A Review of Two French Rap Albums - Still Fresh and Yaro
Two underground French rappers Still Fresh and Yaro bring addictive concoctions of colorful production, melodic rhythms, fluid flows and catchy melodies, reinforcing the diversity of the world's largest hip hop market after the United States.
The French hip hop scene is highly diverse and interesting. France has a range of rappers covering all sorts of areas on the sonic landscape, from afrobeat and afroswing to drill to trap to jazz and alternative and more. Indeed, many artists have mashed them together, resulting in creative fusions of sub-genres and being reinforced by arguably, one of the most hip-hop and poetic friendly languages out there; French. And here is where Still Fresh and Yaro come in.
Born in 1993, Still Fresh is a rapper from the 20th arrondissement (doesn't this word sound fancy?) of Paris and having been signed to Sony since 2010, has been prevalent in underground French rap, having dropped a plethora of mixtapes and albums since 2011. AMOUR NOIR 4 SAISONS is his latest project and having listened to his other projects, would say this is his best one. Lyrically, admittedly, I can't really comment as I'm not a French speaker so I will focus on production and flows. Same goes for Dernier Etage.
The 23-song album is essentially a mosaic of a range of sounds and instruments, from soothing piano chords, pensive and catchy guitar melodies, African influenced rhythms and more. Across the board, Still Fresh showcases his versatile flows, grounded in a combination of singing reminiscent of a crooner, rapping reminiscent of global rap's turn to auto-tuned rap and adjusts to beats with precision.
Highlights include the ruminant and snappy ENNEMIS where he glides on the beat and transitions between different flows effortlessly, CONFIANCE, which is an under three minute journey of serenity and calm with its dreamy chords and gentle pace and NE M'EN VEUX PAS featuring fellow rapper Sneazzy (also someone whose music is dope!) with the kind of beat, melody and flows evident of artists from Atlanta and London. The whole project however is not one to disappoint and for anyone who is a fan of artists like J Hus, Mr Eazi and Wizkid amongst some, this would make you feel at home.
MAUVAIS MOOD, T'AS GECHAN and QUESTION DE LOVE featuring singer Bambi, are also standouts and are ridiculously catchy also.
With inventive and exotic-sounding production, sharp flows and soothing tones, Still Fresh definitely has shone on this project and honestly it is one of the best French rap albums I've heard and has production and flows rivalling those of British and American projects.
VERDICT: Still Fresh solidifies his presence as a genre-fusing and creative artist and it is fair to say this album is a sonic pleasure. I would give this an 8/10, and would recommend.
Previously named Sirsy, Yaro is a rapper also from the Parisian suburb of Essonne (you get the idea that Paris is the nexus of rap francais) and is affiliated with French rap superstar Ninho with whom he has collaborated on tracks such as Dernier Etage , Bucci Night and La Jeu to name a few. Having begun his solo career in 2017, he has dropped three albums since then, with Tout Droit being his late offering.
The 16-track album is also a montage of the various sounds present in French rap and has the same kind of sonic diversity as AMOUR NOIR 4 SAISONS if not more, comprising of hard-hitting Atlanta-style trap, new age drill, Afro-influenced rhythms and more, all grounded by captivating melodies, dexterous flows and tones and masterful and diverse production.
Highlights include Dernier Etage with addictive melodical tones and where Ninho and Yaro go back in forth and display their sonic chemistry, along with Midweek where drill and the affirmative presence of a cheery guitar melody meet with Yaro's skippy and stirring rhythms and Ma Nana, a comparatively slower-paced track which is drowsy and energetic concurrently but a sonical microcosm of tranquility.
Poto and Dis Moi featuring singer Chilla are also pretty dope and in many ways are prototypes of the project overall. Heavily Afroswing and Afrobeat-influenced 'Poto' in particular with its tempo and flow is an example of Yaro's wide diversity and ability to hop on all kinds of beats with ease.
VERDICT: Yaro definitely shows his mastered artistry and musical versatility on this project and just like Still Fresh, could give British and American rappers for their money and the same could be said with their production. This is probably my favourite French rap project so I give it a 10/10.
The lack of knowing French aside, these albums and French rap overall are pretty dope and underrated in my opinion. If you're interested in rap francais though, I'd definitely recommend you check these projects out!.
Written by Rean Rehman
My name is Rean and I’m currently doing a Masters in International Relations. I’ve always loved writing and have been passionate about it since I was a child. I’m a huge fan of politics, reading and music and I also love long walks, travelling and playing video games. So there’s a somewhat basic profile of me I guess.
Opinion
