MC Solaar
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MC Solaar | |
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jazz-rap | |
Years active | 1988–present |
Labels |
Claude Honoré M'Barali (French pronunciation:
MC Solaar is known for his complex lyrics and distinctive flows, which rely on word play, lyricism, and inquiry. In the English-speaking world, Solaar was signed by London-based acid jazz record label Talkin' Loud and recorded with British band Urban Species and rapper Guru, who was a member of New York-based rap band Gang Starr. Solaar has released eight studio albums and one live album. His eighth studio album, Géopoétique, produced by Alain Etchart and mixed by sound engineer David Gnozzi, won best album of the year at the Victoires de la Musique awards in 2018.
Biography
Early life
Claude M'Barali was born in Dakar, Senegal, to parents from Chad. When he was six months old, his parents immigrated to France where they settled in the Parisian suburbs; initially in Saint-Denis, subsequently Maisons-Alfort and finally Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. When he was twelve, he went to live with an uncle in Cairo, Egypt for nine months where he discovered the Universal Zulu Nation and became fascinated with the rapping styles of Afrika Bambaataa.[3] Upon his return to France, he passed the baccalauréat. The constant support from his mother was one of the reasons that he was able to pass the baccalauréat and still make music. He coined the stage name "MC Solaar" during his adolescence from his graffiti tags "SOAR" and "SOLAAR".[1]
He studied languages at the Jussieu university campus and was a postgraduate in philosophy. He released his first single in 1990. MC Solaar went to Paris in the summer of 1991 with his friend Jimmy Jay in hopes of succeeding in the music industry. Success came quickly when his first single, "Bouge de là" ("Get Out of There"), based on a sample from Cymande's song "The Message" (1973) became a hit in the early 1990s. Many rappers who came out of Africa at the time spoke a lot about slavery and other topics in order to bring the history of their people into light.[4] Nevertheless, the song went platinum in France and reached #5 on the national charts.
1991–1997: Early success and Prose Combat breakthrough
After the success of "Bouge de là", Solaar went on to support the American rap group
MC Solaar released
Solaar returned to the studio in 1997 with longtime friend and producer Jimmy Jay to record his third album,
Early in Solaar's career, it was important for him to share the struggles and the different hardships for black people that had emigrated to France and tried to make a better life. Most of his music was dedicated to enlightening the population of a specific deeper message that connected to him in his life. "[...] he addresses the conditions under which Black people have emigrated to and settled in France. In the piece "Leve-toi et rap," he describes his Chadian parents' migration from Senegal to a Parisian suburb, the main stages of his teenage years and how he finally came to discover rap."[4] In an interview, MC Solaar described the feeling of making a song and the thought process while just writing any part of lyrics that go into his music. "I write quickly, because of the music, he tells me. It's much easier if you have the music, the rhythm, but I am fast. First, I have taken in "everything". Do you never write before the music? Ah. I used to, he admits. But when I met the music, I changed."[2]
1997–2004: Cinquième As and Mach 6
Solaar released Cinquième As in 2001, to critical acclaim and Mach 6 in 2003. In the album's third track, "Lève-Toi et Rap", Solaar describes his parents' move to France as well as his own roots growing up in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges and Cairo.[4] Critic Dan Gennoe attests to Solaar's "flow et vocabulaire" by noting "the flow of his words is staggering, as are the low-slung grooves that they roll to; deftly vaulting all language barriers."[6]
In 1998, MC Solaar embarked on a tour beginning at the
2005–present: Chapitre 7 and international acclaim
"Da Vinci Claude", the first single from Solaar's album
MC Solaar is one of the few French rappers having success in the English-dominated American hip hop culture. American rapper will.i.am admitted he prefers MC Solaar to American rapper Tupac Shakur.[10]
Personal life
MC Solaar studied humanities in highly selective preparatory classes ( In 2007, she gave birth to a daughter named Bonnie. They divorced in 2012.
Philanthropy
MC Solaar has been a member of the Les Enfoirés charity ensemble since 1997.[12]
Discography
Albums
Studio albums
Year | Album | Peak positions | Sales | Certifications[13] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FR [14] |
AUT | BEL (Wa) [15] |
GER
|
SWI [16] | ||||
1991 | Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo | – | – | 6 | – | 37 |
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1994 | Prose Combat | – | 28 | 6 | 81 | 12 |
| |
1997 | Paradisiaque | 1 | – | 6 | 96 | 8 |
| |
1998 | MC Solaar | 9 | – | 14 | – | 19 | ||
2001 | Cinquième As | 2 | – | 2 | 98 | 5 |
| |
2003 | Mach 6 | 2 | – | 12 | – | – |
| |
2007 | Chapitre 7 | 5 | – | 6 | – | – |
|
|
2017 | Géopoétique | 1 | – | 3 | – | 14 |
|
|
2024 | Triptyque: Lueurs célestes | – | – | 11 | – | – |
Live albums
Year | Album | Peak positions | Certification | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
FR [14] |
BEL (Wa) [15] |
SWI [16] | |||
1998 | Le tour de la question - Album live à L'Olympia | 8 | 19 | – |
|
Compilation albums
Year | Album | Peak positions | Certification | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
FR [14] |
SWI [16] | ||||
2010 | Magnum 567 | – | – | – |
Maxis and EPs
- Solaar Power EP
- Inch'Allah EP
Singles
Year | Single | Peak positions | Album | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
FR [14] |
BEL (Wa) [15] |
SWI [16] | |||
1991 | "Bouge de là" | 22 | – | – | Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo |
"Victime de la mode" | 32 | – | – | ||
1992 | "Caroline" | 4 | 31 | – | |
"Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo" | 39 | – | – | ||
1993 | "Nouveau western" | 4 | – | – | Prose Combat |
1994 | "Séquelles" | 19 | – | – | |
"Obsolète" | 29 | – | – | ||
1995 | "La concubine de l'hémoglobine" | 42 | – | – | |
1997 | "Gangster moderne" | 31 | 25 | – | Paradisiaque |
"Les temps changent" | 13 | 26 | – | ||
1998 | "Paradisiaque" | 41 | 28 | – | |
"Galaktika" | 64 | – | – | Cinquième As | |
2001 | "Solaar pleure" | 4 | 2 | 22 | |
"Hasta la vista" | 1 | 5 | 23 | ||
"RMI" | 22 | 3* (Ultratip) |
– | ||
2002 | "La la la, la" | 39 | 2* (Ultratip) |
– | |
"Inch'Allah" | 1 | 16 | 13 | Inch'Allah EP | |
2004 | " Hijo de Africa "
|
32 | – | – | Mach 6 |
"Au pays de Gandhi" | 37 | – | – | ||
2007 | "Clic clic" | 19 | 7* (Ultratip) |
– | Chapitre 7 |
2008 | "Le rabbi muffin" | 20 | 1 | – | |
2017 | "Sonotone" | 3 [19] |
46 | – | Géopoétique |
2018 | "Eksassaute" | 60 | 40 | – | |
"Aiwa" | – | 33 | – |
*Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.
Collective singles
Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
---|---|---|---|
FR [14] | |||
2014 | " Ségara / Les Enfoirés / Chœurs du Collège du Kochersberg)
|
105 | Les Enfoirés album Bon anniversaire |
Featured in
Year | Single | Peak positions | Album | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FR [14] |
AUT | BEL
(Vl) |
GER
|
NED
|
SWE | SWI [16] | ||||
1993 | "Le bien, le mal" (Guru feat. MC Solaar) |
33 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
1995 | "Listen" (Urban Species feat. MC Solaar) |
29 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
1999 | "All n My Grill" (Missy Misdemeanor Elliott feat. MC Solaar) |
16 | – | 7 (Ultratip) |
9 | 22 | 86 | 39 | 23 |
Filmography
- 1991: Pour Kim Song-Man - short film by Costa-Gavras
- 2005: Mort à l'écran as Jonathan - short film by Alexis Ferrebeuf
- 2011: Illegal Love voice over - documentary by Julie Gali
Live albums
- Le Tour De La Question (2 CD) (1998)
References and footnotes
- ^ a b c d "Biography". Islandia. Archived from the original on 4 May 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2006.
- ^ a b c Berdeshevsky, Margo. "The Age of MC Solaar". Rattapallax. Archived from the original on 26 October 2006. Retrieved 12 December 2006.
- ^ "Q&A". CNN International. Retrieved 12 December 2006.
- ^ a b c d Helenon, Veronique. "Africa on Their Mind: Rap, Blackness, and Citizenship in France." In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Glmmobalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, London; Ann Arbor, Michigan: Pluto Press, 2006. pp.151-66.
- ^ a b "MC Solaar". RFI Musique. Archived from the original on 30 October 2006. Retrieved 25 July 2006.
- Amazon.co.uk, accessed 20 March 2008.
- ^ "Un témoignage de Bintou Dembele: S/T/R/A/T/E/S. Trente ans de Hip-Hop dans le corps". Africultures. 99–100: 250–261. 2014.
- ^ Cinquieme As at Amazon.com
- ^ MC Solaar biography at MTV.com
- ^ "Fallait préférer MC Solaar à Tupac pour être branché à L.A. dans les 90's - Greenroom". Greenroom (in French). 2016-11-01. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
- ^ MC Solaar – A me hante, retrieved 2021-12-21
- ^ "MC Solaar" Archived 2017-11-10 at the Wayback Machine (in French). Enfoires.com. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
- ^ a b "Les Certifications - SNEP". SNEP (in French). 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
- ^ a b c d e f "MC Solaar discography". leshcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
- ^ a b c d e "MC Solaar discography". ultratop.be/fr/. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
- ^ a b c d e "MC Solaar discography". hitparade.ch. Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
- ^ ""Géopoétique" : MC Solaar, numéro un des ventes d'albums, détrône Michel Sardou". chartsinfrance.net. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
- ^ "Les albums 2017 : MC Solaar enfin de retour avec "Géopoétique"". chartsinfrance.net. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
- Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the originalon 24 September 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017.