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Introduction
The history of French rap has been described already (Prevos, "The Evolution" 714-20) and need not be repeated here. This essay focuses on legal problems faced by several rap artists in France. The latter have become the target of repressive actions by the representatives of police forces as well as by several other ethnic- or gender-based groups. The actions on the part of the French police unions and their representatives involve the words (but seldom the lyrics) of rap artists as well as the public and artistic attitudes of these performers. Several such cases have occurred since the mid 1990s; they will be characterized here.
In the United States, rap artists have had to withstand accusations by the leaders of police unions and protests by the representatives of "morality movements." This essay will describe similar actions undertaken against rappers in France. It will also underline differences from the actions taken in the United States against African American rappers by representatives of police unions and so-called "morality groups." It will then become clear that these differences do not reflect any significant variation in the opposition to rap artists, their lyrics, or the popular impact of their recordings. Instead, they will illustrate basic differences in the legal texts governing artistic creation and variations in the operations set in motion by those opposed to rap artists and their productions.
The Culture, Real and Represented, of Rap Artists in France The majority of rappers in France come from suburban areas where poverty has always been present. These suburban areas include subsidized public housing developments (HLM for Habitations a Loyer Modere-that is to say, low-rent housing) where large families, including many children, live in apartment buildings built in the 1960s and 1970s to house workers and their families. These suburban areas have come to symbolize the excesses in violence, drug consumption, social dislocation, and delinquency encountered in financially strapped urban neighborhoods. Even though several rappers have likened these economically depressed areas to the American ghetto, they do not represent similar societal environments and differences between the two are clear (Bernard 9). These differences are due essentially to the existence of French social laws whose impact on the members of financially disadvantaged groups is significant. They are also due to...