(AllHipHop News) Hip-Hop, Croissants and the Eiffel Tower don’t seem like they go together but one writer makes it clear that they do.
One of the architects of Hip-Hop journalism, Miles Marshall Lewis has traveled the world in search of a funky beat and a slick lyric.
During his travels fell in love with France. So many things about the French caught his attention, but it was also the flourishing rap culture that stole his heart.
So much so, homeboy packed up and moved there, diving pen first, all the way in there. It is here where the foundation of his new documentary starts.
“Radical: The Savoir Faire of French Hip-Hop” is about French Hip-Hop told through the pages of the Paris-based rap magazine Radikal, which he became acquainted with more than 20-years-ago.
Miles Marshall Lewis gives voice to the need for such a doc and why he chose to take on the task as its principal director/ producer.
“There are so many documentaries about different slices of Hip-Hop history. I decided to be different and tell the French version through a Paris-based rap magazine,” Miles Marshall Lewis said.
With a resume that includes stints at some of Hip-Hop’s most trusted outlets, Lewis is a perfect person to shape the story… or support the story in shaping itself.
The writer in him took full advantage of his American byline to help him gain access to some cross-cultural exchanges in this country and he started to film what he saw.
Lewis learned that French rap goes at least as far back as 1982 when Fab 5 Freddy’s “Change the Beat” B-Side was popping, and a magazine like Radikal had its roots in the same American Hip-Hop media that started his career
“France has the second biggest market for Hip-Hop music in the world.,” noted Lewis, explaining that the music has been popping over there.
“Because so many African countries were colonized by the French, a lot of urban African worldviews are expressed through French rap music. A style called Afrotrap began in Paris by a rapper named MHD, and it draws on the Afrobeats genre that’s hot all around the world right now,” Miles Marshall Lewis said.
Trust and believe that the documentary will be fire, and you as a lover of the culture have the opportunity to be a part of its production.
According to Miles Marshall Lewis, he wants to make sure that the level of excellence that is all over the work is maintained — all the way to the end.
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