Hip Hop and the Riots in France

The concept of the "streets" is a funny one. For most people in hip hop that means some kind of commitment to the hood, to thug life and, sometimes, to the notion that the unruliness of hip hop has revolutionary potential. Actually it's simultaneously more complicated and yet simpler than that, but I raise the idea because, for me, a commitment to the streets is more about marches and demonstrations and rioting.

That may sound strange coming from someone who covers business news, but I've never claimed to not be strange. Though I haven't been following the details of the rioting in France, I do think it's a phenomenon that will be mostly misrepresented in the mainstream press and mostly misunderstood by the American people.

I believe that if I was following French hip hop, some of which is created by members of the communities that are currently rioting, I would have many references to the conditions that are sparking current unrest, because this stuff has been building for years. Suffice it to say that many of the rioters are kids whose immigrant families have been treated as outsiders and housed in projects. You know the drill, even if you've only seen it on tv.

As described in the NY Times:
"Discrimination has flourished behind the oft-stated ideals [of French society], leaving immigrants and their French-born offspring increasingly isolated in government-subsidized apartment blocks to face high unemployment and dwindling hope for the future."

Just as hip hop music has sometimes served as the CNN of the hood, so too does some of French hip hop play that role. However, hip hop movies have also helped educate folks, even the bad flicks. So if you're trying to understand the situation in France, you could get a lot from the film La Haine which translates as Hate. La Haine was released in 1995 and focuses on conditions in the communities that we now see in flames, though they seem to have taken the step that American rioters rarely do. They've left the ghetto and headed for the centers of power.

Here's one plot summary
"Injured by a police inspector during an interrogation, Abdel is at a hospital, almost dead. In the suburbs where he lives, some riots happened during the night, and one policeman lost his gun. One of Abdel's friends, Vinz, finds it. Vinz and his two pals, Said and Hubert, have nothing to do so they try to kill time. Vinz swears that if Abdel dies, he will shoot a policeman."

In addition to being a great movie, I found La Haine to be educational in similar ways to Boyz n the Hood. And, guess what? The La Haine soundtrack features French hip hop.

Update: I was just updating the Amazon info and noticed that the VHS version (there doesn't seem to be a U.S. dvd release) was listed in videos at no. 100 today, a huge jump from yesterday's no. 3,157. I haven't done a search but I'm betting some major media outlet is making the obvious connections that I'm making.

Though it wouldn't have affected US video sales (I don't think), the UK's Independent mentions the film:
La Haine: Schools, synagogues and hundreds of cars burn. It's Paris 2005

Available from Amazon:
Video/VHS - Hate aka La Haine
DVD/Import - La Haine
Soundtrack/Import - La Haine

Comments

[zubi]

its ma first time.
i'm a nigerian livin in ma country.i produce 4 a couple of rappers, & it's growin gradually here. can i send ma video 2 u guys 2 see, & how would i do dat?
i want our hip hop 2 grow both locally & internationally,
i'd appreciate ur advice
tanx

[Gonul Turker]

Hello I would like to be able to spread the coming of Brian 'Footwork' Green to Istanbul at Fazils Studio NYC. How can I make this be known to Europe?
Thank You
Gonul