The paradox of French hip-hop, a dominant but undervalued style

Hip-hop has been dominating French music for almost ten years. A musical genre that combines French rap, Afropop, and Caribbean-inspired music, whose works have topped the charts for the most streamed tracks and album sales every year since 2016. For the third year, artists from this vast musical movement will be honored at the Flames ceremony on May 13 at La Seine Musicale in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine). But this popular success paradoxically barely shows up in the media sphere.

This was a side effect of the Toubon law of August 4, 1994, which was unexpected to say the least: by requiring radio stations to broadcast at least 40% French-language songs, its entry into force gave French hip-hop its first hours of glory. The stations then fell back on the titles of French rappers who had until then hardly ever been exposed. The emergence of Skyrock, whose editorial line focused on rap since 1996 , completed the establishment of this music as a genre in its own right.

The success of Skyrock and the emergence of other radio stations like Générations and Mouv' subsequently spread French hip-hop more widely. But despite the unprecedented success of this musical genre over the past decade, its broadcast on more mainstream radio and television remains limited and inconsistent. In 2020, French-language hip-hop represented 62% of the "Top 200 streaming singles," according to the annual reports of the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). That same year, songs from this musical genre represented only 11% of the "Top 100 radio" charts.

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