The Toulouse rappers make a triumphant return after a two-year hiatus with a song that examines French identity in the middle of the countryside.
“It appears that there is a fire in the chapel, Joan of Arc’s or Djamel’s country.” It appears that being enraged is a source of pride for us, as if we are the monarchs of liberty. The Gauls and the knights are in the grimoire, but my grandma and her erased Berber tattoos are in the kitchen. Bigflo and Oli have been mastering the art of surprising people for a long time. They scheduled one for Tuesday and released a new footage at 12 p.m. So as not to disguise anything about the tone or their goals, his name is Holy shits. “Rather than a light and more expected tune, we wanted to come back with a song that is strong in meaning and essential to us,” the duo explains on their YouTube page.
It’s finished with this ode to France, a country they adore for both its virtues and its flaws. In under five minutes, the two brothers reject all of the country’s ambiguous impulses in a type of I love you, but I’m not patriotic in 2020 sauce. “I am French,” she said, hesitantly, as if she didn’t believe it herself. France is one of my favorite countries. Like an aunt with whom I don’t always agree and who doesn’t put in enough effort. But for whom will I shed all of my tears after his death? «
Why do I feel so uneasy in front of my own flag? Why do I only see it flaunted overseas or among fachos? It took the dust for a long time; mine didn’t help me all that much. Why does it affect me less when Argentina or Algeria is involved? I respond: I’m French, and I have a hesitant air about myself, as if I’m not sure what I’m saying.
Without implying that Bigflo and Oli represent an entire generation, we imagine that their questions resonate especially loudly in a country on the verge of a presidential election, and among young people who, according to polls, will overwhelmingly abstain on Sunday. “Can you tell me where I came from?” Resistance fighters or collaborators? Olivio Order sings, “As many cons, as complexes.” Have you noticed how long it goes on for? It takes a lot of strength to be able to love and hate at the same time. Is it the police, the police of filthy burrs? Or the one who works at the Hyper Kosher on the front lines?»
Bigflo and Oli put up a little glass studio on the sly for their clip, which they traveled across France, from the Capitole of Toulouse to the Pyrenees passes, from the alleys of necessarily idyllic hamlet to the Place de la République in Paris. “This clip was a huge pain to put together; we didn’t expect it to be so difficult,” the duo admits. However, the end product adds to the message: they shot their film for a week in March beneath the watchful eyes of passers-by. Their brazen celebrity, which brought them to the July 14 march, is, of course, the bubble through which they address the French. But it’s also where everyone creates their own opinion, “in his soul and conscience,” as the saying goes, and where everyone has to deal with their own impulses and contradictions. Looking at them, you’d think they’re all in the voting booth, considering the benefits, drawbacks, and, increasingly, the indifference.
Even though she doesn’t see me in the mirror, my France and her region are stunning. I believe we are capable of breaking the glass ceiling. Instead of focusing on our differences, let’s focus on what we have in common.
Is it France? As a result, it’s one Holy shit, as the duo characterizes it with a barrage of punchlines. “It makes you feel odd, but I love this country, the one that taxes me and covers me with taxes, the one that pays for me at the pharmacy, the one who took me, free, to see the sea in summer camp,” Bigflo and Oli say. The two brothers claim their portion of Toulouse musical history with this song, their first in two years, which slipped the Republic’s values between two stanzas from Nougaro to Zebda. But, unlike their elders, who sang about their convictions, the two young men, as Florian Ordonez confides, “have many questions, few solutions, and all I have are the lyrics of a song.” How can I be a dedicated artist if I don’t know what I’m thinking?» –