Comment by lapnitnelav | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lapnitnelav | Hacker News Reader

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A bit tangential but closely related, I believe French HipHop / Rap makes such a good use of our language and all the slangs which I find lacking a bit in English HipHop.

I don't know if it's cultural or if I am really unaware of the equivalent in English, but it is such a delight to see the creativity of those folks.

A few recent examples :

https://genius.com/15760906 < Cadillac | Game over : A song about death.

"J'écoute des CDs, des sons de l'au-delà" > I listen to records (CD), sounds from the other side. Des CDs also sound like being dead (décédé).

https://genius.com/Odezenne-tu-pu-du-cu-lyrics < Odezenne | Tu pu du cu

"T’es stupéfiant \ Je te roule, je te fume \ T’es stupéfait" > Word play on stupéfiant which is both a word for drugs and being surprising / stunning.

https://genius.com/Nekfeu-egerie-lyrics < Nekfeu | Egérie

"Toujours en déplacement le soir \ Mais, c'qui compte, c'est le dépassement de soi" > The play on déplacemment (being out of town) / dépassement (overcoming) ... le soir / de soi. Brilliant

I'm not sure if this is what you meant but there's a ton of word play in American Hip-Hop, it's pretty core to the genre. Literally any rapper you pick will be doing some amount of word play.

Oh I am sure there are word plays in American / English speaking HipHop, I just haven't found the same propensity than in the French scene.

If you have notable examples in mind, please do share with me because I have been trying to find that for a while to prove my own point wrong.

Sure I think MF DOOM is a good place to start especially his Madvillainy album with the producer Madlib which is really well regarded. More recent stuff I enjoy is Mick Jenkins from Chicago, his 2014 The Waters mixtape was also really well reviewed. Aesop Rock is also generally thought of as a really good technical rapper. His album None Shall Pass from the Def Jux days is really good though I prefer Skelethon which has less word play but is also brilliant.

Hey, thanks for spreading Mc Solaar :) Great author indeed

Listen to Jay Z - Reasonable Doubt.

I can't edit my original comment anymore but if you do have an interest in French, I strongly recommend studying the first 2 examples because they are pretty much full of those carefully crafted punchlines.

A bit older but very much a classic too, https://genius.com/Mc-solaar-caroline-lyrics

Yea, this is extremely common in American hip hop for a long time, and some of the turns are also quite breathtaking. Glad to see it in French too

Relatedly, but further away from OP, and.not rap/hip hop, but Frandol's "l'un contre l'autre" makes a very good use of double entendre. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BNdxHUv3vmc

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