A dozen rappers, including Akhenaton (IAM) and Fianso, denounce the rise of the extreme right in France and call on young people to vote in the second round of the legislative elections.
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It won’t pass. It is under this banner, the famous anti-fascist slogan (“They will not pass”) of the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), that a collective of rappers is preparing to express themselves in music the day after the first round of the legislative elections in which the National Rally (RN) came out on top. This group is preparing a ten-minute long track for Monday evening.
Brought together under the leadership of producer and composer Djamel Fezari, aka DJ Kore, and artistic director Ramdane Touhami, the artists (Fianso, Akhenaton, Mac Tyer, Seth Gueko, Zola, Soso Maness, etc.) began producing this track the day after the European elections, where the National Rally (RN) came out on top.
“The situation is serious. When we learn that the leading party for young people is the RN, if we did not react, it would be a serious mistake on our part (…), it is our way of campaigning”, Ramdane Touhami told AFP about the single, named after the historic Spanish slogan of opposition to General Franco’s military regime. Funds generated by the song’s plays will be donated to the Abbé Pierre Foundation.
Often incisive in his words, It will not pass is full of punchlines addressed to Jordan Bardella, the boss of the RN, the Le Pen family (RN), or even Eric Zemmour (Reconquête!), denouncing the past of the French extreme right and police violence. “This is the new version of “Youth is annoying the National Front”, the punchline of a 40-year-old song, still chanted in demonstrations against the extreme right, Ramdane Touhami wants to believe.
In 1997, some seventeen artists from French rap, including Akhenaton from the group IAM, signed 11’30 against racist laws.
Beyond this collective, within the world of music, other voices from the hip-hop sphere called for votes during the legislative campaign, like heavyweights like Soprano or DJ Snake. Around a hundred organizations, such as Greenpeace France or SOS Racisme, also called on Sunday evening to vote against the RN in the second round of the legislative elections on July 7.