create a photo of the entire rap scene of the time. From one extreme to the other, what we all represented together.

Solo, artistic director of the album “La Haine, music inspired by the film”

Between two days of filming, the director spends his nights driving around Paris with Solo, listening to rap at full volume. The idea arose of developing an album of which the latter, recently leaving Assassin, would assume the artistic direction. “I had in mind to create a photo of the entire rap scene of the time, he remembers. From one extreme to the other, what we all represented together. So I reached out to those I considered leaders. »

At the time, for a hip-hop artist, such exposure was unexpected. Producer Sulee B Wax is among the first to respond. Without having seen the slightest image of the film, he designed the instrumental of It’s the same story (it’s asmeuk) for Sté Strausz’, the only female rapper to appear on the compilation. “Solo asked Sté for a text evoking the relationship between a city girl and her big brother, he remembers. For us, it was an important challenge, but we loved the competition. I wanted to make one of the biggest tracks on the album, in the spirit of the Californian productions of Dr. Dre and the Death Row label. »

Violence addressed head-on

Everyone grabs their notebook and pen. Imposed theme: the idle youth of the suburbs, those who get bored at the bottom of the towers, harassed by incessant police checks, who are called “teupu” when they are a girl, “scum” when they are a boy, from “negro” when she is black and from “bougnoule” when she is Arab. The one who can’t take it anymore. The one who, like in the film, would take a gun to…

Eleven pieces are born. The first, signed Ministry AMER, is entitled Sacrifice of chickens, the last one, from Assassin, The state murders. And that’s not all. Dealer to survive (expression direct), Requiem (La Cliqua), The Wave at Arms (FFF) or Come out with your gun (Raggasonic): everywhere violence is addressed head-on. As Solo summarizes, “If I put myself at the head of a project, it’s not so that people can sing about Barbapapa. We didn’t give a damn about not being affordable. We wanted to do something that really made us like it, to show how we experienced this music. » An emergency, a fever which underlies the entire album and which is supported by a few audio extracts from the film, including the famous leitmotif chanted by Hubert Koundé: ” So far, so good… “

The piece through which the scandal arrives, Sacrifice of chickens, is an oppressive G-funk, a sort of point of no return as evil as hell as appreciated by the AMER Ministry Overexcited, leaping, possessed like never before, Stomy Bugsy narrates a suburban riot and calls for “to shed blood” of a chicken which it seems obvious is wearing a kepi. Little sensitive to the fantastical aspect of the text, the Minister of the Interior, Jean-Louis Debré, filed a complaint for “incitement to murder”. From one ministry to another, Bugsy’s gang will be no match and will be condemned not for the song, but for the comments made in the press. Reality is catching up with fiction – itself inspired by very real facts, as Rockin’Squat reminds us in The state murders by citing the names of Malik Oussekine (beaten to death on the sidelines of the 1986 demonstrations) and Makomé M’Bowolé (killed in a police station in 1993). This conviction reinforces the point of view of Kassovitz and Solo: young people in the cities are oppressed and their only means of expression, rap, is subject to censorship.

Thirty years later, rap is everywhere, the police too, as for justice, some would say that it remains nowhere. Present on the soundtrack of Solo, IAM (with The 25^e Image) and Solaar (including the percussive Like in a movie will disappear from the 1997 reissue due to conflict between record companies) continue their impressive career. Others have hung up their gloves, like Sté Strausz’, or continued differently, less exposed and all the more legendary: La Cliqua or Les Sages Poètes de la rue (authors on the compilation of the title Good Kisses from the post). Looking back, it seems that NTM was the only thing missing from getting a perfect picture of rap in 1995. It was said that Kool Shen and JoeyStarr turned down Solo’s offer. False, archfalse, assures the latter. But to know the merits of the matter, you will have to read the work that he is currently completing and which should be released in November.

For the musical, a new transgenerational soundtrack
Musical director of Hate stage version, DJ Cut Killer teamed up with producer Proof to compose a new soundtrack. If variety – from Matthieu Chedid or Chico, from the Gipsy Kings – rubs shoulders with the electro of The Blaze, rap logically occupies the biggest place. Alongside Akhenaton, Tunisiano (ex-Sniper), Youssoupha and Oxmo Puccino are young talents recently highlighted by Netflix’s Nouvelle École program: Jyeuhair, gifted to follow closely, and the winner of the season 3, Youssef Swatt’s, in duet with Clara Luciani. Enough to bring together the fans of yesterday and those of today – their children.

s La Haine, music inspired by the film, 1 CD Delabel, 1995.
Hate. So far, nothing has changed, musical, from October 10, at La Seine musicale, Boulogne-Billancourt (92).