Lève-toi, un discussion post de ouf just dropped
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MC Solaar’s absolute tune Lève-toi et rap speaks not only of his life growing up as a West African immigrant in Paris, but also paints a picture of the racism and violence that shapes the lives of many in the city. Through his genius rap lyrics, the song is able to highlight discriminatory attitudes and systemic oppression, hinting at the daily challenges faced by those targeted by racism. The line “dans les quartiers où la hain règne” captures the tense and hostile atmosphere in marginalised urban areas, where violence often stems from social and economic exclusion, usually causing many to resort to joining gangs, to which MC Solaar rejects the idea; “tes ouf ou wak”. The lyrics also highlight the pervasive nature of police brutality, such as the line “on est coupable avant d’être jugé”, which underscores the unjust racial profiling black men often fall victim to, reflecting systemic issues within law and enforcement and the judicial system.
Additionally, the title of the song itself is a sort of call to action, rallying people to resist violence and injustice through non-violent means such as art and expression. It is clear that this was a common theme throughout his life, with his mother who “sait que le savoir sera mon seul allié”, meaning that in this environment where violence and injustice is very prominent, his only “ally”, or means of survival, would be his education and culture. The lines “On m'en voulait parce que j'avais ce qu'ils voulaient / Un style qui m'était propre et le verbe au plus-que-parfait” stood out to me as MC Solaar uses a grammatical play on words as a way of asserting his linguistic superiority and talent in rapping. People are jealous of his abilities and would not peg him, as a black West African immigrant, as someone who could maîtrise le français to such an extent that he has more success in the industry than them.
Baldwin also speaks of police violence towards Algerians in the first chapter of this book No Name in the Street, in relation to colonial nostalgia as a root cause of hateful attitudes towards Algerians by the French. In this chapter, Baldwin characterises French attitudes towards Algerians in Paris as a toxic mix of disdain, fear and colonial arrogance. He highlights the economic exclusion experienced by these Algerians as “they appeared to spend most of their time sitting around, drinking tea, in their cafés”, rather than freezing in their overcrowded homes, but were seen as lazy by French society (Baldwin, 2). He underlines the systemic marginalisation of Algerians, as “they were mostly unable to find work”, as well the underlying insecurities of the French, particularly as their colonial empire crumbled following the fall of Dien Bien Phu. It is therefore clear that Algerians are portrayed as embodying both the visible failure of French imperialism and the resistance to its cultural domination since “the Arabs did not wish to be civilised” and were supposedly allowed, through French generosity, to maintain their “their customs, their dialects, languages, tribes, regions, another religion, or, perhaps, many religions” (Baldwin, 4).
Baldwin also draws attention to the escalating hostility of the police by connecting this aggression to the psychological toll of the empire’s decline: “The challenged authority, unable to justify itself […] simply increased its force” (3). The French police’s actions reflect a broader national anxiety about identity and power, channelled into violence against Algerians. This ties closely with the time Baldwin witnessed the police “beat an old, one-armed Arab peanut vendor senseless in the streets” while he had “watched the unconcerned faces of the French on the café terraces” (5). This exposes the contradictions of French self-perception and identity. While priding themselves on their supposed lack of American-style racism and their “civilising mission”, they simultaneously failed to “civilize” the Arabs, whom they regarded as inferior and untrustworthy. What struck Baldwin was the absurdity of this hypocrisy and double standard as they labelled him, a black African-American as “civilized”, while the Algerians, who were victims of the same colonial logic, were vilified and uncivilisable (4).
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yoooooooo 🤩