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Denis-Constant MARTIN
Université de Bordeaux
Sciences Po Bordeaux (CEAN)
[email protected]
LOCAL DISCONTENT IN A GLOBALISED FORM :
FRENCH FEMALE RAPPER DIAM’S
AS AN UNIDENTIFIED POLITICAL OBJECT1
A paper presented to
the International Political Science World Congress,
Santiago, Chile, July 12-16, 2009
not to be quoted or reproduced without the author’s permission
In 2006, a young female rapper known as Diam’s 2 released on the French
market a CD entitled Dans ma bulle (In my bubble) that sold more than any other
record, in spite of a crisis in the sales of discs, allegedly caused by music
downloading on the web. More than 800 000 copies of Dans ma bulle were bought
by rap fans, but also by people ― most of them in their teens or twenties ― who did
not exclusively listen to rap and enjoyed RnB, Soul Music, French songs and other
musical genres.
Dans ma bulle was not Diam’s debut album. She had already published several
singles and CDs, and had a solidly established reputation in the world of French rap.
As one of the few accepted female MCs, she frequently featured on other rappers’
albums, and was openly supported by a few recognized stars and several hardcore
artists whose rap integrity was indisputable. However, the enthusiasm generated by
Dans ma bulle gave her another dimension: she no longer appeared as a young3
promising talent, but as a mature artist with a gift for writing, a dynamic flow, a
sharp elocution, and a taste for selecting fascinating, multi-layered sonic
backgrounds4. The moods of Diam’s songs vary greatly, from hardcore rap, using
slang and profanity, to poetic texts speaking of love or of the hardships of young
people’s experiences. Her ability to associate texts and sonic backgrounds was
indeed instrumental in the popularity rapidly gained by her 2006 album. Rap critics
This paper is largely drawn from a book to be published in French, which includes chapters by
former University of Paris 8-Saint Denis students proposing a musical analysis and a textual analysis of
a sample of songs included in Diam’s 2006 album Dans ma bulle (Hostile / EMI, 2006). I wish to thank
Laura Brunon, Mariano Fernandez, Soizic Forgeon, Frédéric Hervé, Pélagie Mirand, and Zulma Ramirez
for their contribution to the above mentioned volume, which provided several ideas used in this paper.
2
Mélanie Georgyades chose Diam’s as her name in rap not, says she, because « Diamonds are a girl’s
best friends », but because diamonds are so hard that they can be only scratched or broken by other
diamonds.
3
Mélanie Georgyades was born in 1980, just when rap began to reach France.
4
Given the complexity of the composition processes used in creating the sound environment of
rapped texts, I shall use the phrase “sonic background” rather than “music” to designate the audible
non verbal elements that form an integral part of rap.
1
1
and observers of the French musical scene immediately remarked that she had
reached beyond the usual rap audience and made inroads into the general public.
This is one of the reasons why it does not seem illegitimate to consider Dans
ma bulle as a “social phenomenon”: a cultural production which carries social
representations and can facilitate their penetration in new social milieus or bring
them to the surface of political debates. Social representations give the members of
a group or a society a basis for the understanding of the social order in which they
live, to assess the position they occupy in that social order and the possibilities to
modify it. Social representations therefore incorporate values and norms which orient
judgements passed on experienced realities as well as fashion expectations for
another world, in which one’s position could be improved (Hall ed. 1997; Jodelet ed.
1993; Martin ed. 2002).
Dans ma bulle began to sell by the tens of thousand at a time when France
was entering the campaign for the 2007 parliamentary and presidential elections. It
soon became obvious than the two main contenders for the presidential seat were to
be the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy ― who had on several occasions been a minister
in the outgoing president’s cabinet and had acquired a reputation of toughness
against illegal foreigners and what he called the riff-raff (racaille), accused of
wreaking havoc on underprivileged suburbs ― and the candidate nominated, not
without controversy, by the Socialist Party, Ségolène Royal. She had to overcome
many hurdles: she was a woman, not fully supported by the barons of her own
party, and had had only short experiences in government. Moreover, she decided to
run a “participative” campaign, presenting her programme as a work in progress she
kept refining or modifying according to voters’ opinions as conveyed to her in public
meetings. Consequently, she appeared unable to give clear directions for the future
of France and propose concrete policies; her campaign focused on patriotism and
moral issues, themes which were also among Nicolas Sarkozy’s favourites.
The 2007 French presidential election was a race between the two candidates
the polls put ahead of the other contenders, and the influence the latter were able to
exercise on the tenor of political debates appeared minimal. Therefore, the election
was mostly fought on values: “love” for France, respect for her flag, her anthem and
her culture; “national identity”, secularism (laïcité), republican rules; “decent” social
behaviour according to “national norms”; hard work; justice and equality. The
campaigns suggested that migrant workers ― and their descendants, even those
who carry a French passport ― were incapable or, worse, unwilling to “integrate”;
that in general young people inhabiting underprivileged neighbourhoods (les
quartiers or les cités : the projects) tended to be engaged in illegal traffics and prone
to violence; that both could be, and very often were, a threat to French social
harmony and traditions (“L’élection présidentielle de 2007…”; Tiberj 2008).
The period during which Dans ma bulle sold very well coincided with the
electoral pre-campaign and campaign. If Diam’s album is considered as a social
phenomenon carrying social representations, as an “unidentified political
object” (Martin dir. 2002), it seems legitimate to try and check if, beyond the mere
temporal concomitance, there were thematic convergences between what Diam’s
2
conveyed in her raps – taken as a complex enmeshment of words and sounds – and
topics engaged by the main contenders in the electoral race; then, if there were any
convergences, what underlain them. In order to ascertain the existence of such
convergences, I shall first propose a very rapid survey of French rap social values,
then zero in on new combinations of values projected by Diam’s, before considering
shifts in values among French youth as monitored by sociologists in the last decades
of the 20th Century and examine the overlapping that may have existed between
emerging value systems as conveyed by Diam’s and other rappers and the type of
values that was put forward by both Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal during the
electoral campaign.
Social values in French rap5
Hip-hop was to a large extent acclimatized to France under the auspices of
Afrika Bambaataa6. He provided inspiration in break-dance and rap, as well as moral
orientation to the fledgling hip hop movement at the beginning of the 1980s. He
launched a French branch of the Zulu Nation in 1984; although the Nation never
managed to recruit in large numbers and seems to have vanished at the end of the
1980s or in the early 1990s, Afrika Bambaataa exercised a strong influence on the
first generation of French rappers, especially on those who formed the hardcore “old
school” and appeared as the embodiment of rap’s “authenticity”, such as Assassin
and Supreme NTM. Most French rappers stuck to the idea that rap should be the
voice of the voiceless, the defender of the underdogs, especially of suburban youth 7.
They also conceived of rap as a therapy which could help young people in distress to
recover self-esteem and escape from the hell (galère) in which the “system”8 tries to
imprison them. However, rap’s capacity of restoration will be effective in so far as it
will rely on hard work.
Working and learning
The ethics of work is one of the cornerstones of French rap, articulated in
texts but also demonstrated in the accomplishments of those who create sonic
backgrounds (Desvérités & Green 1997; Bazin 1995; Besnard 2004). But for most
rappers, hard work is not enough, it has to be accompanied by learning; one may
On the history of rap in France, see: Bocquet & Pierre-Adolphe 1997; Boucher 1998; Faure & Garcia
2005; Marti 2005; Prévos 2001; Sberna 2001.
6
A DJ from South Bronx, Afrika Bambataa was also the founder of the Zulu Nation, an organisation
dedicated to the implementation of moral principles through the disciplines of hip-hop. He drew
inspiration from Rastafarianism, afro-centrism, ecology and adopted for his motto: “Peace, love and
having fun.” (George 1998 : 18-21 ; Fernando 1999 : 15-18)
7
One notable exception is MC Solaar, one of the most popular French MCs, who wants to be
appreciated for the quality of texts which do not specifically deal with social issues and the condition
of the youth.
8
“System” is used by rappers as an extremely polysemic generic word: it points at all the individuals,
most notably the politicians, who can be held responsible for the galère, the difficult life of suburban
youth, and at all the institutions which are resented as oppressive or segregationist; it can in its most
extreme acceptations mean the emanation of secret societies manipulating national and international
organisations, or plotting to take over political power in one or several countries.
5
3
learn at school (and several rappers advise very authoritatively their listeners to
remain at school and not drop out if they want to achieve something in life) or by
oneself, from books or encyclopaedia, but one must develop intellectually.
Respect
Learning helps to develop oneself, that is to respect oneself; it also leads to
respecting others. Respect is one of rap’s keywords. What most rappers engaging
social and political issues demand is respect: respect for themselves as artists
heralding a new genre whose cultural legitimacy will not be recognised (and only
partially) before the end of the 1990s; respect for those they claim to represent,
their listeners, underprivileged youth living in neighbourhoods where schools are
poor, occasions for rejoicing few and job opportunities almost non existent; respect
for the generation of their parents, most of them workers, many of them originating
in North African or Sub-Saharan African countries. As a matter of fact, they express a
strong adhesion to the French Republic’s motto, Liberté, égalité, fraternité (Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity) and request that they, and the people on whose behalf they
speak, should benefit from it (Mucchielli 1999b: 66).
Groupism and individualism
Most rap groups are rooted in specific territories and intend to bring respect,
pride and fame to the place where they grew up. Supreme NTM comes from the
department of Seine Saint-Denis (dubbed 9-3, from the number appearing on cars’
registration plates); Ministère AMER from Sarcelles, in Val d’Oise; IAM from
Marseilles (Marti 2005). Rappers usually belong to other groups and have a posse of
followers. On the one end, they exhibit a strong collective identity. On the other
hand, though, they are definitely individualistic, showcasing individual talents and
stressing that their goal in life is to be successful. Meaning that they want to be
recognised as creative artists, in part because this type of recognition will bring
material rewards. While French rappers do not display the taste for ostentatious
consumption (“bling-bling”) some American rappers revel in, they aspire to be able to
spend liberally, buy fancy cars and live comfortably (Boucher 1998: 291; Vicherat
2001: 50-55).
Denunciation of the system and integration in the system
Contrary to the image that is frequently given of rappers in French
newspapers (and even some academic studies), the rap world is not all rebellion and
opposition. It combines rejection of the system (in its political and economic
dimensions) and calls for civic behaviour: if it condemns the consequences of the
system (poverty, humiliation, harassment by the police) it exposes, it does not
(except for a few radical groups or individuals) advocate its destruction (Boucher
1998; Marti 2005; Mucchielli 2003). Politically, rappers do not usually align with a
political party or support a particular leader; they denounce what is morally
4
unacceptable in the government’s policies, stress corruption and police brutality,
denounce racism and xenophobia. They invite their listeners not to submit to
dominant ideologies and participate in elections in, order to make their voices heard.
But they do not tell them whom to vote for, although they all concur in lashing at the
extreme right National Front and its leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen. During the 2007
electoral campaign a few rappers came out in favour of the socialist candidate,
Ségolène Royal; an odd one (Doc Gyneco) even openly supported Nicolas Sarkozy
(more frequently considered in rap milieus as a “Canada Dry” version of Jean-Marie
Le Pen); many of them, including Diam’s, were involved in actions aiming at
convincing young citizens to register and vote (Binet 2007; Lafargue de Grangeneuve
2007; Mucchielli 1999b).
Value combinations
What emerges from this very rapid survey of social values conveyed in French
rap is a rather contrasted picture9. Around a centre constituted by respect, which
implies respect for oneself and respect for others, with a strong accent on antiracism and anti-xenophobia, rap puts forward original combinations which can be
summed up as: groupism and individualism; defence of the exploited and aspiration
to access the lifestyle of the exploiters; denunciation of the “system” and wish to
find a place in that system; opposition to the regime and conviction that voting is a
citizen’s duty. Musical analysis10 demonstrates that rap sonic backgrounds set in
motion new practices of combining that disregard the canons of Western music, as
reworked in international pop music, and invent new expressive means and forms. It
seems like sonic backgrounds manifest in non verbal ways new attitudes towards
value systems that impregnate the whole of the rap art form, attitudes that consider
ancient dichotomies as no longer relevant and lead to a search for new combinations
that may help to adjust to the present conditions. For, in the post-Cold War world,
the urgent priority is not so much upsetting these conditions as working out
possibilities to play with, or around, them.
Diam’s novel combinations
In Dans ma bulle, Diam’s deals with love, ambition, family, and women’s
images, often from an autobiographical point of view. Diam’s is more of an “I” than
of a “we” type of rapper. She also addresses social and political questions, especially
in “Ma France à moi” where she makes very clear that French society as it is does
not conform to her vision of the country, and in “Marine” written as an open letter to
Marine Le Pen, daughter of the Front National’s leader and her probable successor.
Diam’s insists that she comes from the tradition of French rap and is faithful to its
values; she knows its history, she has paid her dues in multiple “featurings” on other
rappers’ recordings, and has been anointed by the most respected hardcore rappers,
Lyrics reproduced in Perrier 2000 and analyses provided in Boucher 1998, Sberna 2001, and Vicherat
2001 substantiate this summary of values in French Rap.
10
Especially as conducted by Laura Brunon, Mariano Fernandez and Zulma Ramirez in chapter 5 of
Martin dir. 2010.
9
5
such as JoeStarr and Kool Shen, of Supreme NTM. Her life, as related in her texts,
exemplifies the therapeutic quality of rap (“Petite banlieusarde”) and Diam’s
emphasises that for her rap has meant, and still means, hard work.
Crossing over
However, she confesses that rap is not her exclusive musical passion and that
she listens to, and gets inspiration from, other genres, mostly RnB and French songs.
She conceives of herself as a musician more than a rapper, and insists she is a
rapper because she is a musician, and not the reverse. As a matter of fact, she is
part of the group of rappers who have extended the melodic dimension of rap and
introduce almost systematically melodic choruses in her compositions. In so doing
she presents herself as an “authentic” rapper, whose legitimacy cannot be put into
question, as well as an artist able to reach out to audiences that are not specifically
interested in rap. She has decided to cross over to circles of listeners which are not
limited to rap aficionados, and has largely succeeded, one of her most danceable
raps “DJ”, becoming in 2003 a “summer hit” (tube de l’été), a portent of the triumph
to come with Dans ma bulle (and especially “La Boulette”).
Diam’s was born in Cyprus and raised in a middle class suburb, south of Paris,
in the department of Essonne. Although she claims to have entertained, when she
was a teenager, strong friendships with inhabitants of the projects, and to have
spent quite some time with them, in their own environment, she does not present
herself as coming from the “cités”. In the same way as she wants to be seen as a
musician, she presents herself as connecting between her little house in Essonne and
the whole world; consequently, she forcefully states that she raps for the “detached
houses” as much as for the projects11, signifying that she does not conceive of
herself as a spokesperson for the underdogs, but for a large part of today’s French
youth.
Tolerance and multiculturalism
In the same perspective, Diam’s dreams of a tolerant society12 and “her”
France is multicultural13. Diam’s extends the theme of respect ― for people coming
from “other” cultures, for “other” religions, that is non Roman Catholic, and non
In « Me revoilà », one of the hardcore raps in Dans ma bulle, where she uses a lot of slang and
verlan (a technique of inverting syllables in a word, frequently used by suburban youth and rappers),
her punchline is: “J’rappe pour les tess’, j’rappe pour les pav’, pour les tess, j’rappe pour les pav’tars”,
meaning “I rap for the projects, I rap for the detached houses…” She dwells on the usual opposition
between neighbourhoods with buildings of apartments (HLM, parts of programmes of public housing
intended for workers and underprivileged people) and neighbourhoods with detached houses
(inhabited by more middle-class social strata); cité, in verlan becomes tess (from téci); pav’ or pav’tar
stands for pavillon (detached house surrounded by a small garden).
12
“It may sound silly, but I dream of a tolerant
France” (http ://www.liberation.fr/actualite/politiques/elections2007/246190.FR.php (downloaded
on30 april 2008).
13
As evidenced in “Ma France à moi”, especially in the video clip of the song which can be viewed on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfGr-Hk_R48
11
6
Christian faiths), for the youth with hoods14 ― to a plea for freedom of expression
and tolerance. Consequently, she admits to loathing Jean-Marie Le Pen15 and the
National Front and has expressed without ambiguity her disagreement of policies
implemented by Nicolas Sarkozy when he was Minister of the Interior 16. Before the
2007 presidential election she once, quite inadvertently, mentioned that she would
rather vote for Ségolène Royal, but admitted later that, although she did vote for
her, it was a mistake for she did not want to be seen as a political activist. She
nevertheless involved herself in various endeavours to invite young potential voters
to register and effectively vote.
Virtuous individualism
Diam’s adheres to values that have been promoted by French rap since the
beginning: respect, integrity, hard work, learning, ambition, civic responsibility
(which can be carried by denouncing of the ills of the system and by non-partisan
civil activism). But she gives them an intimate dimension by tying them to her own
experiences and illustrating them with episodes of her life. Therefore, when she uses
the word “revolution” (“Petite banlieusarde”), she means a radical change in hearts
and spirits rather than an upheaval likely to topple the government.
In the same vein, she promotes a form of virtuous individualism. Respect and
tolerance provide the basis for her involvement in civil activities. They evidence a
sense of responsibility, a rejection of the type of social and ethical laxity frequently
seen as a legacy of the May 1968 movement. For Diam’s, as well as for a great
number of French rappers, respect and tolerance are linked to individualism, a new
combination which makes solidarity with the poor and the despised compatible with
personal ambition and monetary success. Diam’s advocates a virtuous individualism.
She considers that hard work, including composing, performing and recording rap,
but not exclusively of course, deserves to be awarded with the means to access a
nice lifestyle and to buy luxury items (even in the ambiguous form of designers’
jogging suits17). Diam’s definitely posits hard work as the condition permitting to
consider individualism virtuous. In her view however, becoming wealthy thanks to
hard work should not alter a person’s integrity: the successful ones must stay
“themselves”, preserve their own “identity”, which seems to suggest that even when
she manages to escape the dire conditions of the cités or even the pavillons a person
Taken here in its literal meaning: “jeunes à capuche” is a descriptive expression characterising and
sometimes stigmatizing suburban youth who use to wear jogging jackets with the hood on their head.
Diams and the kids she appears with in the video clip of “La boulette” wear this type of attire, with the
hood on, or not (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU3FLXATG4A&feature=related)
15
She
stated
bluntly
“He’s
a
monster” (http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/politiques/elections2007/246190.FR.php; downloaded on
30 april 2008).
16
“I disagree with Sarkozy’s social policies; I disagree with his repressive policies […] the
consequences of his policies on French youth, for the future of French youth, frighten me.” (Interview
given in the TV programme “En aparté”, Canal +, 23 may 2007).
17
Displayed in the video clips of “Jeune demoiselle” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC3wsB4XJI&feature=related)
and
“La
boulette”
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=xU3FLXATG4A&feature=related).
14
7
should remember where she comes from and continues to demonstrate fellowship
with the disadvantaged.
Conventional family and admonishing feminism
The ideal of a nice lifestyle encapsulates a particular type of family.
Understood as a nuclear unit composed of two parents of different sexes bringing up
together their children, family is the axis of social life, and the main spring of
ambition, for individual success will bring the family what is necessary to live in
comfort and give the children a good education. Moreover, in the dreamed family she
hints at in several of her raps (more particularly in “Car tu portes mon nom” 18),
children are not abandoned by their father 19. Father and mother love their kids, play
with them, and try to understand them. In these conditions, children ignore the
feeling of solitude Diam’s frequently evokes in her raps. Moreover parents give rules
and limits, provide guidance, conditions necessary for the children to develop a
harmonious personality devoid of the anxiety suffered by victims of dismantled and
recomposed families. Diam’s appears clearly in favour of a traditional conception of
the family. But that does not alter her open-mindedness with regards to sexual
behaviour and orientation.
Respect and tolerance imply in this domain a deliberate rejection of
homophobia and the recognition that individuals must be free to entertain the type
of relationship they wish with other individuals, as long as they do not trespass on
their freedom and dignity. Respect demands that men be true, faithful and, indeed,
do not brutalize their partner. Girls and women must also respect themselves: they
should not give away their body to anyone or behave and dress indecently. She
blames in no soft words those who “fuck for a Chanel bag” (Ça ken [nique] pour un
sac Chanel, “Dans ma bulle”20) and calls them “whores” (putes) or “bitches”, even if
she admits that the education they received (or rather did not receive) is largely
responsible for their incapacity to act as respectable girls should. Diam’s feminism is
rooted in the notion of respect: girls and women will be respected in so far as they
respect themselves; when they do, when they toil (triment), when they are
ambitious and enterprising, she shouts “BIG UP to all my sisters” (BIG UP à toutes
mes soeurs, “Big Up”21).
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Gn4BLMOF8&feature=related
Diam’s father left her, and her mother, when she was about three years old; she alludes to her
feeling of abandonment in “Daddy”, among others (Brut de femme, Capitol/EMI, 2003). She
underlines that her case is far from unique at the end of the 20th Century and defends a traditional
conception of the family. In little speeches she interpolates between her raps in the course of her
concerts, she frequently enjoins her listeners to take advantage of their parents, when they are lucky
enough to live with both of them (Ma vie mon live, Delabel/EMI, 2004).
20
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq11qJHYvAE
21
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfJMBX3A2CA
18
19
8
Innovative combinations and aspiration to a new social order
Diam’s raps is characterised by original combinations. The sonic backgrounds
she uses are the outcome of long periods of meticulous work, and the documentary
shot in the studio where her musicians prepare the sound on which she will place her
texts insists on both the tedious and the creative aspects of their labour22. In the
album Dans ma bulle, most raps are based on a combination of cyclic patterns and
dynamic movements, giving the feeling of a music that slowly glides through time.
However, there is no uniformity in Dans ma bulle because timbres, polyrhythms and
melodies are permanently melted in renewed arrangements23. The principle of
melding reappears under a different form in Diam’s lyrics.
Her raps, globally apprehended as sonic background and text, fused in
recordings or in performance, suggest novel combinations of values which break with
traditional oppositions that used to be associated in France with the right and the
left: on the one hand, individualism, hard work, importance of studying at school,
conservative conceptions of the family, of love relationships, of women’s decency; on
the other, solidarity with the underdogs, freedom in the organisation of working
time24, antiracism, rejection of xenophobia, tolerance, especially in sexual matters.
These values are made non antagonistic because they are subsumed under a broad
conception of respect and underlie the aspiration to a new social order that is
radically different to the one presently prevailing and to the one foreseen behind the
programme Nicolas Sarkozy defended in the electoral campaign of 2007. The narrow
patriotism advocated by Ségolène Royal did not either fit within Diam’s, and others
rappers’, new value system; however, her pledge for a
more human, a more
fraternal society within the framework of a reformed capitalism, made the socialist
candidate seem to converge with rappers, at least on the ideal virtuous individualism.
A brief survey of internet forums and chats where Diam’s — her production
and her utterances relating to the state of France and the elections — were
discussed confirmed that the combination of values she brought in full light was
actually rampant among French people in their teens and twenties25.
Shifts in values among French youth
“Values, writes sociologist Bertrand Roudet, can be considered as the
foundation on which opinions and behaviours are built; they provide normative
milestones for thinking and acting. However, while they structure our representations
and direct our actions, they cannot be directly observed. They can only be
approached by collecting information on phenomena liable to be interpreted in terms
of values (Roudet 2001: 13). This is precisely why studying rap and examining in
detail an album that got an exceptional reception may be fruitful: it provides a
22
See the DVD titled DVD «Six mois dans ma bulle » included in: Dans ma bulle, Hostile / EMI, 2006.
A detailed analysis of compositional techniques used for Dans ma bulle is provided by Laura Brunon,
Mariano Fernandez and Zulma Ramirez in chapter 5 of Martin dir. 2010.
24
This is made particularly obvious in «Six mois dans ma bulle »; see note 22..
25
Chapter 9 in Martin dir. 2010.
23
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wealth of data on the current state of value systems. Moreover, since value systems
do not change brutally but are slowly reorganised and recomposed by sliding and
blending (Bréchon 2003a: 13-15), the success of Dans ma bulle may be treated as a
social phenomenon likely to reveal trends that have been at work underground for
several decades and only surface in social and political debates in a time of social,
moral and economic crisis. As a matter of fact, the study of Diam’s productions, and
more specifically of Dans ma bulle, indicates that under the surface of French
society, mutations in values, generating new combinations in the form of original
value systems have been brewing for probably three decades. This dynamics of
change in values was simultaneously brought to light in the public space in
2006-2007 by a young female rapper who had been able to cross over beyond the
usual rap audience, and by candidates vying for the Presidency of the Republic in a
context where the ideologies which had structured French politics in the larger part
of the 20th Century were fading away and where contenders thought they could more
efficiently mobilise voters by focusing on “national identity” and moral issues.
However, if reorganised value systems emerged in the public space in
2006-2007, the processes which fuelled their re-combination had been monitored by
sociologists. Recurrent surveys conducted at the end of the 20th Century show that a
discrete collective reconsideration of values, and dichotomous associations of values,
which had remained stable for a long period was under way. In the 1980s and
1990s, dissatisfaction, scepticism and even cynicism generally grew, but were more
acutely felt in the suburbs of large cities. There, the deterioration of the social and
economic situation, the realisation that pupils were submitted to unofficial forms of
segregation at school according to their social and geographic origins (Felouzis
2003 ; Fougère & Sidhoum 2006 ; Lorcerie dir. 2003), and the understanding that
living in certain neighbourhoods (and carrying a name denoting a foreign origin)
stigmatized those who looked for internship or work, caused a sentiment of
dereliction summarily encapsulated in the phrase “France has let us down” (La
France nous a lâchés, Marlière 2008). Organisations upon which identifications could
be grafted and networks of solidarity disintegrated causing the social fabric to tear
(Dubar 2000). The void left by the inability to position oneself in terms of social class
(Michelat & Simon 1996) could only be filled with a multilayered sense of locality (the
building, the neighbourhood, the department, the native country of one’s parents,
France occupying an ambiguous position in this identification pile up) which could not
counterbalance pessimism and did not weaken processes of disaffiliation (Bacquet &
Sintomer 2001; Castel 1995). Many young people, a majority probably in the poorest
strata, shared an ideology of rejection: as they felt rejected, they rejected the
system that had abandoned them (Galland & Lemel 2006; Joffrin 2003; Rivière
2006).
Respect and tolerance
But rejection did not mean apathy or passiveness; it generated expectations
and facilitated the invention of a new culture underpinned by the necessity to adapt,
to make do in very difficult conditions. Suburban youth acquired under duress new
types of social competences that allowed them to survive, materially and morally.
10
Among these competences featured indeed the ability to run activities on the fringe
of legality, sometimes totally unlawful, denoting a general attitude of disrespect for
rules considered contradictory to a set of new norms which, in reference to the
Republican ideal of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, were aggregated around the
notion of respect (Bordet 2003; Hatzfeld 2006; Rinaudo 2003).
From their study of social affiliation and disaffiliation in the suburbs, MarieHélène Bacqué et Yves Sintomer conclude: “For the ordinary citizen, the problem
with youth in general (at least the majority, not only the "tough guys") is not that
they do not respect existing norms in whatever they do, but that they abide by other
norms, which are sometimes so contradictory with the dominant ones that they
appear unbearable and impossible to understand to citizens who adhere to dominant
norms. The youth is not anomic; it refers to deviant norms and this causes conflicts
of norms.” (Bacqué & Sintomer 2001 : 234) Among deviant norms and values which
have been noted by sociologists since the 1970s, individualism emerged strongly,
entertaining an ambiguous relationship with dominant ideologies. It does organise
representations of the society around the individual, but also supports new forms of
sociability and is complementary, not antagonistic to, humanism, solidarity, and
tolerance (Galland 2003a; Muxel 2003). Increased tolerance is particularly obvious in
matters related to sexual behaviours and sexual orientation, but it also covers petty
dents in regulations (such as riding the subway without a ticket or stealing in a
supermarket). Tolerance does not really condones fraud or theft, but reckons that
“big fishes” get away with corruption and embezzlement on a large scale, therefore
the small fry have no reason to be less tricky and remain honest (Perrineau & Rey
2002). This type of permissiveness seems to have declined towards the end of the
20th Century, whereas sexual tolerance has not subsided (Galland 2003b).
Order and authority
Changes in values and reorganisation of value systems do not manifest a
tendency towards anarchism. On the contrary, what strikes the observers at the end
of the 20th Century is a renewed demand for social regulation. The youth’s request
for order and authority derives from an “egalitarian humanism” linked to
individualism, for they appear as one of the prerequisites for equal access to rights
and opportunities (Schweisguth 2007). It points at the possibility of another type of
authority. Therefore there is not contradiction between rejecting the present order
and aspiring to a new order; similarly, if police harassment is branded, it is because
it is unethical and it does not imply a radical reject of police forces as such. Even
rappers share this stance; there are several instances of raps opposing “good”
policemen to the wicked ones26.
Order underpins the insistence on hard work; a new type of order and
discipline indeed prevails in activities in which young people, particularly those living
in the suburbs, invest themselves, be it in the field of sports, small businesses or the
arts, rap included. But work is not what only matters in life; working is necessary,
both for material and for moral reasons but it must leave space for other activities.
26
One of the most eloquent is Faf la Rage’s « J’ai honte » (see Perrier 2000: 267-268).
11
Working should open opportunities to develop one’s personality, to realise oneself;
decently paid, it should allow to live in relative comfort; well organised, it should
leave time for leisure, especially cultural and creative recreation (Galland 2001;
Riffaut & Tchernia 2003).
Transforming values
General trends regarding attitudes towards norms and values noticed among
French youth during the two last decades of the 20th century are: increased
individualism and a new understanding of social relations, a comprehensive notion of
humanism; a greater tolerance in morals and a central role attributed to the family, a
stress on faithfulness in conjugal partnerships; a desire for freedom, a distrust of
power and a request for order and authority which are expected to come from the
state; an inclination towards egalitarianism and a general acceptance of market
economy, accompanied by a craving for consumption, especially when what is
bought contributes to singularising the buyer, to project his or her “identity”; an
insistence on hard work which cannot be divorced from a wish for creative leisure; to
which must be added: fluctuating feelings of belonging, uncertain identifications,
political disenchantment and will to benefit from forgotten “republican values”. It
seems like the generations born after 1980 are traversed by deep contradictions.
However, sociologists underline that what people in their teens and twenties
manifest at the beginning of the 21st Century is not so much a hotchpotch of
irreconcilable values as an attempt to transform values and reorganise value systems
(Bréchon 2003a). What appears contradictory in the polarised value systems
inherited from the 1950s and 1960s, could very well announce new combinations
underlying the vision of a hoped for society. Similarly, the youth are not depoliticised,
they express great expectations towards politics but they are disappointed with the
choices that are proposed within the framework of the present regime (Bréchon
2001; Bréchon 2003b; Muxel 2001; Muxel 2003). The right and the left still make
sense for them, not so much on the basis of their respective programmes, but
because they seem to differ, even slightly, on ethical questions, the left being
perceived as more tolerant, more humanist and less racist. It should not be
forgotten, however, that the demand for order and authority also leads a large
number of young voters to supporting the right and the extreme right. This is
precisely why various organisations, with which several rappers joined forces, tried to
convince the disenchanted to register and vote: in order to avoid in 2007 what
happened in 2002, the access of Jean-Marie Le Pen to the second ballot of the
presidential election.
It is no surprise that these trends impregnate rap: they symbolically transpire
in its sonic backgrounds and are explicitly articulated in its lyrics. Around a
particularly extensive notion of respect, gravitate tolerance (implying anti-racism and
a relative moral permissiveness), solidarity, sincerity, but also hard work, learning,
individual ambition. These values underpin changes in forms of sociability in which
the nuclear family, cemented by faithfulness and loving care for the children,
occupies an axial position. These values support a claim for new forms of social
12
regulations and authority; they point to the possibility of a new order, which the
world of rap ― in an idealised and somewhat romanticised vision ― could forebode.
Diam’s prolonged these tendencies. First of all, she made an intense use of
the mechanisms of combination, playing with words, with sounds and with values.
She acknowledged the fact that rap fans come from diverse places and social strata
and developed the melodic dimension of her raps in order to reach out to an even
larger public. Diam’s added personal innovations to the legacy of rap, especially of
hardcore, “authentic” rap, originally shaped by the musical and spiritual influence of
Afrika Bambaataa. Fashioning some of her raps as narratives of her own experiences
― a baby girl abandoned by her father; a distressed teenager in a middle class
neighbourhood; a young woman battered by her lover ― she created an intimate link
with her listeners, facilitating identification to the model she came to represent. She
never posed as a spokesperson or as a prophet, as many rappers did; she offered an
icon on which scores of young girls, and also boys, could project themselves.
Because she permanently reminded them that she belonged, even in her own way,
to the world of rap, the model, the icon she became acquired a moral dimension,
inextricably linked to the characters she played in her raps and in the video clips that
were made from them (see, for instance: “Jeune demoiselle” 27, “La boulette”28,
“Confessions nocturnes”29).
This is why she found herself in a better position than most other rappers30 to
bring in the public space ― through her raps but also speeches delivered in concerts
or in interviews ― processes of sliding, blending and reorganisation of values that
had been silently working French youth in the 1980s and 1990s. She also made the
new, fledgling, value systems more appealing by giving them a tinge of optimism.
She proclaims that there is a way out of distress and disenchantment, but that
finding it requires energy, toil and talent which youth are not devoid of but that they
must develop and make blossom if they want to be recognised as full fledged
citizens. Her triumph in 2006 probably resulted from the conjunction of a personal
talent enhanced by the particular attention paid to the elaboration of her sonic
backgrounds, the development of the melodic dimension of her raps, and her
capacity to offer herself as both a model and an adviser in an affective, intimate
relationship to her audiences.
When the album Dans ma bulle was released on the French market, France
was preparing for the 2007 election. Diams, along with other rappers who had been
traumatised by the presence of Jean-Marie Le Pen at the second ballot of the 2005
presidential election ― an event which for many young French triggered a new
political consciousness ― participated in the actions aiming at convincing young
potential voters, especially those living in the suburbs who had become rather cynical
See : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC3wsB4-XJI&feature=related
See : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU3FLXATG4A&feature=related
29
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlCL4bAqois
30
Especially than her “sisters”, Princess Aniès, Sté Strausz, Lady Laistee, Bams ou Kenny Arkana who,
in spite of their artistic talent and their social commitment, never reached near Diam’s success.
27
28
13
about politics, to register and vote31. These actions seem to have been quite
successful, especially in Seine-Saint Denis (Binet 2007) and it is a fact that voters
between 18 and 24 participated more in the elections in 2007 than in 2002, and
those in the range 25-34, even more (Muxel 2007b : 321). In those two age groups,
the socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal came out of the electoral race first: she got
63 % of the votes among the under 25 (69 % among the women under 25); 76 %
among voters of African origin; and 51 % among those who admit to being
confronted to serious difficulties (Jaffré 2007), all groups that constitute an important
part of the rap public. This seems to confirm that rap fans, and more largely, those
who surround them, followed the rappers’ advice, registered, then voted and tended
to support Ségolène Royal rather than Nicolas Sarkozy.
An additional sheet was included in the box of Dans ma bulle, on which was printed a text inviting
the “Children of the Republic”, who have been denied a real representation in politics, to register and
vote, arguing than “a ballot is worth ten Molotov cocktails” and that it is now urgent that the voice of
the youth be heard.
31
14
NEW COMBINATIONS
FRENCH YOUTH
Musical eclecticism
RAP AND DIAM’S
Sonic backgrounds
Rap & melodic choruses
Individualism & humanism
solidarity
tolerance
anti-racism
anti-xenophobia
Respect
individualism & solidarity
tolerance
anti-racism
anti-xenophobia
Moral permissiveness & importance
of the family
faithfulness
Moral permissiveness & importance
of the family
faithfulness
children
Freedom & order and authority
Aspiration to new forms of social
regulation and authority
Egalitarianism & acceptance of market Opposition to the “system” & efforts
economy
to find a place in the “system”
consumerism
consumerism
Hard work & creative leisure
Hard work & ambition
learning
creating
15
When rappers and politicians meet…
This observation is interesting, although the least one can say is that it
does not appear as an unpredictable surprise… What strikes more is that the
reorganisation of value systems which rap echoed since the beginning of the 1980s,
and which Diam’s spread more largely ― because of her aptitude at enveloping them
in sophisticated texts, sonic backgrounds and performance styles, and also because
she flavoured them with affectivity, making them part of an intimate experience ―
emerged forcefully in the electoral campaign and underlay some of the mains themes
addressed by the two main candidates.
Sarkozy and the neither-nor electorate
It does not, of course, mean than Diam’s was immediately responsible for the
place they came to occupy in the political debate. It simply signals that mutations
that had been working French society for more than 20 years, partly relayed by
rappers, probably blown up by Diam’s, had matured enough to provide issues around
which the candidates, and their advisers, were likely to mobilize voters in a context
where ideological differences had become less and less salient. Since the beginning
of the 2000s, voters’ alignment with political parties tended to be much less stable
than in the preceding decades. Crises of identifications politically translated in an
increase in the number of citizens who did not recognize themselves neither in the
right, nor in the left. Those who have been called “ninistes”32 tend to be more
numerous among the youth and were indeed targeted by the principal candidates ;
one of their characteristics is that they adhere to emerging new combinations of
values, which political sociologists analyse as coming both from the stock of the right
and the stock of the left (Michelat & Tiberj 2007).
Nicolas Sarkozy, who had started an unofficial campaign very early, probably
at the time when he was Minister of the Interior, while emphasising the threat of
crime, the menace of immigration and the obligation to “love” and “respect” France,
pretended to take whatever “good ideas” he could find, even if they were considered
“leftist”. In so doing, he managed to appear less conservative and he forced the
other candidates to adopt campaign themes he had launched before them. One of
the consequences of his strategy, which was amply covered by the media, is that his
rivals, and the electorate at large, focused on the very issues he had selected. The
result was a kind of general contraction (crispation) on Nicolas Sarkozy’s themes
which brought some values, and in particular tolerance, to the background (Tiberj
2008). Nicolas Sarkozy also coated his themes in an “uncommon pathos of suffering
and love” (Le Goff 2008) which, paradoxically, evokes certain aspects of Diam’s raps,
and, again, was imitated by the other candidates, especially Ségolène Royal (Le Goff
2008). Eventually, electoral debates centred on values: hard work, achievement,
order, discipline, cultural diversity, feelings of belonging. Those were indeed values
that rap had engaged, albeit generally in a different perspective.
32
« Ni de droite, ni de gauche », neither rightists nor leftists.
16
When new values are ripe
In 2007, changes in value systems occupied the centre stage in the electoral
campaign. Nicolas Sarkozy, who won the presidential election, used some of the
emerging values but succeeded in hampering the impact of the trend towards new
ethical systems they were part of. These tendencies had been silently working
French society for about 30 years; they had been noticed and analysed by
sociologists in academic studies which were largely ignored in public debates; only
rappers did articulate them openly. But for a long time they were not taken seriously;
they were seen as vocal profferrers ejaculating the ire that was supposed to be
rampant among suburban youths, and even others, but certainly not as artists who
were able to convey in words and sounds serious concerns and dilemmas. New
values and original value systems came to occupy large place in the 2007 electoral
campaign not because they resonated strongly in raps, not even because Diam’s
made them more audible in 2006, through her album, her concerts and her
interviews, but because they had developed to a point where they could no longer be
ignored by politicians and journalists.
Rap as a “social revealer”
Such a situation is of particular interest for the social sciences, and especially
for the sociology of popular music. For it shows that rap, and popular music in
general, are not univocal expressions of revolt, of dissent, of rebellion against the
powers that are. Rap and popular music do not propose, nor even intrinsically
participate in a counter culture; they do not either present a prophetic vision of the
future. A more heuristic approach would be to treat them as “social revealers” that
bring to the surface processes of change which are under way but are not yet strong
enough to upset the foundations on which rests the present state of society; to
apprehend rap and popular music as phenomena which allow to “[…] detect the
flows of change under the dead waters of continuity.” (Balandier 1971: 86)
Popular music is one of the most fertile of the “social revealers” put in
evidence by George Balandier. Because it keeps transforming, because it is generous
in innovations and permanently adopts, and transforms, equipment and techniques
for producing and reproducing sound, popular music is attuned to social change,
including ethical change, and makes it felt in more or less direct ways. Popular music
may even play a key role in processes of change: because it relays some of the
ideas, representations and values that fuel them and puts them in an aesthetic form,
it contributes to their spreading, to extending their influence. In return the intensified
penetration of these ideas, representations and values among a larger public of
listeners may affect the very process of which they are part.
Popular songs, including raps, consist of an entanglement of sounds ―
themselves resulting from the interaction of various parameters relative to time,
pitch, relations between pitches, and timbre ― and words; their performance on
stage and in sophisticated video clips adds visual elements, in particular body
languages, to their communicative capacity. This multivalence allows popular music
17
to convey what most other art forms or aesthetic languages cannot: ambivalences
and contradictions. This is one of the reasons why popular music can make sensible
processes of change which are still immature, traversed by hesitation, indecision
uncertainty and doubt regarding morals, social order and the shape of a fuzzily
wished for society (Martin 2006). Rap has, in France, definitely played the role of a
“social revealer” precisely because it did not articulate one homogeneous social
vision and one solid set of ethical values, but a whole gamut of them, in which
ambivalences and contradictions were many. This is also why rap could relay new
combinations of values when the values associated in these combinations were still
construed as antithetical and irreconcilable, dichotomised in rightists or conservative
values and leftists or progressive values.
Dans ma bulle sold by the tens of thousand and got innumerable accolades
from fans and critics, not only because it was very well done and mixed astutely the
legacy of rap with elements borrowed to the tradition of French song. Its enthusiastic
reception resulted from the original combinations it proposed. Coming after about
twenty years of French rap, Dans ma bulle indicated, in an aesthetic form, which
were the novel combinations of values which were beginning to make more sense
than others for people born after 1980. It contributed to broadening their influence
and preluded to their incorporation in the public debate on the occasion of the 2007
electoral campaign. In this perspective, Dans ma bulle, and rap as a genre, can be
treated as “Unidentified Political Objects” (UPOs): phenomena ― religions, artistic
languages, festivals, sports, forms of sociability and commensality, etc. ― generally
neglected by conventional political science, judged insignificant with regard to
politics, which nevertheless express, transmit and contribute to remodelling social
representations of polities and politics (Martin dir. 2002). UPOs generally manifest
the queries and vacillations a society, and its members, undergo; they afford
opportunities for raising questions in an infinite variety of manners and can sketch
utopian answers to these questions… Considered as a “social revealer” and more
specifically as an UPO, Dans ma bulle remains an important document on France at
the beginning of the 21st Century.
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