"Rendons à Césaire ce qui appartient à Césaire". The construction and reception of dissonant memories in French rap

Abstract

Rap music emerged in France in the 1980s and became more and more popular. It is a major genre in the current French musical landscape. From its origin, French rap has been a protest genre, denouncing the poverty in the banlieues and the discrimination towards Black, Arab, or Muslim people in France. This research draws on postcolonial and memory studies to offer an analysis of French rap as conveying a dissonant memory. Analysing the mention of antiracist and anti-colonial figures, it shows how Médine, Kery James and Youssoupha offer carefully curated memories of these figures through their songs. I examine to what extent their work contributes to the public debate on French colonial history. Throughout the thesis I argue that rappers act as public historians and memory activists, transmitting to their audience the memory of historical events and figures that are marginalised in the French national narrative. Rappers contribute to memory work or devoir de mémoire of a dissonant memory by paying tribute to antiracist and anti-colonial leaders. Moreover, the artists place themselves in line with the anti-colonial and postcolonial struggles through reference to these figures, thus showing the continuity between past and current struggles in France. The figures are also used as cultural references. The thesis engages with song lyrics, popular press and YouTube responses, and with the rappers’ biographies to show how they do memory work in France. It concludes that while rappers have a strong influence on public debate within their fan network, they are less influential in the wider public debate.