{"id":5386,"date":"2011-04-15T05:53:46","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T03:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=5386"},"modified":"2017-10-19T13:25:57","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T11:25:57","slug":"the-first-hit-of-french-rap-early-90s-mais-vous-etes-fous-oh-oui-are-you-crazy-oh-yeah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/the-first-hit-of-french-rap-early-90s-mais-vous-etes-fous-oh-oui-are-you-crazy-oh-yeah\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Hit of French Rap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Ever wondered what the first French Rap song was like?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\nWell, in case you didn&#8217;t know it yet, the first super hit of <em>le rap <em>fran\u00e7ais <\/em><\/em>(French Rap) came out, not from France, but from &#8220;<em>le Plat Pays&#8221; <\/em>(&#8220;the Flat Country&#8221;), designating either a specific region of\u00a0<em>la Belgique <\/em>(Belgium), the one to which Jacques Brel once dedicated a famous song by the same name, or the country as a whole, by extension.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">* * *<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Before the Parisian group NTM, and its more &#8220;laid back&#8221;\u00a0<em>Marseillais <\/em>counterpart,\u00a0IAM, even saw the light (that would be back in 1989), the Belgian group <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">BENNY-B<\/span><\/span> was already out there.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And as you can see from the lyrics translated below, they were quite <em>fiers<\/em> (proud) of their <em>francophonie:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>&#8220;Oui, c\u2019est du rap fran\u00e7ais<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Yes, it\u2019s French Rap<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Plus fort que jamais!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Stronger than ever!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em> * * *<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Here is something to give you <em>une petite id<em>\u00e9<\/em>e <\/em>(a small idea) of what the big start of French Rap was like, back then:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">* * *<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"benny b mais vous etes fou.flv\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TL72gULkRQM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">* &#8220;<em>VOUS \u00caTES FOUS<\/em>&#8221; (&#8220;You&#8217;re Crazy&#8221;)&#8212;BENNY-B:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Mais qui l\u2019accompagne ? \u2026 BENNY B.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">But who&#8217;s with him? &#8230; BENNY B.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>B-E-2N, Y-B, mon nom \u00e0 moi, c\u2019est Benny B, oui tu l\u2019as devin\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">B-E- two Ns, Y-B, my name, it&#8217;s Benny B, yes you&#8217;ve guessed it<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Comme toi je veux la justice, essaye de d\u00e9fendre mes droits<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Like you I want justice, try to defend my rights<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Partout o\u00f9 tu vois la foule, c\u2019est qu\u2019on parle de moi<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Wherever you see a crowd, that&#8217;s where they&#8217;re talking about me<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Je descends des quartiers soi-disant mal fr\u00e9quent\u00e9s<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I hail from the so-called &#8220;bad neighborhoods&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>O\u00f9 la P.J. y passe les trois-quarts de la journ\u00e9e<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Where the Anti-Crime Police spends the three quarters of the day<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Mais j\u2019en ai marre de tout \u00e7a<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">But I&#8217;m sick and tired of all that<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>J\u2019en ai marre de cette vie l\u00e0<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I&#8217;m sick and tired of that kind of life<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Et pour sortir de cette impasse, je ferai n\u2019importe quoi !<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And to get out of this impasse I&#8217;ll do anything!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>MAIS VOUS \u00caTES FOUS ? OH OUI\u2026 (bis)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">WHAT, ARE YOU CRAZY? OH YEAH!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Merde, quand je vois dans la rue tous ces jeunes qui errent<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Shit, when I see in the street all these young people erring<em><br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Qui restent l\u00e0 \u00e0 ne rien foutre, moi je crie de col\u00e8re<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Who are there not doing a thing, I scream in anger<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Car ces farceurs ne savent pas qu\u2019il reste encore une chance<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Cause these jokers don&#8217;t know that there&#8217;s still a chance<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Ils n\u2019en n\u2019ont rien \u00e0 cirer, pour eux \u00e7a n\u2019a pas d\u2019importance<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">They don&#8217;t give a damn, for them that doesn&#8217;t have any importance<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Mais je ne suis pas comme eux, je veux me d\u00e9foncer<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">But I&#8217;m not like them, I want to fight hard<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Je ferai tout c\u2019que je peux pour que \u00e7a puisse marcher<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I&#8217;ll do all I can to make things work out<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Montrer \u00e0 tous ces b\u00e2illeurs\u00a0que le monde est beau<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">To show to all these sleepyheads that the world is beautiful<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Qu\u2019une fois que c\u2019est parti, tu te sens le plus fort !<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">That once it&#8217;s started, you&#8217;ll feel the strongest<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>MAIS VOUS \u00caTES FOUS ? OH OUI\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">WHAT, ARE YOU CRAZY? OH YEAH&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Je fais parti des B Boys, c&#8217;est un style qu&#8217;on redoute<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I&#8217;m part of the B Boys, it&#8217;s a dreaded style<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>A la radio, \u00e0 la T.V si jamais tu nous \u00e9coutes<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">On the radio, on TV if you ever listen to us<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Je veux que tu penses \u00e0 nous<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I want you to think of us<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Et que tu dises une fois pour toute aux gens qui nous ne aiment pas<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And to say once and for all to the people who don&#8217;t like us<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Qu\u2019on poursuivra notre route<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">That we shall continue our way<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Oui, c\u2019est du rap fran\u00e7ais<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Yes, it&#8217;s French Rap<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Plus fort que jamais<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Stronger than ever<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Apportant avec lui le fond de tous ses secrets<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Bringing with it all its deepest secrets<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Mais nous, les B Boys, on ne peut s\u2019emp\u00eacher d\u2019\u00e9couter<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">But we, the B Boys, we can&#8217;t stop to listen to<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Si tu comprends pas, heh\u2026, c\u2019est que t\u2019es pas branch\u00e9\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If you don&#8217;t get it, heh&#8230;, it&#8217;s because you&#8217;re not IN&#8230;<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>MAIS VOUS \u00caTES FOUS ? OH OUI\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">What, ARE YOU CRAZY? OH YEAH&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Mon nom \u00e0 moi, c\u2019est Benny B., le B Boy le plus tendre<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">My name is Benny B., the softest B Boy<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Je chante ma chanson \u00e0 qui veut bien l\u2019entendre<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I sing my song to whomever wishes to listen to it<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Je trouve de nouveaux beats, de nouveaux tubes \u00e9tonnants<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I come up with new beats, new stunning hits<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Et crois moi bien, d\u2019i\u00e7i peu, je serai le plus grand<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And believe me, very soon, I shall be the greatest<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Car je ne suis pas comme eux, je veux me d\u00e9foncer<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Because I&#8217;m not like them, I want to fight hard<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Je ferai tout c\u2019que je peux pour que \u00e7a puisse marcher<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I&#8217;ll do all I can to make it work out<em><br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Montrer \u00e0 tous ces b\u00e2illeurs\u00a0que le monde est beau<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">To show to all these sleepyheads that the world is beautiful<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Qu\u2019une fois que c\u2019est parti, tu te sens le plus fort !<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">That once it&#8217;s started, you&#8217;ll feel the strongest<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Oui \u00e0 tous ces b\u00e2illeurs\u00a0que le monde est beau<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Yes, to all these sleepyheads that the world is beautiful<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Qu\u2019une fois que c\u2019est partie, tu te sens le plus fort !<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">That once it&#8217;s started, you&#8217;ll feel that you&#8217;re the strongest!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>YO !<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">YO!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">* * *<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Et que sont-ils devenus depuis<\/em> (What have they become since then?)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Here is a recent\u00a0<em>reportage <\/em>(report) that tells you all:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=01eciX5F0H4\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=01eciX5F0H4<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Premi<em>\u00e8<\/em>re partie <\/em>(Part 1) <em>&#8211; BENNY-B aujourd&#8217;hui <\/em>(today)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=t_9EucIjqBk\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=t_9EucIjqBk<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Deuxi\u00e8me partie <\/em>(Part 2) &#8211; BENNY-B <em>aujourd&#8217;hui <\/em>(today)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"345\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2011\/04\/vul33g1n-350x345.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image tmp-hide-img\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2011\/04\/vul33g1n-350x345.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2011\/04\/vul33g1n.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Ever wondered what the first French Rap song was like? Well, in case you didn&#8217;t know it yet, the first super hit of le rap fran\u00e7ais (French Rap) came out, not from France, but from &#8220;le Plat Pays&#8221; (&#8220;the Flat Country&#8221;), designating either a specific region of\u00a0la Belgique (Belgium), the one to which Jacques Brel&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/the-first-hit-of-french-rap-early-90s-mais-vous-etes-fous-oh-oui-are-you-crazy-oh-yeah\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":23810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[108,13],"tags":[8580,24647,24653,24656,277,8768,11557,24520,9217,24649,24655,24652,24651,24648,24654,24650],"class_list":["post-5386","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-vocabulary","tag-belgium","tag-benny-b","tag-daddy-k","tag-early-90s","tag-francophonie","tag-french-rap","tag-iam","tag-jacques-brel","tag-la-belgique","tag-le-plat-pays","tag-les-annees-1990","tag-mais-vous-etes-fous","tag-ntm","tag-rap-francais","tag-reportage","tag-the-flat-country"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5386"}],"version-history":[{"count":58,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28270,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5386\/revisions\/28270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}