About twenty rappers have signed “No pasarán”, a collective piece aimed at opposing the extreme right. A gesture that cuts short the political silence of the current rap scene.
“Who claims to make rap without taking a position?“, chanted Ärsenik in Boxing with wordsa protest blower released in 1998. One year after the famous 11:30 against racist laws – a collective piece that brought together the flagships of rap at the time, from Akhenaton to Rockin’ Squat, including Fabe, in order to oppose the laws voted with the aim of further complicating the conditions of access for foreigners to France.
That is, also, four years before the breakthrough of the extreme right and the accession of Jean-Marie Le Pen to the second round of the presidential election. Ärsenik’s sharp pen then rightly pointed out the responsibility of rappers – and artists in general – to use their posture to make a political statement.
While French rap has sometimes been criticized for its political silence, tending to focus its message on the quest for money, while peppering it with crude and misogynistic insults, it seems that the current scene has pulled itself together. And that it has taken the measure of the threat: that of witnessing, helplessly, the triumph of the extreme right.
Faced with the risk of seeing the National Rally gain access to Matignon, around twenty rappers have signed the title Not pass. Among them: Zola, ISK, Kerchak, Zed, Cokein, Uzi, Soso Maness, alongside Akhenaten, Mac Tyer, Pit Baccardi, Seth Gueko…
Raising funds for the Abbé Pierre Foundation
A title that was recorded in record time – one week flat – and which aims to “to clarify things”confides Kore, in charge of the production of the song, in the columns of Libération: “We’re not just morons or guys who rap for party reasons. We can talk about more serious subjects, we’re going to take you to a place where most of you have never seen us,” he then pours out.
On social media, he also shared a short excerpt of the song in question. It features images showing neo-Nazis, far-right figures, violent demonstrations and explosions, while the instrumental of the song resonates. The producer captioned the video with these words: “When people understand that the problem is not the neighbor, but the system and those who profit from it, then everything will change, in the meantime…”
In the meantime, we will listen Not passwhich will be released at 11:45 p.m. All funds raised will be donated to the Abbé Pierre Foundation. Is French rap (finally) finding its compass again?
