Dijon hosts the first festival dedicated to rap

More than 50,000 festival-goers are expected over the two evenings of this event, which will also be a showcase for urban cultures.

From big names Booba and Ninho to young guns La Fève, Doria and Yamê, the Golden Coast Festival in Dijon, which takes place on September 13 and 14, sets the tone for this first edition, 100% rap and urban culture.

Urban music par excellence, it is nevertheless in the green setting of Combe à la Serpent in Corcelles-les-Monts, a few kilometers southwest of Dijon, that the Golden Coast – a reference in the Côte-d’Or – offers a line-up of around forty artists from the French-speaking rap scene.

The festival was initially planned for the former Air Base 102. But given the success of ticket sales – half of which were from buyers in the Paris region – the organizers decided to move it to a larger venue, with a camping area. Enough to accommodate the 28,000 people expected per evening, attracted by a muscular program.

“This is probably the easiest thing we’ve ever had to do.”almost apologizes Vivien Becle, co-founder and artistic director, who explains it by the “relationship of trust” woven with artists over the years. He works with his lifelong accomplice, Christian Allex.

On the program for this first meeting that they have concocted, Booba who is “a bit like the father of rap”. “We love him or we don’t, he’s been there for 30 years”, Becle recalls. He is by far the big headliner of the festival.

On Saturday evening, in addition to “Le Duc”, the public will be spoilt for choice: the Belgian Youssef Swatt’s (winner of “Nouvelle école” on Netflix), the Marseille tontons of the Fonky Family who are making their comeback, or the rappers Doria, Lala &ce and Maureen, ambassador of Martinique’s shatta.

Marseille star SCH is also announced for his first concert since one of his relatives was shot dead and another seriously injured on August 26 as he left a nightclub in La Grande-Motte, in the south of France, where he had just performed.

Friday evening will be marked by artists in their twenties – La Fève, Yvnnis or Favé – and rounded off by Ninho, a hit machine since the album “Destin” in 2019. Uncertainties weigh on the arrival of rapper Koba LaD, also expected Friday in Dijon. According to The Parisianthe artist was involved in a fatal road accident that occurred on the evening of Tuesday, September 10, 2024.

If the public is there for this first edition, it is because the proposal fills “a lack”, according to its co-founder Vivien Becle.It is important to remember that France is the number 2 market in the world for rap, behind the United States. It was really an anomaly not to have a big festival that represents rap cultures as a whole,” like the Ardentes in Belgium.

The event is intended to be a crossroads of urban cultures, with a 3×3 basketball tournament in the presence of players from JDA Dijon Basket and breakdance parades by two schools, the Dijon group Figure 2 style and the Rémois group Studio 511 led by the former breakdance world champion Ismaël Taggae.