Rating of the product: 4 stars
French emcee Ben Laden might raise a lot of controversy by the nickname he carries. He might shock a lot of people through his statements.
Mc Ben Laden is nevertheless an interesting and quite enigmatic figure in French underground rap. In fact, his album, La Vie Après La Mort, draws a caustic satire of French society, its racism, its wounds and its failures.
To fully enjoy and understand the album, it is preferable to have experienced life in a French ghetto.
Never afraid to stab Nicolas Sarkozy and to point out French society s weaknesses, Mc Ben Laden is the messenger of a sick society that definitely needs some healing.
MC Ben Laden makes some caustic allusions to Bouna and Zied’s tragic death in Clichy Sous Bois, a Paris suburb, in 2005, a tragic event during which both teenagers were chased by the French police and landed into an electric transformer and died. He accentuates the wrong way Muslims are perceived on purpose.
Nan ironizes the huge fear people have of Islam.
The equation Islam equals violence is used as a shock value. The ghetto youths incessant quest for money in order to improve their situation is constantly underlined.
Petit Blanc targets a specific category of white suburban guy who affects to like rap music in order to obtain some acceptance in the black community.
Mc Ben Laden will probably be misquoted and misunderstood by some listeners, but I think that one should lend him an attentive ear.
One of my favorites is certainly Fils De Croise, because of its strange keyboard sounds and its inventive lyrics. MC Ben Laden will not shy away from showing his lyrical weapons.
Mc Ben Laden has some free downloads to offer on his my space account, including Une Vie Après La Mort.
Have a look at his music!
Copyright 2007 by Isabelle Esling
All Rights Reserved