Photography © Fifou
Photography © Fifou
"I'm going to make a Miss France sentence but I'll tell you that my most beautiful memory of
my career is the one that comes."
It's impossible to describe one of the pillars of French Rap and the most significant figures of Conscious Rap without using the word wisdom. Médine has everything of a great thinker. The American journalist of the New York Times, Suzanne Daley, who had come to meet him in his hometown of Le Havre in France, said, "If he was an American, he ticks all the boxes for being an American hero", and she's more than right.
Médine is more than a rapper, he's one of the legends of French Rap. In a career spanning more than 20 years, Médine has followed the evolution of Rap in France, and instead of clinging to the old codes, the artist has decided to evolve with it without ever losing his grip. Always a lyricist, Médine never ceases to make a lasting impression on people's consciences, much to the delight of his fans.
The artist took the time to indulge in A Rap & A Cup Of Tea, on his vision of things and his perpetual desire for evolution and progress. More than a simple interview, this one is, above all, a true hymn to wisdom. As he says in 'FC Grand Médine': "I was already here 10 years ago, I'll be here again in 10 years" and that's all we wish for him.
The documentary 'Médine Normandie' on France TV has just been released, and it retraces important moments of your career with your own testimony and that of your family and friends. It's poignant because you give yourself over, and we have the opportunity to discover you even more. Where did this idea come from?
In fact, I knew Matthieu Pécot very well at the origin of this idea, and he proposed to follow me while creating this album. It was a more sure moment of life with my family and my professional and friendly entourage, and I found that it gave another look at artistic creation. People seem to like it, so I'm happy.
You say something substantial in this documentary: the older you get, the younger you get in the Rap Game. You're like the Benjamin Button of French Rap.
Yes, that's how I feel. I try to keep an open mind to continue making and loving this music. I don't want to be that old has-been uncle who has a negative opinion about what he's doing now and says, "It was better before". Basically, I'm not the type to be resistant to progressive things. So I think it's reflected in my artistic approach to want to be younger and remain competitive on the artistic and performance level.
So, has it become essential for you to adapt to current trends?
You know, I'm not an old samurai who wants his dojo to survive the times. I want to work on new techniques and not be alone in my mountain, telling myself that I have the best technique in the whole world and affirming it loudly and clearly. It must be compared with other schools to be the best school.
In the song 'Grand Paris 2', we find rappers from the old generation like Oxmo Puccino and the new generation like Larry. It was a will on your part to mix styles and eras?
I feel like I'm at the crossroads of these generations, and I thought it was a great gymnastics to bring them together on the same project. I'm from the "old school" but still want to continue discovering today's music. This song is just an illustration of this will to bring together the different actors of Rap regardless of their style and their time.
Throughout your career, there has always been this willingness to "speak the truth" and say important things to you. Yet after so many projects [12 at least], you never repeat yourself and constantly innovate. How do you manage to be truthful without being repetitive?
I think it's pretty well summed up in the first track of the album Grand Médine when I say: "For me, changing my flow and my mind, as well as my shirt, is just a matter of cleanliness". (laughs) You know, sometimes it can be seen as a disadvantage to constantly change flow and style because you destabilize your audience who are used to seeing you in a certain kind of register. Some people may tend to say: "It changes too much, you don't know what to hold on to". But where some people see the downside, I see the quality of constantly renewing myself. In my eyes, it's not a quality to say: "He hasn't changed, it's still the same". For me, it's elementary to be told: "You have changed on this point" means that my ideas and my vision of things have evolved.
How would you describe this new album precisely?
He's "more" than the others. (laughs) More melodious, more featuring, more mixing, more beatmaker. There's more musical will than on previous albums.
Speaking of feats, they were entirely unexpected, like the one with BigFlo & Oli or Soso Maness. Can you tell me more about these encounters?
We met directly at the studio with Soso Maness, and it went super well. He's a real and sincere person who doesn't play a role. As the feeling was going well, we decided to discuss our respective cities in Le Havre and Marseille. We're opposed on the map of France, but there are many similarities between these port cities. And with BigFlo and Oli, it's a piece that we wanted to do already 3/4 years ago because we discussed it a lot on the networks, but in the end, we never found the right piece to collaborate together. After taking the time to discuss, we agreed on what we wanted to do, and that's why this feat is about accepting change.
Before starting this album, are there any themes you wanted to discuss?
In reality, I'm not really in a process where I say to myself: "I absolutely have to talk about this". I have the impression that it's more the melody that triggers the subjects I want to talk about. Music is the main thread: it triggers emotion in me, and this emotion then triggers feelings about a theme. I have also evolved in my way of working because it wasn't like on my previous albums. But I've learned to work with my time and to work with different beatmakers, topliners, arrangers and so on. You may even have to co-write with people who will advise you on extra words or how to turn phrases, for example. It's indeed a significant change, but it's not to displease me in the end. You know, there will always be a part of my public who knew me 20 years ago and would like me to rap like I did when I first started, but that's not what I want, and you have to do with your time. (laughs)
"Enfant Du Destin is a kind of running story that depicts
the tragic journey of a child
of the world propelled into
the heart of the conflict."
In this album, we find the song 'Tue L'amour', which is a true declaration of love 2.0. You say things like "It's not Miss Weather, I'm not Mr. Hustler. But no, you're not fat, it's the skin that overflows. You're my Princess Fiona when she turns into an ogre". Indeed, it doesn't sound very romantic, but in the end, this track is one of the most touching of the album. How did you develop the idea to make such an offbeat song about love?
I believe that it's love precisely. (laughs) You know, I've been in love with the same woman for over 20 years. You can imagine that after all this time, the romanticism of the first days is no longer the same, but it gives way to another form of romanticism. Everything that could pass for routine becomes romantic for me in my own way because I look at things in a new way. As I say in one of the songs: "I'm not looking for new landscapes, I'm looking for new eyes." Nowadays, I think we are more used to leaving the person we are with as soon as we discover a flaw in them instead of learning to love their flaws. So I'm not looking for a new woman, I'm looking to see my wife in a new way.
Often, we perceive rappers as inaccessible beings, always in a pack, and you break this image and show that you're a dad like everyone else and that your pack is your family. Your family is really at the center of all your projects. In the song 'Imposteur', you explain it a little by saying, "I don't want to be a public figure. I just want to be a man among others".
Nowadays, everyone cross-dresses on the networks by putting filters on their photos or trying to exalt every moment of everyday life. I find that the beauty of life is not in these things but in the normality. I don't think that normality is reductive or boring because I needed to show the beauty of simple things. Showing my family on the networks and the ordinary moments we share together is what I find beautiful. There's too much fantasy around the lives of rappers, and sometimes, people are not ready to see the reality of things.
Do you think that's perturbing for people?
Some people need artists to create a fantasy around an idyllic life, but sorry, I've always decided to play the sincerity card since the beginning of my career. (laughs) Before being a rapper with committed lyrics, I'm above all a dad and a husband, and it's good to remember that.
Besides the social networks, you also made your children participate in your songs. You had already done it with 'Papeti' on your previous album Storyteller, and now we can hear your son Massoud on 'Barbapapa' again Is it them who showed their interest?
Before becoming a rapper, I was mostly a rap listener, so I listened to a lot of rap music at home, and we went to concerts together. So they've always been immersed in that culture. In the end, we ended up doing a song together. They thought it was fun to do a studio session with me, and we even made a clip together on the track 'Enfants Forts'. We're not creating careers, in their eyes it's just a good time they spend with their father. (laughing)
I would like to return to the saga 'Enfant Du Destin', one of the most awaited songs on each of your albums. This time, you tell the story of Sara, a young Uighur girl. How would you explain this saga to those who don't know her yet?
At the beginning, I didn't think I was going to make a saga out of it; I just wanted to tell the story as it really is and not the way they want to tell it to us. "Enfant Du Destin" is a kind of running story that depicts the tragic journey of a child of the world propelled into the heart of the conflict.
How did you come up with the idea in the very beginning?
It came from a sense of betrayal of Hollywood cinema and national education to discover a part of history from another angle. For example, when I found the truth about the Vietnam War, I was surprised to see that it was much more nuanced than what I had been taught.
I remember that on Prose Élite you also dedicated a piece to Denis Mukwege, the Congolese gynecologist and activist who helps women wounded by the incessant rapes during the war in the Congo, on 'L'homme Qui Répare Les Femmes'. Is the role of an artist for you also to denounce these atrocities?
I don't think it's just one artist's role, it's everyone's role. We have to be supportive and aware that dramatic things happen daily in the world while we are in material comfort. Even if I was not an artist, I am convinced I would have solidarity in my daily life for all these people. If I can use my voice or my notoriety to turn people's eyes to these causes, it's essential to do so.
What is one of the most beautiful memories of your career?
I will make a Miss France sentence, but I'll tell you that my most beautiful memory is the one that comes. (laughs) I think I haven't yet experienced my most beautiful memory, which means I'm still here for a long time.
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