Finally ! Aya Nakamura, snubbed for the major trophies at the Victoires de la Musique, was crowned artist of the year during the first Flames ceremony, dedicated to rap and its currents, on the night of Thursday to Friday at the Châtelet theater, in Paris. For the full stream, it’s here.
Among the other big winners, Gazo, representative of the drill, a dark current of rap from Chicago, was crowned male artist of the year and won Spotify album of the year, the music platform being a partner in the ceremony. .
dinosaurs, with Winter in Paris, an album tinged with melancholy, receives the prize for rap album of the year. “As we are in front of the whole (music) industry, I want to say that we have to be more united”, dropped the microphone who had become the first rapper to sing at the Césars, the high mass French cinema at the start of the year.
Tiakola, the rising star
But the future is called Tiakola. The 23-year-old rapper from the Paris region won the award for new pop album of the year (Melo), as well as the Flame of the R’n’B song (Cheersin collaboration with Hamza) and that of the Afro-inspired track (Soza).
The Flames therefore began to repair the odds of the Victories, who never knew how to go about it with rap, yet present in France for forty years. Like in 1999, when the Manau group, claiming to be a Celtic variety, received, embarrassed, the rap trophy – which no longer even exists – in front of the NTM monument.
Aya Nakamura, the most heard French-speaking singer in the world, only won a minor trophy for the most streamed female artist… This time, at 28, she won a statuette at her height.
The Rat Luciano, the pioneer
Les Flammes looked at the present of rap/r’n’b’/new pop, its future, but also paid tribute to its past. Rat Luciano, a figure of Marseille rap, received the “Eternal Flame”, awarded to pioneers and presented by SCH, a modern Marseille rapper.
A scent of a big event floated in the air for this premiere: streets around the Châtelet closed to traffic by the police and a parade of celebrities on the red carpet. The oldest recognized the rappers Stomy Bugsy and Passi (Sector Ä) or the ex-footballer Lilian Thuram (1998 world champion). The youngest gave voice to Hamza or Kerchak (with his balaclava, a trend in rap, since he later sang a duet on stage with Ziak, also hooded).
Fally Ipupa, star of the new Congolese pop, and the artist who is now called Christine and the Queens also came. One to receive an honorary prize and play on stage, the other to present a distinction.
Fary hits the mark
Fary, stand-up star, provided the opening show, gently mocking rappers who scratch the French language: “Gazo, he can make oral deletions”.
This new ceremony, “is what was missing: rap, r’n’b and new pop dominate the charts, the programming of festivals, inspire pop culture as rock did before, but are not rewarded at their fair value”, explains to AFP Tom Brunet, co-founder of YARD. This communication and events media/agency is at the initiative of Les Flammes with Booska-P, a media stamped “popular cultures”. Without forgetting Smile, a consulting agency. The rap/R’n’B/new pop ticket dominates the top 10 best-selling albums in France, since in 2022 Clara Luciani (10th) was the only artist from variety.
Enough to validate the creation of the Flames, broadcast live on Booska-P’s YouTube channel, on the 6play platform, on Twitch (on the address of the streamer Maxime Biaggi) and delayed on W9. Comedian and actress Fadily Camara, mistress of ceremonies, knew how to give rhythm to an evening where the awards paraded faster than at the Victoires de la Musique.