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.

The PXP x One Piece collab: No video available.

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 world of Japanese mangas. The musical genre, which appeared in France in the 1980s, has always drawn from all sorts 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 real « Dragon Ball Z Generation ». This was the first big impact on our French rappers, whose eyes were mostly turned towards America and African-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 quite limited. Because even though almost everyone loved Dragon Ball, mangas in general were not necessarily very trendy in the street. At least until the arrival of Naruto, and especially « One Piece », a work massively consumed, notably thanks to the Internet and the famous « scans ».

« One Piece » is the manga that succeeded in making consuming mangas 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). Nowadays, 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 » has gradually infiltrated the lyrics of all your favorite rappers, especially those of the new generation, but not only. A great pioneer, Orelsan had early on referenced the cult manga in several of his lyrics, at the time of the release of his album « Le Chant des Sirènes ». In the track « 2010 », he rapped notably « I watched One Piece eight times, the 460 episodes », which reminds us that this album is already more than ten years old... And at the time, there were « only » 460 animated episodes to consume for fans, compared to 1025 currently... Orelsan, who has always embraced this somewhat geeky identity, making it a bit cool too, and citing « One Piece » which had the same effect for mangas, is no coincidence. He is not the only one to mention the work in his lyrics, and we can notably talk about « Sam's », whom you may have discovered in the series « Validé », who is also a big fan of the manga and especially the « hakis », these 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 powers of the mind that are envied, but for others, it’s physical abilities. Like Bolémvn, in « Biffzer » on the Seven Binks album, who would like to have an elastic arm, 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 who are « anti-heroes like Roronoa Zoro », one of the most important characters in the manga, as if to explain that in life things are not 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 repeatedly references the great epic « One Piece ». 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, to illustrate his conflicted relationship with official historical theses. Finally, for Ashe 22, in « Sunset », he simply announces that he « cuts the beat with Zoro’s blade », at least you know the dark vibe of the track!

One Piece: piracy never ends But obviously, one of the aspects that comes up most often when talking about « One Piece » is pirates. Because before being an interplanetary phenomenon, this manga is above all a story about pirates, who live adventures, a kind of Odyssey. With a pirate crew playing the leading role, an iconic captain (Luffy), but also values and a certain code of piracy. And piracy, in French rap, we love it. We even adore it, because pirates are one of the marginal figures that once shook states, sort of fantasized symbols of uncompromising freedom. The pirate embodies rebellion, subversion, adventure, and also a certain vision of existence made of camaraderie, rum, and women (even if in this case, we are closer to Jack Sparrow than to Luffy). So when, on top of that, Booba (perhaps also a big fan of One Piece) starts calling his fans pirates, launching a well-known slogan on social media (piracy never ends), we understand that it didn’t take much for French rap and the « Mugiwara » crew (the straw hat pirates) to live a beautiful love story.

Discover the PXP & One Piece collab

It has been the case, and still is. Many punchlines continue to reference « One Piece », 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 trouble. Again, piracy is highlighted thanks to a manga reference. Damso also placed his reference to the manga through this aspect, even if, as a tortured writer, he complicated things 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 album « Ipséité » in 2017, he rapped: « I have a long arm but not for selfies, Piracy, Mugiwara Luffy ». He obviously refers to Luffy’s elastic arm, obtained by eating a very specific devil fruit. An arm he won’t stretch out to take a selfie because he hates that, if we believe his lyrics. But also a big shout-out to piracy, at a time when Damso was still signed with 92i, the label of the French rap piracy chief, Booba. We mainly shared the punchlines we found interesting and well done, but obviously, the list is not exhaustive and was simply meant to show you how « One Piece » has completely merged with French rap and urban culture. And knowing that we have at least 3 years before the manga’s end is published, we think 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 overwhelming success of the first sales. This capsule is a real blockbuster validated by all urban youth, and Ninho sent us strong support by validating the One Piece x PXP collab, as he was spotted many times wearing pieces from the capsule. While visiting Vistavue, the main Cartier glasses retailer in Europe, Ninho took the opportunity to wear the ivory-colored One Piece Luffy hoodie, one of the best-selling pieces of the collection. Proof that French rappers are influenced by One Piece right down to their clothes!