This article looks at how three French rap genres (poetic/jazz, ego trip and knowledge) affect the use of non-standard language. This research is based on quantitative and qualitative analyses of a corpus of selected francophone rap tracks. The qualitative analysis focuses on extracts from semi-structured interviews with francophone rappers and on the depiction of themes and rappers' performance in lyrics and videos. This article concludes that the genre of the tracks is a strong determinant of NSL use. Whether a track belongs to ego trip proves to be crucial, as this genre is much more likely to contain high quantities of NSL. Furthermore, the depiction of themes in ego trip tracks can also be considered as a strong determinant of NSL use. Indeed, their tracks often contain adversarial themes and narratives to criticize the competitors and youth slang to appeal to specific audiences.