three things to know about the French rap ceremony which takes place Thursday evening

Aya Nakamura to the power of six: the R&B star dominates the nominations for the second edition of Flammes, the rap awards, organized Thursday evening at the Châtelet, in Paris.

The second edition of Les Flammes, the equivalent of Victories for rap and its trends, is organized Thursday April 25 and broadcast live from 9 p.m. on W9, in parallel with Twitch and YouTube. Singer Aya Nakamura, also affected by a wave of racism, after the announcement of her potential participation in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, dominates the nominations.

Les Flammes, born from the association of Yard, a media and communications agency, and another rap media, Booska-P, highlight urban music little represented at the Victoires de la Musique, despite the considerable popularity in France. In recent years, rap has dominated the top 10 best album sales. Here are three things to know about Les Flammes 2024.

Aya Nakamura is the most nominated artist

The most listened to French-speaking singer in the world is nominated in six categories. The 28-year-old Franco-Malian sits above the singers Gazo (five nominations counting the featurings, these invitations from others), Tiakola and Werenoi (four each). For the title of female artist of the year, Aya Nakamura is opposed to Meryl and Nej. Trophy already won last year by the performer of Djadjahis 2018 hit, which has nearly 960 million views on YouTube.

A price that snowballed. The Victoires de la Musique, criticized for having snubbed her with an anecdotal trophy until then, crowned her female artist in February. Reward that the singer of Girlfriends did not come to collect, just like at the Flames last year, when she was in the room before her delivery. At the Flames, Aya Nakamura had still left recorded thanks, absent attention to the Victories.

Aya Nakamura will perform live after the wave of racism

“She doesn’t sing French, she doesn’t sing ‘foreign’ either, she sings we don’t know what“, launched Marine Le Pen. Aya Nakamura has been targeted by the far right since the magazine The Express had hinted that she could sing a piece by Edith Piaf at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 26. We could read on a banner from the identity collective Les Natifs: “There’s no way Aya, this is Paris, not the Bamako market“.

Thursday evening, at the Châtelet, the interpreter of Pookie is one of the 15 live performances expected in the evening, unrelated to the prizes awarded. Tom Brunet, co-producer of the Flames ceremony, sees in the attacks against the singer a “racist bias“.”It’s still incredible to think that in 2024, people can say anything – not fair, I like it or not – just because she is black“, he comments. “Trying to demean her is dangerous, it creates even more fractures“.

Gazo tipped to become male artist of the year a second time

Rapper Gazo faces Tiakola and Werenoi in the male artist of the year category. A title he won last year. Coincidence? Gazo shared this same prize with Vianney in February, this time at the Victoires. “It made us smile, after so many years of controversies where nothing had changed at the Victoires in relation to rap and R&B“, slips Tom Brunet. “We know that the Flames made noise and that it shook the thoughts and reflections in organizations like the Victoires“, he says.

For this manager, “the work is not at all finished” : “We want to perpetuate the Flames, this second edition is super important“.”This bonus on W9 is important: TV has something of status, complementary with Twitch and YouTube”, he explains. “It allows us to reach people in rural areas or people between 40 and 60 years old who will watch TV and share with their family.”