“The more you advance in your career, the more complicated it is“, underlines OrelSan. Friday October 14, during a conference in Paris within the framework of MaMA, a pioneering festival which is partly aimed at professionals in the music industry, the Norman rapper spoke of his difficulties in conceiving his 4th album, Civilizationn, released in 2021 and since rewarded with several awards.
The long creative journey of this disc, with its ups and downs, is precisely at the heart of the second season of the documentary. never show that to anyone directed by his brother Clément Cotentin, broadcast since Thursday, October 13 on the Amazon Prime platform. “The documentary is centered on the music and I find it important that people understand how an album is produced. The creative process is the sinews of war“, underlined OrelSan in front of a hundred people who came to listen to him (by invitation) at the Jacques Decour high school (Paris 9th).
OrelSan, who has already won nine Victoires de la Musique, including three in 2022, insisted on the importance “to try, to test, even if the piece is not intended to be listened to by the general public“.”I first record myself and try verses again and again“, he explained. In the documentary, we indeed see him groping, alone, and forbidding nothing in the draft phase, including things considered later by his friends and closest collaborators Skread and Ablay like “zero to shit“.
Without these “I will not be there“, he also repeated. “Good music is one where everyone agrees it’s good“. Four years separate his last two records, a delay “huge“, he acknowledged. Between them, he has “filled the void, with featurings, clips…“. But, he insisted, “it’s important to take the time to make a built album, with music that responds to each other“.