She is the one everyone has been talking about for several weeks, the one that some people already nickname “the new star of Valid “. Laetitia Kerfa, 27 years old and the new face of Franck Gastambide’s series on the world of French rap, made her baptism of fire this Monday on Canal +, with the launch of season 2.
She succeeds Hatik, the headliner of last season, who bowed out after the brutal death of her character, Apash. A death that some fans have struggled to digest. “I myself watched the series and I can understand that it is hard to see the character that we followed and loved, die and disappear,” explains Laetitia Kerfa to 20 minutes. There was still a little pressure to take over. I hope I have done everything to be up to the task. “
Revealed at the theater
In this new season, she plays LAlpha, the new rapper to follow and the first signing of Apash Music, the label set up by William and Brahim in tribute to their missing friend. Until then little known to the general public, Laetitia Kerfa has distinguished herself under the name of Original Laeti in a few open mic and battles from the Paris region, within the hip-hop collective Keskiya, then solo. His rap could be heard on Radio Campus and Radio Libertaire or during concerts at the Alimentation Générale or at the Petite Maison as the opening act for Rocé.
It is however at the theater, in Aubervilliers, that the team of Valid spotted it. She was playing in Sale!, a piece signed Marion Siéfert. “Laetitia reminds me of artists like Damso and Angélica Liddell, who are not afraid to dig very deep in their soul to face dark, black, powerful and complex feelings”, writes the author in
the press kit of the coin in 2018.
“As soon as I saw her on stage, it was obvious,” Franck Gastambide told Sat Hebdo cable. As in Valid, Laetitia Kerfa intertwined in this piece rap and comedy, her two inseparable passions. “For me, everything is linked: the scenic aspect when I rap, the scenic aspect when I play the part and when I am on the set. It’s an evolution in my work, I learn every day and I see connections, ”she says. Difficult then to stick a label to him, between rapper or actress, the young woman chooses both: “I am an artist, I want to create and I try to do it by any means, by any means so much. that it’s artistic. I go where creativity takes me. “
Incisive flow and unwavering determination
On the film set of Valid, the actress and rapper quickly found her place. His arrival was “in the most natural way possible,” says Saïdou Camara, William’s interpreter. We’re the same age, the same hobbies, the same musical tastes, we’re going to see the same films… We had a lot in common so it was easy to identify with each other. With Brahim [Bouhlel] it’s the same thing, there was the same chemistry as with Hatik. This good understanding is reflected on the screen, as if Laetitia Kerfa had been part of the adventure from the start.
LAlpha seems like a role for her. She describes the heroine as “a woman who raps, who wants to get by in the world of rap, who seeks to achieve her dreams, who fights, but always in the positive”. The actress is also a rapper with a powerful flow and incisive lyrics. She did not participate in the writing of the scenario, but she signed her freestyles and her songs, in collaboration with Moussa Mansaly, alias “Mastar” in the series.
Other points in common between the young artist and her fictional character: “determination and resentment,” notes Saïdou Camara. They are two fighters. In truth, the only big difference between LAlpha and Laeti is that one is a mother and fights for her son and the other fights for herself. “
Combativeness, it takes to face all the trials that the character goes through in this second season of Valid… A single mother, LAlpha has to deal with particularly harmful ghosts from the past. As a woman in rap, she must also redouble her efforts to find her place in a toxic, hostile environment. She must avoid low blows while fighting against the prevailing sexism and misogyny.
“I myself encountered difficulties as an artist – I think like any artist – to try to show my art,” says Laetitia Kerfa. It’s an environment where you have to take your place and where you try to express yourself and be able to go on stage. Yes as an artist I felt difficulties, but not as a woman. “
“Impressed during the shooting and even more during the editing”
The issue of sexism is central in this new season. To seize the subject, the writers did not go dead hand there: mansplaining, misogynistic remarks, verbal and physical violence… Nothing or almost, is spared to the character, like a scene of battle particularly brutal in one of the episodes, where LAlpha is constantly belittled as a woman. “It was a difficult scene, recognizes Laetitia Kerfa, but not in relation to the fact that I am a woman. It’s rap contenders, the very principle is to get into your head the most clashes, punchlines, and be the best. It’s already something quite dynamic and it was the first time for me. It was more in that sense that it was complicated but it was still super interesting, there was a lot of adrenaline. “
The actress, who manages to distance herself from her character, delivers a remarkable performance throughout the series. “I was very impressed during the shooting and even more during the editing. The scenes that I shared with her were very intense, says Saïdou Camara. I think this is just the beginning for her, it would be a shame if she stopped there, she really has to keep going. “
Laetitia Kerfa intends to continue this momentum. “Now that I’m here I’m going to give my all, I’m going to fight to be able to perform, find roles, because that’s what I love to do. To be in the creativity and to be able to transform myself, to evolve in the acting… It is important ”. She does not give up music, however, and hopes to bring “surprises” in this area, before Christmas.