Under his air of an old sage of rap with skillful rhyme, Youssoupha addresses in “Supreme Love” some recommendations to the younger generations, keen to leave them a “luminous mark” without denying the struggles that forged him.
Considered one of the most brilliant lyricists in French rap, the 45-year-old artist stands out with a longevity that takes nothing away from his technique. The proof with this seventh album with afrobeats sounds, available Friday.
If the texts are less aggressive than in his beginnings, the fruit of his immigrant adolescence “in a public housing project in the 95”, the pen remains sharp. And the passion, “still alive”, led him to find his audience, on a tour already underway.
Question: In 13 songs, you draw up your own assessment between maturity and lucidity. Why this need?
Answer: “We have fewer judgments, fewer certainties, about people and things. We see ourselves evolving, questioning ourselves, leaving. My life 20 years ago is no longer the life it is today. So my rap has changed.”
Question: You talk about your departure from France for Ivory Coast in 2016. Looking back, how do you view this choice?
Answer: “My speech, where I said 'I'm going there for my peace of mind and a better quality of life', that didn't 'match' at all with the image that people have of Africa. My quality of life is better. What is more new is that by leaving France, I perhaps realized that I loved this country was real but perhaps that in the. annoyance of a young black man from the suburbs, where we dealing with everyday struggles, I didn't have time to reveal that.”
Question: When did you become aware of this?
Answer: “What has been happening in the country for several years affects me. I feel attached to my compatriots. In fact, I realize that I am French.”
Question: What are you worried about?
-Answer: “I have never discovered diversity as much as in France. Now, we break up (divide) people, we reject them in relation to their beliefs, their color, their cultural identity, by wanting to create a kind of French standard which doesn't really exist. So much mediocrity for a country that can inspire so much greatness, I find it odd.”
Question: After “My King” for your son, you dedicate “God is Great” to your daughter. Sacred title!
Answer: “Being a woman, anywhere on Earth, is not trivial. I couldn't make a song that says 'My queen, you are beautiful and you are cute' because, when we said that, we didn't say anything This formula came to mind because I knew it was going to make men uncomfortable. Besides, since the song came out, they have been saying: +The title is blasphemous. , how, God in the feminine ?+. Like, there really was a subject!”
Question: Do you claim to have written a feminist song?
Answer: “I wanted something which was dedicated to my daughter but which, in general, broke a kind of domination that is insidiously placed in the heads of women. On the validity of their thoughts, of their intelligence, on the complex on their body But I don't feel like I'm a feminist. I'm a man who grew up with stereotypes of men. life to the one who gives it.”
Question: Can you be described as deconstructed?
Answer: “In deconstruction! You have to see me in a football stadium, I'm becoming very, very stupid again. So: deconstruction not completed. My daughter and my son will be better than me.”
Question: Is heritage the common thread of the album?
Answer: “I have given up on being perfect because that is dead. On the other hand, I am not giving up on transmission. I really want to ensure that we do not only focus on our struggles and what has been able to help us. cause suffering, but also on what can elevate us. We can pass it on to others who come after us. That way, they will rise faster and higher than us.
