Do you remember the first time you saw a famous person live? It’s a strange feeling, there’s nothing in between you and them; no Perspex CD cover, no TV screen, just air.
I suspect the build-up to MC Solaar’s gig last night at the Royal Albert Hall created just this feeling in much of the audience when they got their first glimpse of France’s undisputed rap king.
Who? I hear you ask. MC Solaar is more MC Esher than MC Hammer. An African-born artist hugely famous in his home country of France and made famous by the album Prose Combat, producer of eloquent lyrics that are definitely mysterious to those of us who don’t speak French and probably to many of those who do. If a tree comes crashing down in a forest and no one hears it fall did the sound still happen? If I listen to rap in French and don’t understand a word of it, can I still enjoy it? With MC Solaar, the answer is yes.
It’s an odd thing listening to rap in the Royal Festival Hall. The acoustics are spectacular but the setting always makes an audience more rigid than a standard gig venue. Nevertheless, Solaar’s infectious rhythms and the all enveloping light show that accompanied his performance, had most of the audience dancing, despite the fact that some of them looked more DH Lawrence than MC Solaar.
Performing tracks from his sixth and latest album, Mach 6, as well as from previous album Cinquieme As (Fifth Ace), MC Solaar’s performance was as slick as his tracks are melodic and catchy. Following a distinct Spanish influence on certain tracks of his last album (Hasta la Vista Mi Amor!), the new album features tracks with several international influences including the Bhangra style Au Pays du Ghandi and Cash Money, a modern take on the samba with a coin-tinkling hook that proved to be the highlight of the evening.
|
Solaar’s special gift is in taking these influences and melding them with his own style to create the refreshing lyrical and melodic blends that make him one of the most original rap artists around today.
My own rudimentary knowledge of French leads me to believe that the album, which features Solaar on the front cover dressed in a Russian cosmonaut’s outfit, tells the story of a cosmonaut studying in the Moscow of the 1970's. Solaar talks about military service in a secret location, being a Russian mafia member, and working in a Russian factory, a concept that he has said he used to attempt to create an adventure in sounds and images.
Even if I’m wrong and the album’s actually about life and love in the suburbs of Paris, it doesn’t matter. Curse yourself that you missed last nights performance, the only one planned for the UK and buy the album. At worst you’ll hate it’s impenetrable Frenchness, but still, you’ll look cultured in front of your friends. At best, you’ll enjoy fluid, original, and melodic rap at its best and been first on the Solaar bandwagon that’ll inevitably soon grip the rest of Europe.
|
