mRk and John (and all you others! ;-),
Here's what I reccomend. Pick up the "Jimmy Jay Presentes 'Les Cool
Sessions'" compilation album if you haven't already got it. This has a
pretty good representative sample of all the artists in the J-Jay stable.
It's available on Virgin France and shouldn't be too difficult to track
down. If you're really keen telnet to
cdeurope.com
They have loads of European CDs available, although be prepared to pay
import prices (ack!) Note that music is already expensive in France
(compared to the U.S.,) so you might get a bit of a shock price-wise.
Naturally the best thing to do would be to scan all your friends and
relatives and find out if any of them are going to France in the near
future as they'll easily be able to get you whatever you want (the local
product is everywhere!!!) This applies to a lesser extent in the French
colonies. A friend of mine recently bought Les Sage Poets album back from
one of the islands in the Pacific (but lets not talk about French in the
Pacific! ;-)
Anyway getting back to J-Jay, it includes tracks by (off my head); La Funk
Mob, Solaar, Lucien, Les Sage Poets De La Rue, Moda et Dan, M.C. Janick,
Lyrical Tom, Democrate D, Menelik Et La Tribu, and quite a few others.
This covers rap, acid-jazz and ragga. Another point is that almost all the
artists on the J-Jay compilation have since released solo joints,in some
cases, e.g. Les Sage Poets, more than just one! (Not to mention J-Jay
affiliated artists such as Melaaz [in the Zhane tradition, once Solaar's
backing singer,] who aren't on 'Les Cool Sessions', but have also released
tracks.)
The latest tracks by Solaar can be found on La Haine, a compilation of
French hip-hop inspired by the hugely successful French movie (that I'm
*still* waiting for, down here in Tas!!!) Note that this is *not* the La
Haine sound-track. Anyway, IMO, Solaar's stuff kicks along with other
tracks by other weel known French hip-hop artists (e.g. Iam.) This
compilation is also worth picking up.
Anyway, although I know a bit about what's out and who's on what, etc.
(thanks to good friends in France!) I still don't understand French (which
I will eventually remedy,) and consequently I can't tell you too much about
the artists. I do know one or two things about Solaar. Following his
first LP "Qui Seme Le Vent Recolte Les Tempo" (I might have got that title
slightly wrong,) which earned he and J-Jay quite a bit of cash, they bought
a studio with the aim of bringing other artists up within the French scene.
The huge number of albums from the J-Jay stable will show you that they
were successful. I don't think that it would be saying too much in
pointing out that Solaar's success is probably responsible for many of the
other French hip-hop groups also gaining some recognition. Groups such as
Iam (actually a little before Solaar in 1989, but look how popular their
second LP was [post-Solaar,] compared to their first!), Supreme NTM,
Ministere Amer and Assassin all sprang up around the same time.
Anyway, I hope this helps. I think what I've said is more or less correct.....
Dino!