MC Solaar is the
stage
name of
Claude M'Barali (born March 5, 1969),
a
francophone hip hop and rap artist. Solaar is one of the
most internationally popular and influential
French rappers.
,
As a rapper MC Solaar is known for his complexity, which relies on
wordplay, lyricism, and philosophical
inquiry. The music is based on dance rhythms.
In the
English-speaking world, Solaar was signed by London
acid jazz label Talkin'
Loud and invited to record with British group Urban Species and
Guru, a member of the famous and
highly-acclaimed New
York
group Gang Starr.
He has since released seven studio records and one live album and
currently lives with his wife, French actress Chloé Bensemoun, and
their only son, Roman.
Biography
Early life and career debut
Claude
M'Barali was born in Dakar
, Senegal
to parents
of Chadian
origin. When he was six months old his parents
immigrated to France
where they
eventually settled in the Paris
suburb of
Villeneuve-Saint-Georges.
At age
twelve he went to Egypt
for nine
months where he discovered the Zulu Nation and became fascinated with
the rapping styles of Afrika
Bambaataa. Upon his return he began to focus perhaps
more on music but still studied enough to pass the
baccalauréat. It has been said that his
constant support from his mother was one of the reasons that he was
able to pass the
baccalauréat and
still create music. He coined the
stage
name "MC Solaar" in his teens from his
graffiti tags "SOAR" and "SOLAAR".
He studied languages at the University of Jussieu, and was
post-graduate in philosophy. He released his first single in 1990.
MC Solaar went to Paris in the summer of 1991 with his friend
Jhonny Jay in hopes of succeeding in the music industry. Success
came quickly when his first single,
Bouge de là ("Take a
Hike"), based on a sample from
Cymande's
song
The Message (1973) became a hit in early 1990's. This
song was all about brushing people to the side and not having time
for them; this is evident in the lyrics, of which an excerpt
follows (translated to English):
I went straight over to Lucie's
Who loves dogs, cats and 30 millions d'amis
She says to me 'Do you love animals, my super MC?'
I said 'Yes I love them, with salt and well cooked'
She goes to me "Take a Hike!"
"Take a Hike!"
(
30
Millions d'Amis (trans - 30 million friends) is a French
charity for the protection of animals.)
Many rappers who came out of Africa at the time spoke a lot about
slavery and other topics in order to bring the history of their
people into light. Nevertheless, the song went platinum in France
and ascended to number five on the national charts.
1991–1997: Early success and Prose Combat
breakthrough
After the success of
Bouge de là, Solaar went on to
support the famous American rap group
De La
Soul when they performed at the Olympia in Paris in September
1991. At the close of 1991 Solaar released
Qui Sème le Vent
Récolte le Tempo which went on to sell over 400,000 copies
in France.
With the success of his début album in
France, the French rapper embarked upon extensive tours of Poland
and Russia
. In
December 1992 he performed in twelve countries in West Africa,
where his French rap style proved extremely popular with
African music fans.
MC Solaar returned to the studio in 1994, recording
Prose Combat. The album sold 100,000 copies in
the first week of its release and became a best seller in 20 other
countries. He was rewarded for his efforts when in February 1995 he
received an award for Best Male Singer of the Year at the 10th
edition of the French "Victoires de la Musique" awards. Solaar went
back to the studio in 1997 with longtime friend and producer Jimmy
Jay to record his third album,
Paradisiaque.
The album was another
success, which led to an extensive European tour starting on
January 9 at the Zénith
in
Paris. His talents led to international interest from places
such as Germany in Europe and all the way to Japan and the United
States not long after. He was even included as a guest in
"Gangstarr's Guru Jazzmatazz" project, and one of his songs was
included in the Tommy Boy rap compilation in the States.
Early on in MC Solaar's career it was important for him to share
the struggles and the different hardships for Black people that
migrated to France and tried to make a living. Most of his music
was dedicated to enlightening the population of a specific deeper
message that connected to him in his life. "...he addresses the
conditions under which Black people have migrated to and settled in
France. In the piece 'Leve-toi et rap,' he describes his Chadian
parents' migration from Senegal to a Parisian suburb, the main
stages of his teenage years and how he finally came to discover
rap." (Africa on their Mind: Rap, Blackness, and Citizenship in
France by Veronique Helenon)In an interview MC Solaar describes the
feeling of making a song and the thought process while just writing
any part of lyrics that go into his music. "I write quickly,
because of the music, he tells me. It’s much easier if you have the
music, the rhythm, but I am fast. First, I have taken in
“everything.” Do you never write before the music? Ah. I used to,
he admits. But when I met the music, I changed."
[27006]
1997–2003: Cinquième As and Mach 6
Solaar's career continued to evolve throughout the late nineties
and into the new millennium. He released
Cinquième As in 2001 to critical
acclaim and
Mach 6 in 2003.
In the
third track on Cinquième
As entitled "Lève-Toi et Rap", Solaar describes his
parents' Chadian emigration as well as his own roots growing up in
Villeneuve-Saint-Georges
and Cairo
.
Towards the beginning of the song he says:
Puis trip en Egypte,
Ecole Française du Caire/ Pour parfaire mon flow et mon
vocabulaire/ Là j'ai appris l'humilité, la peur des cartouches/ Pur
style de sniper camouflage paw-mouche, which, translated,
roughly means he spent time at a French school in Cairo, perfecting
his rapping style and learning how to survive a dangerous
lifestyle. Critic
Dan Gennoe attests to
Solaar's "flow et vocabulaire" by noting "the flow of his words is
staggering, as are the low-slung grooves that they roll to; deftly
vaulting all language barriers."
The cover of "Cinquième As" depicts Solaar topless, and draws
comparisons to captives about to be taken onto a slave ship.
However, a look at the inside cover reveals Solaar to be in a
wrestler's costume, along with the other men in the picture. As
Veronique Helenon discusses in her article concerning the French
hip hop scene, references to Africa and "blackness" are a very
important part of Solaar's music. Minorities are often excluded in
French society and the number of immigrants in France has been
referred to as a "problem". Solaar recognizes and pays tribute to
the African presence in France by using boxing and wrestling
references. Senegalese boxer
Battling
Siki is referenced in the album's booklet. Although Siki won
the light heavyweight boxing championship in 1922, he still faced
racism from journalists. This image combined with songs concerning
colonial oppression and the migration experience from Africa to
France show Solaar's "blackness," something that is extremely
important in France's hip hop scene. For example, in his song 'Les
Colonies', Solaar discusses the similarities between the oppression
of Africans by colonialists to the modern day exploitation of
"third world" countries. "Cinquième As" includes lyrics in French,
English, and Spanish, which represents his ideals that rap should
be inclusive of all people.
2004–Present: Chapitre 7 and international
acclaim
The first single "
Da Vinci Claude" from Solaar's latest
album
Chapitre 7 launched in
March 2007. The album was released on June 18, 2007. MC Solaar
increased his fan base in
North
America in early 2004, when his 2001 song "La Belle et Le Bad
Boy" was featured on the final episode of the popular television
series
Sex and the City.
It has reached new popularity when the top MTV series "The Hills"
featured the song, creating a new buzz for his 2007 album. MC
Solaar remains best-known outside of France for his work on Guru's
Jazzmatazz project and as a
guest rapper on the
Missy Elliott
track "All N My Grill". Collaboration with Elliot propelled him to
higher popularity, especially in the American market. Out of Guru
and Solaar's collaboration, the single "Le Bien, Le Mal" (
The
Good, The Bad) has been a popular Hip Hop/Dance crossover hit
receiving playtime on
MTV.
"His fluid phrasing makes up for his lack of English,
and the production on his solo work (by DJ Jimmy Jay and Boom Bass
of La Funk Mob) surpasses that of most of his hip-hop
contemporaries." [27007]
MC Solaar is currently one of the only French rappers able to find
success in the English-dominated American Hip Hop culture with his
French prose. Solaar has appeared in many Bollywood movies like Hum
Tum. MC Solaar has also released a few songs which never
appeared on albums, including "Comme dans un film" (falsely known
as "John Woo") and "Inch'Allah". He has criticized illegal
downloading for producing altered versions of his albums Mach
6 and Chapitre 7.
Personal life
Solaar's personal life became media fodder starting in 1996 when he
began dating Ophélie Winter. The
couple split up in December 2000. On December 7, 2003, MC Solaar
married Chloé Bensemoun and on
May 7, 2004, she gave birth to the couple's first child,
Roman.
Beginning September 2, 1997, MC Solaar became involved in a legal
battle with record label Vivendi for
commercially exploiting his first three albums. In 2002, French
courts sided with Solaar, but as a result, his older songs are
banned from radio, giving him less media exposure.
Discography
References and footnotes
- Bouge de la (go away) Lyrics from the album Qui
seme le vent recolte le tempo by MC Solaar
- Helenon, Veronique. “Africa on Their Mind: Rap, Blackness, and
Citizenship in France.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the
Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and
Sidney J. Lemelle, 151-66. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Pres
- MC Solaar - biography
- Gennoe, Dan. Amazon.com.uk Review. Cinquieme As. Amazon.co.uk, accessed March 20, 2008.
- Amazon.com: Cinquieme As: Fifth Ace: MC Solaar:
Music
- The Age of MC Solaar | Rattapallax
External links
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