Kalash, Meryl, Kima, Tiitof… Between featuring, EP and tours, West Indian rap is exported beyond its borders to shake up the charts. In Creole, French or English, these artists show the general public the richness of Caribbean musicality. But is it so easy for these local singers to conquer the national scene? And how to help them promote their songs? Emmanuel Foucan alias Shorty has been working there for more than twenty years. In 2015, he founded his own media L’Oxymore “to document Caribbean urban cultures” such as rap, dancehall or bouyon through interviews with artists, musical formats and playlists on streaming platforms.
Juror in Les Flammes, the ceremony dedicated to rap and its currents on Thursday, he is participating this Friday in the second edition of the Centrale Place festival, a series of rap concerts indoor and outdoor in the heart of Les Halles in Paris. The co-manager of the communication agency Agence 88 is organizing “L’Oxymore on stage” there for the occasion, a set of Caribbean artists with Kima, Kiddyskur, Larose, Implacable, Rengy and DJ Greg. For this premiere, the artists come exclusively from Guadeloupe and Martinique. “I’m trying to open up in Guyana, but that brings us back to the difficulty of the price of plane tickets,” he explains. “It costs less for a Guadeloupean to go to Paris than to go to Guyana [le voyage est d’environ trois heures] “, he laments.
For 20 minutesthe 36-year-old entrepreneur talks about his project and the emergence of West Indian rappers on the national scene.
How did the concept of ” L’Oxymore on stage », this series of concerts with a set of Caribbean artists in Paris?
The adventures of L’Oxymore led us to meet the team of the La Place cultural center in Paris, to whom we presented our project. We first collaborated on interviews. They made premises available in the Cultural Center in Paris so that I could do interviews with Caribbean artists who were in Paris during my visits. It was then that they offered us to join a festival called Central Place, which returns for its second edition from May 9 to 13. It highlights the sure values, but also the new nuggets of French rap. And they offered us to make a set with Caribbean artists. This idea, being in the continuity of our mission and our desire to highlight and promote these Caribbean artists, we immediately accepted. And I received the support of many colleagues and creators of Caribbean content on the event.
It’s a first to achieve such a plateau when more and more Caribbean artists are making their mark on the national rap scene… Did you find it difficult to highlight these talents?
Broad question. Caribbean artists still perform regularly. There have been concerts with artists who fill rooms like Matieu White at La Cigale, Meryl at the Elysée Montmartre. But it’s true that within festivals really dedicated to French rap, it seems to me to be unprecedented. It’s something that was complicated some time ago, but for a few years, I think that after the years of work of Admiral T, the explosion of Kalash who is working a lot in this direction, we are starting to have much more interest from the French hexagonal scene. We feel the Caribbean urban culture more and more accepted within the institutions, a little French rap.
Are there specificities in Caribbean rap that are not found in other styles?
Yes, there are specificities, but I would not say that they are not found in the other styles. The geographical position of the French West Indies creates a crossroads of cultures. For example, we had access to American channels like BET long before France, that created influences. Obviously, there is all the Caribbean music that has rocked us, such as konpa, zouk, beguine, gwoka… And then, because we are still from French departments, there is also French variety, French rap, etc All of this makes for interesting mixes musically. And there is the Creole language which makes it possible to express ideas differently through the sounds, through its imagery. There are many expressions, comparisons. It provides wealth.
You were one of the jurors of the Flames, which celebrates the champions of rap and its many currents. How did that happen ? Are you proud to contribute to this celebration?
I am extremely proud to have contributed to this ceremony. I was really surprised to be contacted by the organizers, Booska-P and Yard. They presented the project to me and made this proposal. I answered in less than 30 seconds (laughs). I was talking about the fact that our Caribbean cultures were becoming more and more accepted and involved, and that’s exactly how I felt especially when I saw the other members of the jury with prestigious personalities from the rap music industry and the music industry. It is truly an honour.
Are Caribbean artists sufficiently represented there? There are notably Kalash, Maureen and Meryl…
There are Caribbean artists that we would have liked to see, but there were criteria for participating, namely having released an album, a piece or a work during the year 2022. As a result, certain artists who would have everything fully deserved their place were not present. Now, it’s up to them to release projects in 2023 for the next edition. Otherwise, we had representative artists and a very interesting category which is the Caribbean or Caribbean-inspired song of the year [remporté par Kalash et Maureen]. It restores value to the Caribbean. And there weren’t just named Caribbeans, but also French-speaking artists like Aya Nakamura and Damso.
What is missing in Kréyol (Creole) rap today to make itself heard better?
I think we should work to structure the sector, that there are real managers, bookers, artistic directors, etc. Unfortunately, perhaps due to a lack of resources or knowledge of the music industry, one person takes on almost all the roles and inevitably there are limits. By creating L’Oxymore, I also wanted to structure the media sphere a little by allowing rap and dancehall artists to come and defend their project, do promotion, talk about their creative process. Ideally, this should be done in all areas. But I have the feeling that it progresses gradually. Now, the framework must be strengthened in order to better defend projects with labels, festivals and possibly with other national and international artists in order to broaden the target and reach more and more people.