The poison of anti-Semitism after the Holocaust is there, in particular. A whole way of talking about the Jews, taking care to take a few basic oratorical precautions before showing off your hatred.
Philippe Clay, in this 1975 song, already showed how perpetually resurgent anti-Semitism worked, and which has just caused Kanye West to break his ties with the Def Jam label and the Adidas, Balenciaga and Gap brands, the American rapper having multiplied the declarations against the Jews.
Obviously, if one wonders if there is anti-Semitic content in our popular culture, the answer is yes. Yes of course. And connoisseurs of French-language rap need not look far in their memory.
In the first episode of These songs that make the news this weekend, you hear excerpts from:
Philip Clay, The Jews1975
Freeze Corleone, freeze rael2020
The Weasel, TLT2013
Doc Gyneco, In my street1996
Black M, In my street2015
Ray ventura and his college students, It’s better than catching scarlet fever1936
Suzanne Dehelly, It’s better than catching scarlet fever1937
Serge Gainsbourg, yellow star1975
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Our series of summer 2022 chronicles, behind our voicescan still be listened to by scrolling down this page.
And you can also find on this link the podcast Behind our voices, with the writing and composition secrets of eight major artists of the French scene, Laurent Voulzy, Julien Clerc, Bénabar, Dominique A, Carla Bruni, Emily Loizeau, Juliette and Gaëtan Roussel.