1990-2024, French rap's long road

Festival of the Imaginary

A renowned specialist in contemporary music, Olivier Cachin traces the rise of French rap in just one decade. In perpetual mutation, it has gone from obscurity to the limelight, from underground recordings to ultra-mainstream media coverage.

When the Rapattitude compilation came out in 1990, closely followed by NTM's Le Monde De Demain EP, rock critics and the mainstream media gave the French hip-hop movement short shrift. And yet, over 30 years on, rap is still the most popular musical genre, the one that fills venues and sends streams into a frenzy. At what price has French rap gone from pariah status to the music of choice for young people? And, as some nostalgic fans claim, was it really better before? These are just some of the questions we'll be tackling during this talk on the irresistible rise of a music that seemed doomed from the start.

Who is Olivier Cachin?

OLIVIER CACHIN is a journalist, writer, documentary maker and lecturer. Founder of the magazine L'Affiche and the television programmes Rapline, Fax'O (M6) and Le Mag (MCM) in the 1990s, he has written some thirty books, including Nino Ferrer C'Était Pourtant Bien, Les 100 Albums Légendaires Du Rap (with a preface by JoeyStarr), Michael Jackson Pop Life, Rap Story (with a preface by Soprano), the Suprême NTM bio and Dutronc Une Vie En Chansons (with Éric Jean-Jean). He has made several documentaries, including La Story NTM on CStar, and hosted the programme Collection Privée on Mouv' for ten years.

A recognised specialist in contemporary music, Olivier Cachin contributes to the magazines Rock & Folk, Gonzaï and Schnock, as well as to the RFI Musique website.

Bibliography :

• Olivier Cachin, Michael Jackson, pop life, Monaco, Alphée Éditions, 2009, 220 p.
• Olivier Cachin, 100 B.0 Cultesen collaboration avec Christophe Geudin, Tournon, 2008
• Olivier Cachin, Soul For One/L'Aventure De La Soul, La Martinière, 2011
• Olivier Cachin, Prince Purple Règne, Fetjaine, 2012
• Olivier Cachin, Les 100 Albums Légendaires Du Rap, Consart, 2013
• Collaboration à l'ouvrage de Florence Quentin, Le Livre Des Egyptes, Robert Laffont, 2013
• Olivier Cachin, Michael Jackson, métamorphoses musicales, GM Éditions, 2017
• Olivier Cachin, Naissance d'une nation Hip-Hop, GM Éditions, 2017
• Olivier Cachin, Alain Gardinier, Jacques Denis, Xavier Bonnetet Sylvain Fanet, L'Alphabet du Rock en 250 discographies clandestines, GM Éditions, 2019
• Kool Shen, Joeystarret Olivier Cachin, Suprême NTM, Paris, Michel Lafon, 2019, 312 p.
• Olivier Cachin, Rap in France : L'émergence du rap dans les années 90, Le Castor Astral, 2022