The American rap and Francophone rap make hip hop music, which is also known as rap music. Rap music was formed by African-Americans living in the United States in the 1970s (Alim, Ibrahim, & Pennycook, 2009). The style of music comprises stylized rhythms, which are accompanied by rapping made up of a rhyming and a rhythmic speech that is chanted. Rap during that time developed as one of the major elements of hip hop culture. The other elements of hip hop include graffiti writing, DJing/scratching, and break-dancing. Hip hop as both a culture and music was developed when block parties became quite popular in New York. The people who contributed to its formation were mainly the African-American youth living in Bronx. At the parties, the DJs played breaks of famous songs using turntables so that they could extend the breaks. Rapping developed during that time as a vocal style that accompanied the synthesized or instrumental beat (Bronx, 2016). There are a lot of similarities between the American rap and Francophone rap, probably because the French rap originated from American rap.
In both Francophone rap and American rap, the music is mainly associated with young people living in poor living conditions. In America, the young rappers come from Bronx and other small towns. In France, the rappers emerged from the outskirts of big cities such as Nantes, Paris, Marseille, Lyon, and Rennes among others (Alim, Ibrahim, & Pennycook, 2009). The social and political status of minority groups that lived in such places directly influenced the development of French hip hop (Bretillon, 2014). Most of the rappers based in France lived in HLM rent-controlled housing. Additionally, in America, the young rappers faced hardships and poor housing conditions.
Both Francophone and American rap were mainly influenced by the surrounding. The rappers drew inspiration from their immediate environment (Alim, Ibrahim, & Pennycook, 2009). In their immediate environment, the young rappers felt the need to air their opinions and talk about what challenges they undergo through music. In those early rap songs, there is an aspect of poor living conditions in the ghettos (Bretillon, 2014). Such issues are addressed in the music where they encourage each other and find motivation to live in hardship. The young rappers also addressed the issues to the government and local authorities.
It is important to note that the main aim of music in the American rap and Francophone rap is to address the issues facing the community. In the early days, rappers address social issues such as drug trafficking, prostitution, robbery, violence, gangs, living in poor conditions, and poor education (Bretillon, 2014). Life in the ghettos and outskirts of major cities is not easy. Some of the challenges that people face include violence, drug trafficking and formation of gangs that rob from people. The rappers living in such areas find the need to eradicate such issues through music. Due to poverty and lack of employment, most youths engage in selling drugs. Rapping about drug trafficking helps the rappers to bring solutions to the drug cartels. Rap music is used as an inspiration for the victims (Alim, Ibrahim, & Pennycook, 2009). The rappers encourage them to find other ways of making a living. Use of drugs is also a major challenge in urban areas and ghettos, both the American rap and the Francophone rap are used to warn people against use of drugs. The rappers encourage the addicts to stop abusing drugs and to find healthy ways of living.
Rap music is mainly used to alleviate poverty. Rappers in America and French speaking countries see rap as a way of making money. Most of the rappers start small with little capital. Such people usually work hard to make a living (Bretillon, 2014). By engaging in rap, the young individuals hope to make money from it to improve their living standards. Most of the successful American and Francophone rappers have acquired a lot of wealth that completely changes their lifestyle as well as that of people surrounding them. In most cases, they start from a humble beginning and later accumulate wealth that enables them to improve the financial situation of their families.
American and Francophone rap involves listening to a rhythm and using rhymes to make the music develop a certain style. Use of rhyming words is highly treasured in both types of rap (Bretillon, 2014). The rhyming words make the music interesting and have a certain aspect of storytelling. Most rappers use rhymes to express their message. The music in both cases has a short chorus that is followed by different verses of rap. The chorus is sung in most cases. There are also some lines that are often repeated to strengthen the message being passed (Alim, Ibrahim, & Pennycook, 2009). The repetitions also make the music have a desirable feeling.
In modern day Francophone and American rap, the music has changed to gangster rap which is mainly associated with anger, police brutality, and contempt for authority. Some of the famous rappers in America known for gangster rap include Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre. On the other hand, rappers such as Didier Morville and Bruno Lopes also expressed their suffering through gangster rap. The two rappers suffered through racism and social inequality (Bronx, 2016). They all used music to reflect their reality to the public and the concerned authorities. The rap groups that engaged in gangster rap during the 1990s had a lot of legal battles with the authorities (Alim, Ibrahim, & Pennycook, 2009). Such rappers faced allegations of assault and incitement of hatred. Such type of music influences people to engage in prohibited activities such as formation of gangs, racism, and violence.
In both Francophone and American rap, music is part of a unique culture that is associated with different things. Francophone and American rappers have a unique way of living, wearing clothes and associating with other people. In most cases, rappers in both scenarios like living an extravagant life in the modern day (Alim, Ibrahim, & Pennycook, 2009). Rap in both cases is believed to be a tool that should be used to make life better for the youths. Rap is also believed to be a tool for airing any form of social oppression. Those rappers that talk about other things are said to have deviated from the original culture.
In the modern world, Francophone and American rap has been corrupted where the rappers use different types of beats, rhythms, and vocals. Rap in both cases has evolved where the upcoming rappers use some form of singing that is incorporated with rapping. The message passed across is also quite different from what was initially rapped about. Most of them engage in rap songs about women, riches, wealth and going against the norm. Initially rap songs were used to express the challenges faced and to bring a positive change to the community. From the above arguments, it is quite clear that there are a lot of striking similarities between Francophone and American rap.
Reference
Alim, H. S., Ibrahim, A., & Pennycook, A. (2009). Global linguistic flows: Hip hop cultures, youth identities, and the politics of language. New York, NY: Routledge.
Bretillon, C. J. (2014). ‘Ma Face Vanille’: White rappers, ‘Black Music’, and race in France. International Journal of Francophone Studies, 17(3-4), 421-443.
Bronx, H. (2016). Hip Hop is born at a birthday party in the Bronx – Aug 11, 1973 – HISTORY.com. HISTORY.com. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hip-hop-is-born-at-a-birthday-party-in-the-bronx
