Rap Attack (2002)
Character: Self
A documentary at the heart of French rap in 2002: its beginnings, its history, its influences. Featuring interviews, freestyles, and previously unseen live performances from French rap artists. Dance, graffiti, and DJing are explored with most of the pioneers of the movement, such as Squat, Dee Nasty, Crazy B, Lionel D, Kool Shen, DJ Mehdi… as well as Mode2 and Jon One for graffiti. The 1 hour and 20 minutes alternate between footage of concerts and artists in the studio, like DJ Pone, with commentary primarily from rappers but also from other key figures. A remarkable retrospective and work beginning with archival photos from New York.
Je rap donc je suis (1999)
Character: Self
Rap ? Violent words, a social chronicle without complacency at a time of the politically correct and a wishywashy consensus. Twenty years after its first babblings in the popular quarters of New York, rap has imposed its presence beyond the borders. Je rap donc je suis (I Rap Therefore I Am) goes around five different towns where it meets rappers driven by the same motivation. In Paris and its suburbs, Marseille and its districts, Algiers, London or Berlin, rappers move, play, record, teach... And above all, they talk. Outside of any promotional context, the present-day heralds of French hip-hop, from La Rumeur to IAM, speak about the role of rap, the environment in which it was born, boredom, the feeling of belonging to a sacrificed generation, drugs in districts of towns, immigration, parents, political and social actors, the police, school, writing, money, the parallel economy, violence...