One Piece and French rap
Since the arrival of the Internet, manga consumption has only increased in France, and “One Piece” is probably one of the most followed works in France across all fields. Naturally, French rappers have also been influenced by the phenomenon, and on the occasion of the release of the film “One Piece: Red,” we will look back at the links between our favorite rappers and the biggest manga hit of all time.
Mangas and Rap, a Great Love Story
French rap didn’t wait for “One Piece” to include manga references in their lyrics or simply be influenced by the manga universe from Japan. The genre, which appeared in France in the 80s, has always drawn from all kinds of influences: traditional French chanson, for example, but also all American music. At that time, the only manga or anime consumed by youth was “Goldorak,” which wasn’t a huge hit but planted the seeds for the emergence, a few years later (thanks to the incredible show “Club Dorothée”), of a true “Dragon Ball Z Generation.” This was the first slap received by our French rappers, whose eyes were mostly turned toward America and Black American imagery, coming from Japan. Very quickly, the power of Son Goku, his appetite, and Vegeta’s bad temper appeared in French rap lyrics, even if the number of rappers with such references was rather limited. Because even though almost everyone loved Dragon Ball, mangas in general weren’t necessarily very trendy in the street. At least until Naruto arrived, and especially “One Piece,” a work massively consumed, notably thanks to the Internet and the famous “scans.”
“One Piece” is the manga that made consuming manga cool, whether in anime or books. For a long time, fans of Japanese culture were seen as geeks living in their own world, but the trend radically reversed in the 2010s, partly thanks to the “greatest manga of all time” (in terms of success and length). Now mangas are an integral part of street culture, just like gangster movies or westerns referenced by IAM and NTM in their early days. “One Piece” gradually infiltrated the lyrics of all your favorite rappers, especially the new generation, but not only. A great pioneer, Orelsan early on referenced the cult manga in several of his lyrics, at the time of his album “Le Chant des Sirènes.” In the track “2010,” he rapped “I watched One Piece eight times, the 460 episodes,” reminding us that this album is already over ten years old... And back then, there were “only” 460 animated episodes to consume for fans, compared to 1025 now... Orelsan, who has always embraced this somewhat geeky identity, making it cool too, and citing “One Piece,” which had the same effect for mangas, is no coincidence. He’s not the only one to mention the work in his lyrics; we can notably mention “Sam’s,” whom you may have discovered in the series “Validé,” who is also a big manga fan, especially of the “hakis,” the magical spirit powers that characters in “One Piece” can pass on.
These hakis are also popular with many rappers, like MMZ, whom we will talk about later. For some artists, it’s the spirit powers they envy, but for others, it’s physical abilities. Like Bolémvn, in “Biffzer” on the Seven Binks album, who would like to have an elastic limb, for obvious reasons we won’t mention! Finally, other artists seem to have much more complex and deep relationships with “One Piece,” like Nekfeu for example, who talks about his friends being “anti-heroes like Roronoa Zoro,” one of the manga’s most important characters, as if to explain that in life things aren’t always what they seem. For D.Ace, the manga completely captivated him, to the point of launching a series of “Mangas” freestyles (in 5 volumes) in which he often references the great “One Piece” epic. Finally, we can’t talk about references, mangas, and French rap without mentioning Freeze Corleone, a master in this field, who also dedicated a track to “Luffy” in 2016. But also a subtle reference to Nico Robin, one of the least cited characters by our rappers. Freeze says “searching for history like Nico Robin,” the archaeologist, illustrating his conflicted relationship with official historical theses. Finally, for Ashe 22, in “Sunset,” he simply says he “cuts the beat with Zoro’s blade,” so at least you know the dark mood of the track!
One Piece: Piracy Never Ends
But obviously, one of the most recurring aspects when talking about “One Piece” is pirates. Because before being an interplanetary phenomenon, this manga is above all a story about pirates living adventures, a kind of Odyssey. With a pirate crew playing the lead role, an iconic captain (Luffy), but also values and a certain code of piracy. And piracy in French rap is loved. We adore it, actually, because pirates are one of the marginal figures who once shook states, symbols of uncompromising freedom. The pirate embodies rebellion, subversion, adventure, and also a certain vision of existence made of camaraderie, rum, and women (though in this case, we’re closer to Jack Sparrow than Luffy). So when Booba (probably also a big One Piece fan) calls his fans pirates, launching a well-known slogan on social media (piracy never ends), it’s clear that French rap and the “Mugiwara” crew (the straw hat pirates) have a beautiful love story.
It has been and still is. Many punchlines continue to reference “One Piece” and piracy, like Nekfeu who rapped in “Milliardaire” in 2011 with his group 1995: “I cause chaos with my pirates like Luffy in One Piece.” A nice nod to the very noisy, loud, and chaotic character attributed to pirates, especially Monkey D. Luffy’s crew, never the last to get into incredible situations and cause maximum mess. Again, piracy is highlighted through a manga reference. Damso also placed his manga reference through this aspect, though as the tortured writer he is, he complicated it with a double reference to “One Piece,” one for Luffy and his long arm, and one for piracy. In the track “M. Noob Saibot” on his 2017 album “Ipséité,” he rapped: “I have a long arm but not for selfies, Piracy, Mugiwara Luffy.” He obviously refers to Luffy’s elastic arm, gained by eating a specific devil fruit. An arm he won’t stretch out for a selfie because he hates them, according to his lyrics. But also a big shout-out to piracy, at a time when Damso was still signed to 92i, the label of the French rap piracy chief, Booba. We mainly included the punchlines we found interesting and well done, but of course, the list isn’t exhaustive and simply aims to show how “One Piece” has completely merged with French rap and urban culture. And knowing we have at least 3 years before the manga’s end is published, we can say this beautiful story is set to last a long time!
We also take this opportunity to remind you that the One Piece x Project X Paris collection is still available, as we obviously restocked after the first sales’ huge success. This capsule is a real blockbuster validated by all urban youth; Ninho even gave us a strong boost by endorsing the One Piece x PXP collab, as he was spotted many times wearing pieces from the capsule. During a visit to Vistavue, the main Cartier glasses retailer in Europe, Ninho took the opportunity to wear the ivory One Piece Luffy hoodie, one of the best-selling pieces in the collection. Proof that French rappers are influenced by One Piece right down to their clothes!