Marseille’s rap legends | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Tourism

Marseille and Rap

A long love story

The City of Marseille, aka “m.a.r.s” or “planet Mars”, is an icon of Hip-Hop culture… It all started in the Eighties, when the city rapidly forged its reputation as a leading epicentre of French rap and the birthplace of such famous names as IAM and Fonky Family. Four generations of Marseille rappers have continued to keep the torch burning ever since. Today’s heirs to the throne include, of course, JUL – a prolific artist and the biggest record seller in the history of French rap – as well as Soso Maness and SCH. In parallel, “old school” bands have never been so popular, with an impressive 7,000 tickets for the Fonky Family reunion in summer 2024 at the Jardin Sonore de Vitrolles sold in 10 days! Just before that, in April, the “Fonky Festival de Mars” – the first 100% French rap festival – taked place to the Cabaret Aléatoire, with a line-up of emerging talents including So La Zone, Relo, alongside rap heavyweights Puissance Nord, Le 3e Oeil and Faf Larage.

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Vieux-Port

Back to the late Eighties. The fast food chain Free Time, reputed for its extra-long burgers, opens a restaurant on the city’s Old Port (Vieux-Port). Among its customers, a band of boys fascinated by US Hip-Hop, decked out in gold chains, baggy jeans and leather jackets. Their look doesn’t go unnoticed. Their name? IAM. In the solo piece “Les Miens”, the band’s singer Shurik’n looks back on those days: “The Free Time became home / In every season. Our names were stuck to the seats.” In the summer of 1994, IAM exploded onto the scene with “Je Danse le Mia”, from the album “Ombre Est Lumière”. Three years later came the mythical album “L’Ecole du micro d’argent”. And IAM weren’t the only ones hanging out at Free Time: Rat Luciano, Sat l’Artificier, Don Choa, Menzo, Pone, Fel and DJ Djel from Fonky Family – the other flagship Marseille rap group from the early era – were never far away.

Belsunce and Centre Bourse

The year 2000. A year that saw the release of Bouga‘s “Belsunce Breakdown”, taken from the soundtrack of the film “Comme un aimant” co-produced by Akhenaton – also a member of IAM. The single shot to the top of the charts, propelling the Belsunce quarter to fame: “Belsunce, a jewel of the Phocaean city / Wedged between the station and the Old Port / We can’t complain”. The video clip portrays 24 hours in the life of Bouga in and around Belsunce: Noailles market, the Panier district, La Canebière, the Opera House, Porte d’Aix and Centre Bourse (the Belsunce shopping mall built in the Seventies), winding up at dawn at the foot of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. Akhenaton had already evoked the mall 5 years earlier, in “La Face B”: “The stairways of Centre Bourse, the Belsunce quarter, Les Carmes, Le Panier, that’s where it all started.”

Keny Arkana - De l'Opéra à la Plaine 2 feat. Le Secteur (Clip Officiel)

City Centre

Other tracks celebrate Marseille’s city centre and the quarters to the south of La Canebière, including La Plaine and Cours Julien. The three-part “De l’Opéra à la Plaine” featured on three albums by female rapper Keny Arkana springs to mind, bringing together a handful of Marseille-born artists such as Stone Black, Makiavel and Hollis l’Infâme: “Marseille city centre / everyone is there / Panier, Opéra, Noailles, Cours Julien, La Plaine / Armies of mikes, city centre / The suburbs are talking to you / All the streets of my city.” A figurehead of Cours Julien, Keny Arkana even has his own graffiti there – its photo is featured on the cover of the album “Avant l’Exode”. His uncompromising pen repeatedly tackles the theme of the city’s gentrification, as in “Capitale de la rupture” from the 2012 album “Tout tourne autour du soleil”. The ties between Hip-Hop culture and the Panier, Noailles, Cours Julien and La Plaine quarters are also unveiled in “Balades sonores” by Radio Grenouille – a great track to listen to while you’re exploring the city.

Northern quarters

If you take the GR13 long-distance trail spanning 346 kilometres in the Bouches-du-Rhône area, you’ll cross the northern quarters where few tourists roam. Following on from the first generation of Marseille rappers based mainly in the city centre, it was the turn of the northern quarters to take up the torch. A drama sadly set the stage. On February 21st, 1995, 17 year-old Ibrahim Ali, an amateur rapper from the Savine estate (15th arrondissement), was shot dead in the back by three National Front billposters. In tribute to him, his friends created the “Sound Musical School“, a studio welcoming future MCs. Among them, Soprano, Alonzo, Vincenzo and DY Sya Styles, who went on to form “Les Psy4 de la Rime“, before Soprano launched his solo career. In recent years, Soso Maness, from the Font-Vert estate (14th arrondissement), has been at the forefront of the Marseille rap scene. Arrested for drug trafficking in 2015, his songs evoke his past as a dealer: “And in the ghetto at night / All the clients are grey / But everything has a price…”

Corniche Kennedy

A balcony over the sea, linking Plage des Catalans and Plage du Prado beaches, Corniche Kennedy has also inspired Made in Marseille rap. In the summer of 2022, the single titled “Corniche Kennedy” by Hollis l’Infâme resounded throughout the city and France alike: “Beverly, three and a half, I zigzag, Corniche Kennedy.” The clip features three gorgeous views of this iconic coast road steeped in sunshine, between two diving scenes (but beware, diving there is prohibited in real life) and Tmax scooter scenes (THE unrivalled star of Marseille rap). Others had also chosen the Corniche Kennedy as their backdrop prior to Hollis l’Infâme: “Psy4 de la Rime” shot the “Cités d’Or” video there in 2008 and “Le 3e Oeil: une vue sur la mer”.

Stade Vélodrome

In Marseille more than anywhere else, the ties between football and Hip-Hop culture are simply indissociable. And football here means the Olympique de Marseille (OM) of course. “Belsunce Breakdown” regularly roars through the Orange Vélodrome stadium when the players enter the field. The show continues with the iconic “Bad Boys de Marseille“, the soundtrack to the film presenting the city and players. Released in 1996, the track, featuring IAM and Fonky Family, is etched in everyone’s memory thanks to the chorus by Karima: “Weary by nature, we were born under the sun / You always recognize the bad boys’ style / Every day that God makes, I’m still tired at 3 am / You always recognize the bad boys’ style.” An absolute fan of the OM football club, Soprano was the first rapper to shoot a video at the stadium: “Halla Halla”. The first but not the last. In 2024, OM inaugurates a city stadium bearing the effigy of JUL, at the foot of the Bonne-Mère. Four years before, “13 Organisé“, a flagship Marseille rappers’ collective (Soso Maness, SCH, Akhenaton, Kofs and more) led by JUL (him again!), filmed the first scenes for the track “En bande organisée” in the Orange Vélodrome changing rooms and on the pitch. The song’s chorus and punchline “It’s not the capital / It’s Marseille baby” went on to achieve cult status throughout France, including in Paris.