French The Kid is paving the way in which for bilingual UK rappers. Blending punchy East End rhyming with easy, delicate French language hooks, his vocal fashion is completely distinctive, as his backstory. Raised between the streets of Essex and Toulouse, with sturdy ties to the Irish traveller group, his identification has been cast by cross-cultural encounters and experiences of crime and poverty. Bars filled with vivid storytelling are the result — and rap followers are lapping it up.
In late 2020, he dropped one of many most-watched Daily Duppy freestyles ever, racking up over 20 million views, and surpassing equal efforts from Central Cee and Meekz. Since then, he’s collaborated with Bad Boy Chiller Crew and Russ Millions, launched his debut venture ‘Never Been Ordinary’, and featured within the NME 100. Yet a willingness to do issues in a different way defines French’s music. That drive is obvious on ‘No Signal’, a mixtape which sees him flip effortlessly between English and French over darkish, goosebump-inducing UK drill and highway rap beats.
While earlier releases have caught to a reasonably constant sound, linking spacious drill rhythms with chilling string compositions, ambient piano, and gliding subs, ‘No Signal’ sees French dip his toes into new waters. There’s soulful gospel on ‘Remember’, funky summer time hip-hop vibes on ‘Fuck A Trend’, whereas ‘Notice Me’ hyperlinks skippy drill hi-hats with indie guitar results. Live instrumentation additionally options on ‘Constantina’, the place darkish piano melodies spark excitingly in opposition to haunting high-pitched vocal samples. Arguably the venture’s greatest observe, it sees French spit “Turn up the bass, run up the whole mixtape / Trust me, listen to the lyrics alone” — he then backs this up by repeatedly dropping the instrumental out to spit a bar, earlier than permitting heavy 808s to swoop again in forcefully.
‘S-Class’, the 18-track mixtape’s sprawling third music, embodies the essence of French The Kid: after spitting a sequence of intricate, cleverly-textured bars documenting tales from the highway, he drops the silky Francophone hook “C ton pote frr c pas mon ami / Tu me trouve sur le block dans la nuit”. The smoothly-delivered lyrics translate roughly as “He’s your friend bro, he’s not my friend / You find me on the block in the night”.
What’s most spectacular in regards to the Essex rhymer’s bilingual rapping isn’t at all times the direct translation, however the fluidity with which he skips between languages, and the unwavering sense of his particular person voice that prevails all through. Last yr, he informed NME, “What is talent? You might as well believe in ghosts. I don’t believe in it” — and but, on a mixtape that’s filled with invention and sharp storytelling, French exhibits that he’s clearly received luggage of it.
Details
- Release date: April 14
- Record label: Drop Out UK