Let’s do a Friday Diaspora edition. There are some half-baked attempts at linking the videos in here. But don’t take them too seriously. French-Congolese Youssoupha on living in France in ‘Irréversible’ (he couldn’t not refer to the charges laid against him):
Four moments that stirred heated debate in France this year were the cases against rapper Youssoupha and IMF Head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the unveiling of the Paris exhibiton Human Zoos: The Invention of the Savage, curated by former French footballer Lilian Thuram, and the 50th anniversary of Frantz Fanon’s death. With the latter came the publication in French of Fanon’s Œuvres (La Découverte, 800 p.), with a preface by Achille Mbembe (‘L’universalité de Frantz Fanon’). When we approached Mbembe for an English version of the text, he sent us the following shorter essay — which we offered to translate from the original French.
It’s the return of one of the best R&B artists in French. K-Reen is back with a new track called “Like Before” featuring rapper Youssoupha. Her album of should be out in March 2012. And here’s a link to a clip of an acoustic version of the song:
Kinshasa-born rapper Youssoupha moved to France at the age of 10. Ever since releasing his first tapes he’s been strident in his critique of the French media’s lazy depicting of the festering banlieues. In 2009, columnist Éric Zemmour filed a complaint against Youssoupha after being name-dropped in one of his songs. Back then, Youssoupha reacted in an open letter in Le Monde. And now through this new video.
The best rap music video I’ve seen in a while (I don’t care much for rap music anymore). “l’effet papillon” (the butterfly effect) by the French rapper, Youssoupha. I like the way the video combines bling, African history, the connections between Kinshasa and Paris, etc. Youssoupha has music in his genes (if there is such a thing). He is the son of Tabu Ley Rochereau (if you don’t who that is, I am sorry). Youssoupha, whose mother is Senegalese, also has a degree in literature from the Sorbonne.
