When parallels collide: social commentary and satire in French rap before and after Charlie Hebdo

Abstract

Rap can be seen as banlieue youths’ artistic answer to Charlie Hebdo’s brand of satire: rap performers also focus on the contradictions and paradoxes of French society, often in exaggerated terms. But while Charlie Hebdo has received government protection, French rappers have been prosecuted by members of France’s National Assembly. This essay considers conflicts that have occurred between rappers and the French government in 1995 and 2005, as well as two collisions between the rap world and Charlie Hebdo, to elucidate the complexity of the parallel systems in place in France for protecting certain forms of cultural production while prosecuting others. The inability of journalists and many government officials to understand and acknowledge the frustrations expressed in rap songs is indicative of a larger blind spot in French society: government has proven incapable of addressing the very real social, cultural, and economic marginalization throughout the country.