La Caution

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La Caution is a French hip hop duo consisting of members Hi-Tekk and Nikkfurie. They are notable for creating the song "Thé à la Menthe" which is known for appearing (in instrumental form) in the film Ocean's Twelve. The phrase "thé à la menthe" is French for "mint tea".

[edit] History

La Caution's first single "Les rues électriques" (electric streets), was released in 1999. They began to gain recognition participating to Assassin concerts. As a result, they secured the opening slot on the band's tour in 2000 and 2001, This enabled them to reach an increasingly larger audience. Encouraged by the success of the "Les rues électriques", La Caution, shouldered by DJ Fab, released their first album "Asphalte Hurlante" (Screaming Asphalt) in 2001. A year later, a version including seven new unreleased titles was released. Participating in many projects with other hip-hop groups, they released the "Cadavre Exquis" (Exquisite Corpse) album in 2002, with the collective L'Armée des 12 (French for "12 dead monkeys", a collective made up of La Caution and TTC, started in 1999). They also released the "Crash Test" EP with the electronic group Château Flight.

Their musical style is seen to be a combination of energetic electronic sonorities and original and percussive words. Wanting to break away from the current French rap, they brought a revival which now tends to spread out further than the Parisian underground, thanks also to groups such as TTC. After over three long years, the Peines De Maures / Arc-en-ciel Pour Daltoniens double album was released on October 17, 2005. Peines De Maures, a play on words with "Peine de mort" (death penalty) and the Maure tribe, another way of describing people from North Africa, remains within a rather traditional rap style, whereas the second Arc-en-ciel Pour Daltoniens (Rainbow for the colorblind) has much more of an Electro sound to it.

The song "Thé à la Menthe" (subtitled "the lazer dance version" in its instrumental form) appeared in the film Ocean's Twelve in a scene where a character appears to "dance" to evade a series of laser beams. The song appeared thanks to Vincent Cassel who, alongside with La Caution, is part of Kourtrajmé, an artistic collective. La Caution also appeared as an imaginary group called Sheitan on the score to the eponym film (directeded by Kim Chapiron of Kourtrajmé), with the title "Bâtards de Barbares" in which they preach an ultra-violent style of rap, which is of course purely caricatural. The songs "Comme Un Sampler" (Like a Sampler) and "Pilotes Automatiques" (Automatic Pilots), taken from the album Peines De Maures, also appear in the film. Hi-tekk and Nikkfurie are also part of the "Les Cautionneurs" collective, with Saphir the Jeweller, Izno (Hi-Tekk and Nikkfurie's little brother) and 16S64.

The latter also appear on both of La Caution's albums, on titles such as: "J'plante le décor" or "Révolver". Les Cautionneurs released an album: "Quinte Flush Royal" on September 25, 2006. On November 13, 2006 came out the album entitled La Caution Rend Visite Aux Gens Et Des Gens Revisitent La Caution (La Caution visits people and people revisit La Caution), an album on CD/DVD made up of remixes of the band's highlights, produced in particular by EDA (Enhancer), Radioinactive, Drixxxé etc. as well as extracts of live appearances and a documentary recalling their career.

[edit] Discography

Asphalte Hurlante (2001 - Kerozen Music)
Crash Test (2002 - Kerozen Music, Wagram)
Peines De Maures / Arc-en-ciel Pour Daltoniens (2005 - Kerozen Music, Wagram)
Peines De Maures / Arc-en-ciel Pour Daltoniens - The Instrumental Version [digital-only release] (2006 - Kerozen Music)
Des Gens Revisitent La Caution / La Caution Rend Visite Aux Gens (2006 - Kerozen Music, Wagram) (CD/DVD)