‘Chez les mélancoliques anonymes‘: French Rap and Emotion, 1981-2012

French rap provides a resounding poetic and political critique of the societal status quo. Unusually for a genre of music, it speaks in political concord, using similar diction and theme across artist and time when attempting to engage society and the State in a dialectic about a future, more inclusive France. Rappers look to a prospective existence where they, and the communities they represent, will be given their due justice, and their loyalties to France will be reciprocated.

These ostracized citizens and residents are relegated to a periphery of rights in the everyday, while bearing witness to a theoretical political rhetoric of tolerance and inclusion. This paper will detail the feeling of injustice and the desire to belong that pervades a large volume of French rap between 1981 and 2012.

Paroma Ghose is a historian of music, culture, and national identity. She earned her PhD from the Graduate Institute in Geneva in September 2020. She is also the author of the bilingual blog 'Le Point d'Interrogation' in French and English in collaboration with the Swiss newspaper Le Temps. She is a fellow of the Pierre du Bois Foundation for Current History. She tweets as @paromaghose.