"Our Caribbean cultures are better accepted in French rap"

Highlights: Emmanuel Foucan alias Shorty works for the emergence of Caribbean rap and Creole urban music on the national and international scenes. He organizes this Friday for the second edition of Centrale Place a set of exclusively Caribbean artists. For this premiere, the artists come exclusively from Guadeloupe and Martinique. "I'm trying to open up to Guyana, but it brings us back to the difficulty of air ticket prices," he explains. "The position of the West Indies creates a position of French styles in other styles," he says.

From L'Oxymore in Guadeloupe to Flammes in Paris, Emmanuel Foucan alias Shorty works for the emergence of Caribbean rap and Creole urban music (dancehall, bouyon...) on the national and international scenes.

On Thursday, the Flames ceremony sparkled rap and urban music at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
Among the artists awarded were Martinican rapper Kalash and singer Maureen from the same island, winners of the Caribbean or Caribbean-inspired song of the year. The Martinican singer Meryl has, meanwhile, ensured a performance.
Year after year, Caribbean artists are digging a furrow in the French rap landscape. A conquest to which Emmanuel Foucan contributes, says Shorty. He organizes this Friday for the second edition of Centrale Place a set of exclusively Caribbean artists.

Kalash, Meryl, Kima, Tiitof... Between featuring, EP and touring, Caribbean rap is exported beyond its borders to shake up the charts. In Creole, French or English, these artists show the general public the richness of Caribbean musicality. But is it so easy for these local singers to conquer the national stage? And how can we help them promote their songs? Emmanuel Foucan alias Shorty has been working there for more than twenty years. In 2015, he founded his own media L'Oxymore "to document Caribbean urban cultures" such as rap, dancehall and bouyon through artist interviews, music formats and playlists on streaming platforms.

Juror in Les Flammes, the ceremony dedicated to rap and its currents Thursday, he participates this Friday in the second edition of the Centrale Place festival, a series of indoor and outdoor rap concerts in the heart of Les Halles in Paris. The co-manager of the communication agency Agence 88 organizes for the occasion "L'Oxymore on stage", a set of Caribbean artists with Kima, Kiddyskur, Larose, Implaccable, Rengy and DJ Greg. For this premiere, the artists come exclusively from Guadeloupe and Martinique. "I'm trying to open up to Guyana, but it brings us back to the difficulty of air ticket prices," he explains. "It costs less for a Guadeloupean to go to Paris than to go to Guyana [the trip is about three hours]," he laments.

For 20 Minutes, the 36-year-old entrepreneur looks back on his project and the emergence of Caribbean rappers on the national scene.

How did the concept of "L'Oxymore on stage" come about, this series of concerts with a set of Caribbean artists in Paris?

The adventures of L'Oxymore led us to meet the team of the Cultural Center La Place in Paris, to whom we presented our project. We first collaborated on interviews. They made premises available in the Cultural Center in Paris so that I could do interviews with Caribbean artists who were in Paris during my visits. It was then that they offered us to join a festival called Central Place, which returns for its second edition from May 9 to 13. It highlights the safe bets, but also the new nuggets of French rap. And they offered us to make a set with Caribbean artists. This idea, being in the continuity of our mission and our desire to highlight to promote these Caribbean artists, we immediately accepted. And I received the support of many Caribbean confreres and content creators on the event.

It is a first to realize such a set while more and more Caribbean artists impose themselves on the national rap scene... Did you have a hard time highlighting these talents?

Broad question. Caribbean artists still perform regularly. There have been concerts with artists who fill halls like Matieu White at La Cigale, Meryl at the Elysée Montmartre. But it's true that in festivals really dedicated to French rap, it seems to me to be unprecedented. It's something that was complicated some time ago, but in recent years, I think that after the years of work of Admiral T, the explosion of Kalash who works a lot in this direction, we are starting to have much more interest from the French French scene. We feel the Caribbean urban culture more and more accepted within the institutions, a little French rap.

Are there specificities in Caribbean rap that are not found in other styles?

Yes, there are specificities, but I would not say that they are not found in other styles. The geographical position of the French West Indies creates a crossroads of cultures. For example, we had access to American channels like BET long before the French France, it created influences. Obviously, there is all the Caribbean music that rocked us, such as konpa, zouk, biguine, gwoka... And then because we remain French departments, there is also French variety, French rap, etc. All this makes interesting mixes musically. And there is the Creole language that allows to express ideas differently by the sounds, by its pictorial side. There are many expressions, comparisons. It offers a richness.

You were one of the judges of the Flames, which celebrate the champions of rap and its many currents. How did it go? Are you proud to contribute to this celebration?

I am extremely proud to have contributed to this ceremony. I was really surprised to be contacted by the organizers, Booska-P and Yard. They presented me with the project and made this proposal. I answered in less than 30 seconds (laughs). I was talking about the fact that our Caribbean cultures were becoming more accepted and involved, and that's exactly how I felt especially when I saw the other members of the jury with prestigious figures from the rap music industry and the music industry. It's truly an honour.

Are Caribbean artists sufficiently represented? There are Kalash, Maureen and Meryl...

There are Caribbean artists that we would have liked to see, but there were criteria to participate, namely to have released an album, a song or a work during the year 2022. As a result, some artists who would have quite deserved their place were not present. Now, it's up to them to release projects in 2023 for the next edition. Otherwise, we had representative artists and a very interesting category which is the Caribbean or Caribbean-inspired song of the year [won by Kalash and Maureen]. It restores value to the Caribbean. And there were not only Caribbean nominees, but also French-speaking artists like Aya Nakamura and Damso.

What is missing today from kréyol (Creole) rap to be better heard?

I think we should work on structuring the sector, that there are real managers, bookers, artistic directors, etc. Unfortunately, perhaps due to lack of means or knowledge of the music industry, a person takes on almost all the roles and inevitably there are limits. By creating L'Oxymore, I also wanted to structure the media sphere a little by allowing rap and dancehall artists to come and defend their project, promote and talk about their creative process. Ideally, this should be done in all areas. But I feel like it's progressing as we go along. Now, the backbone must be strengthened in order to better defend projects with labels, festivals and possibly with other national and international artists in order to broaden the target and reach more and more people.

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