Rapper Shay takes over a strip club for the release of her new album “Pourvu qu’il rain”

Rap star Shay took over Pink Paradise, a Parisian strip club renamed “Jolie Strip Club”, for the release of her highly anticipated new album “Pourvu qu’il rain” available this Friday, January 19.

Pole dance bars, red velvet armchairs, dimmed lights and twerks in every corner, the Pink Paradise, a strip club located on the Champs-Elysées, was taken over for an evening by the rapper Shay. She celebrated the release of her new album last night As long as it rainsavailable since Friday 19 January. Renamed “Jolie Strip Club”, the place is littered with references to the “Jolie Garce” aesthetic advocated by Shay. Girls who embrace their unbridled sexuality, even their vulgarity, and demand the abandonment of diktats around the female body.

In this club with the atmosphere of an American gangster film, the women assume their busty shapes which they exhibit half-naked, twirling on the pole bars dance. Balancing on their transparent 20 heels centimeters, they receive tickets bearing the image of Shay and her Jolie Bitch Gang, name she gives to her clan of fans since her first album Pretty Bitch (2016).

“I’m the boss”

At the entrance to the club, Fred Musa, the emblematic host of Planète Rap, greets rapper Koba LaD in a Porsche Cayenne who asks if the club has a valet. At the same time, Shay’s makeup artist enters. Most of this evening is made up of the artist’s relatives and collaborators such as the rapper Kalash or the talent scout, Oumar Samake. Producers, stylists, composers, videographers, dancers… the maximum capacity of 280 people were affected. While waiting for the star, these special guests had time to dance to urban music with Caribbean influences. Some of Shay’s new things crept in as the evening progressed.

10:55 p.m. Shay finally makes his entrance to cheers. “Are there any pretty girls tonight? ? Tonight it’s ‘As long as it rains’, we’re so hot !”, she asserts into the microphone. The room is therefore heated with Oh Yes from his album Antidote (2019), before listening to something new, JGGthe initials of Jolie Garce Gang. “Doe-eyed, evil. He wants to feel my money. I like to feel my money. Tell them good, I’m going to smoke them. Tell them good, I’m going to smoke them. Unbeatable, it’s am I the boss?she continues in this rhythmic and danceable track which resonates like a call to twerk. “Who is the best team? ? It is JGG“, the guests are already shouting.

Bad bitch

In this new album, Shay has let go of the melancholy that permeated his last album Antidote to come back stronger. She continues to assert her identity and her aesthetic as a “bad bitch”, a term popularized by American rappers who advocate their confidence through their sexuality. Far from being derogatory, the image which accompanies this expression still has difficulty being accepted in France.

Associated with vulgarity, prostitution and decadence, “bad bitches” in French-speaking rap are almost absent and Shay reminds us of this well by quoting exclusively American women in Santa Fe (Bad Gyal). “There’s no ego here, don’t come and fight me. I’m Lil’ Kim, Aaliyah, Ri’Ri’, bad gyal“.

Produced mainly by Jo A Touch, who already collaborated on his previous album, As long as it rains plays with the sounds of zouk, the hip-swinging rhythms of dancehall with the eternal trap as a backdrop. Shay collaborates with composers considered to be big names in the world of rap and hip hop. We find Denza, requested by Booba, Maes, Niska or SCH, on the title 17but also the musician Latimer popular with Naza, Dadju or Djadja & Dinaz.

We find the highly anticipated collaborations with rappers Gazo and SCH, after the one already revealed in November with Niska on Heartless. Shay stays true to herself and plays the tough guy. She fights her detractors and responds to controversies in her songs. Many Internet users often criticize him for too long absences between these different albums. His last one was almost five years ago years “For me it’s as if I left yesterday. I haven’t lost my good manners. I fuck them again, it’s like yesterday”she raps in Part Yesterday. “I’m feared as a bad boy. I’m above the glass ceiling. I wear my balls without wearing underwear”, she continues. On the podium of her Jolie Strip Club, Shay continues lascivious dances and once again proves that she is the first French-speaking rapper still practicing.

“Pourvu qu’il rain”, Shay’s new album available on all platforms and live at the We festival Love Green 2024