Marseille rapper Jul is making a comeback. The biggest seller of French rap releases his latest album on Friday June 3 entitled Extraterrestrial, before moving on to a concert at the Vélodrome stadium that his fans have been waiting for for two years. Nothing is easier than finding Jul fans in the Old Port. “The playlist is filled with Jul, it’s the baselaunches a young fan. A Marseillais who does not listen to Jul is not a Marseillais.” Another continues: “Jul is blood, it’s family! You know all his music, it’s fire!”
“He’s Marseille’s dad, everyone is a fan. He’s like us, I feel like we see each other inside. I live the music!”
a Jul fanat franceinfo
Fans who appreciate the authenticity of the rapper and who recognize themselves in him. “I think it’s the archetype of Marseilleexplains Gilson Soares, rapper and entrepreneur, whether it is at the level of the slang that he will use in his texts, of the style of dress that he can have with the tracksuit ‘of the club or the tap socks too, essential.
And if Jul’s hits may seem light, they speak to Marseille youth according to Samia Kadiri, specialist journalist: “One of the first sounds that ‘scored everything’ is called Marseilles. In his words, there is a vision of the real Marseille, in particular of poverty or hardship and the societal problems that young people can encounter.
It is in Marseille that the rapper with 17 albums recorded them all, notably with producer KakouProd. “Jul brought back a new wave of rap, which is more danceable, more jovial and more open to other styles of music.says the producer. He was the one who made rap dance for me and that made a lot of young people who wanted to rap and who were hesitant a bit uninhibited. It’s a locomotive.” Born in Marseille, the Jul style is now exported throughout Europe. Spanish, Italian and even Dutch rappers are inspired by the so-called UFO.
Jul, the King of Marseillesthis is a subject to be found in length in the franceinfo news podcast Le Quart d’Heure, available on the radiofrance application and all podcast platforms.