Beforeyou start reading this article make sure that you have in your headphones, possibly on a loop, this song.“Paname City Rappin’” was released in 1984.
Firmato, o meglio scratchato, da Dee Nasty the song and the record of the same name mark a key point, if not the beginning, of French hip hop.
While Hip Hop was already a burgeoning movement overseas, Europe had to wait a few more years to get to know it and experience its own culture.
And the France has been among the pioneers in this: it was able to fully embrace the pillars of HH – double acca – and bring them to almost cult status for fans of the genre.
Sino, oserei dire, ai massimi sistemi: basti pensare che la Breaking was introduced as an Olympic discipline in this very edition 2024.
Ma ora premi play e veniamo a noi.
[Did you know. The pillars of Hip Hop are: MCing, Djing, Writing, B-Boying. The first is the art of making rhymes on the microphone, the second is scratching with vinyl in the console, the third represents the art of graffiti, and the fourth includes breakdancing].
Imagine running through the streets of Paris, or perhaps you already have.
The beauty of the buildings, the iconic monuments, the long Seine.
But Paris is an unexpected set of creativity. A perfectly matching yin and yang, but drawn by the spray of a spray can.
Balance and vibrancy.
For just behind its glittering patina and crowded boulevards, there is another Paris pulsing beneath the surface: that of the underground movement, where hip hop music, graffiti and street art find the perfect dirt track. And if you thought you were doing a long run, know that instead you are about to start a half-marathon in the history of the Ville Lumière. 
The Paris underground is active several centuries before the arrival of modern sub-cultures.
As early as Roman times, the city had an intricate system of catacombs and burrows.
A puzzle of bones arranged in messy compositions: perfect ground for the birth of the underground, hidden but vibrant with life.
Hip Hop’s journey to Paris begins in the midst of the synths of the 80s.
Il movimento arriva dalla Grande Mela e travolge silenzioso il contesto francese.
Dee Nasty, con il suo album “Paname City Rappin'”, ha segnato un punto di svolta, impregnando di beat e scratch i muri e le strade della città.
Caleotte was. Radio Nova, where Dee Nasty starts putting out records.
A real scene is born.
Early breakdancers, such as the legendary Aktuel Force – of which Pascal-Blaise Odnize who captained the relay of the Paris Olympic Torch -, they performed in neighborhoods like Les Halles, beginning to collect an audience directly proportional to other crews to battle with.
Block parties in the Parisian suburbs became a meeting place for young people looking for an identity and a way to express themselves.
Rap, with pioneering artists at MIC such as. IAM and NTM, tells of the world as seen through the eyes of young people searching for their place in the world, full of life and also of anger.
The French scene cuts no corners: the gavetta is difficult and the competition very high but from which truly great artists emerge.
Try it to believe. Runlovers has collected some of the French HH’s best songs in “Runlovèrs #75”: playlists you can listen to on Spotify.
Life in records but also on walls.
It was during those very years that graffiti began to flourish on the walls of Paris.
Artists such as. Blek le Rat, among the pioneers of the stencil, and Invader, with its mosaics reminiscent of the well-known video game Space Invader, they spread a new language.
Disruptive, uncomfortable, revolutionary.
A language made of lettering but also figurative.
Street art in Paris is not only an act of rebellion, but also a dialogue with the city’s history and architecture.
Works appear on old buildings, bridges and even trains, creating a dynamic interaction between the new and the old, between contemporary creativity and old stones.
Neighborhoods such as Belleville and Ménilmontant have become veritable open-air galleries where local and international artists make their mark, telling stories of resistance, social struggle and hope.Telling the coexistence between the city of Paris and its underground cultural metropolis is exactly like the scenes in “Inception” in which the Ville Lumière takes center stage.
If in the film by Nolan time dictates the rules of the game; in real life, contrasts do.
As you marvel at the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre, beneath its epidermis you find a countercultural Paris, proving that its true soul lies in its hidden corners and rebellious voices.
And if you want to fully experience, having now arrived and reached the finish line of these 21 kilometers, a culturally and socially “underground” and “buried” Paris, you cannot fail to watch “The Hate” (La Haine) by Mathieu Kassovitz..
Interpretato da Vincent Cassel, il film segue la vita di tre amici – Vinz, Saïd e Hubert – nelle ore successive a una rivolta nella loro banlieue.
Girato in bianco e nero, “L’Odio” offre uno sguardo senza filtri sulla realtà della vita nelle periferie parigine, mettendo in luce la tensione tra giovani e autorità.
Le scene del film, molte delle quali ambientate nei sobborghi e nei sotterranei della città, riflettono perfettamente il senso di isolamento e di ribellione che caratterizza il movimento underground.
