Suprême NTM

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Suprême NTM
Origin French flag Paris, France
Genre(s) French hip hop
Hip hop
Rap
R&B
Soul
Funk
Rap 90'
Years active 1989–2001;2008-???
Label(s) Epic
Website Official website
Members
Bruno Lopès
Didier Morville

Suprême NTM (or simply NTM) is a French hip hop group formed in 1989 in the Seine-Saint-Denis département. The group comprises rappers Joey Starr (born Didier Morville) and Kool Shen (born Bruno Lopès). Their six albums were released by Sony Music Entertainment. Their last album, "Suprême NTM" (containing the huge hit "Ma Benz"), enjoyed commercial success (800,000 records sold up to today), and is widely considered as one of the best French hip-hop albums ever.

The group takes its name from the French slang "NTM", an abbreviation for "Nique Ta Mère" ("Nique" being an aphesis of the verb "forniquer", "to fornicate") meaning "Fuck Your Mother". NTM is known for their hostility towards the police, violent lyrics, and legal battles with the French authorities. Their musical style is predominantly hardcore rap, although later albums include funk, soul and reggae influences.

The group is outspokenly critical of racism and class inequality in French society, and while their earlier music is violent, some of their later work, such as "Pose ton Gun" ("Put down your Gun"), is explicitly anti-violent.

In 1998, the group released its last album of original material under the NTM moniker, as both Joey Starr and Kool Shen started their own labels, promoting new bands and branching out in other fields such as the clothing industry (2High is Kool Shen's brand, Com-8 is Joey Starr's).

While officially the band still exists, and its well-known name was used in 2001 to promote a 'duel' album pitting the two label's artists against each other, Kool Shen was quoted in 2004 saying "on a fini avec NTM en 98" ("We were done with NTM in 1998").

The group is known for its gritty, dark and sometimes violent lyrics, as well as for the contrast between the two rappers' styles. While Joey Starr (also known as Jaguar Gorgonne and Double-R) has a relatively slow flow, aggressive lyrics and a deep, booming voice (which he sometimes uses to yell such as in "Pose ton Gun"), Kool Shen has a funkier flow as well as witty and rather melancholic lyrics.

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[edit] Conflicts with authority

Everything started in summer 1983 where Joey Starr and Kool Shen were watching American hip hop dancers break it down in Paris. Joey Starr and Kool Shen started learning how to dance and defined their proper style, smurf for Joey Starr and break dancing for Kool Shen. They then started painting graffitis, and were part of the graffitis writers that was composed of DRC, TCG, 93 MCs and Joey and Kool Shen. After this period Joey and Kool got into the rapping industry where they were publicly heard on the radio for the first time in 1989 on radio Nova.[1]. It is important to understand the background of this group as it is easier to understand their message behind such harsh lyrics. NTM is considered to be a hardcore rap group, the themes in their songs are mainly about social inequality and racism where Jean Marie LePen is often used as a racist figure in their songs. Some political figures proclaim that their are too many immigrants in France as a 1991 survey indicated that 71% of the French population said that there were too many Arabs in France. This is misleading because most French Hip Hop groups are represented by the youth, and this generation is the second generation of those immigrants and were born on the French soil. [2]

The 1993 release 1993… J'appuie sur la Gâchette ("1993… I'm Pulling the Trigger") contained a track with the same name, about suicide, which was censored on most French TV channels (despite not creating any scandal, unlike "La Police") and a track La Police [1] that featured violent criticism of the police. The police responded to this by taking NTM to court. The court decided in favor of NTM. However, many French radio stations decided to boycott the group's music.

A second encounter with the police occurred in 1995 when the group made further comments critical of the French police during a live concert that allegedly included advocating violence against the police. The group was again taken to court, and this time they were sentenced, initially to six months imprisonment, a sentence that was shortened to two months imprisonment and a 50'000 Francs fine on appeal.

Joey Starr was later imprisoned for charges unrelated to his musical career for assaulting a flight attendant in November 1998, and for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in 1999, shortly after his release.

Starr tried creating a new "watered down" public image in 2002, releasing a solo single which was not received well by critics, as it didn't have the trademark "energy" of the past NTM releases. The same year, his public image suffered further when he was filmed brutalizing a pet monkey in a documentary.

[edit] NTM Live

NTM began to be known not only for their hard but conscious lyrics but for their incredible stage presence during live events in the 90'S. Indeed, both such charismatic rappers were able to expose their hate against the system and their passion for hip hop in such a way that everyone who were lucky enough to have seen them on stage agree that it was an undescribable experience.

Already in their first big event in 1992 at the Zenith NTM came with a big amount of dancers, back up singers, and slogans like "fuck the police" or lyrics like in Le monde de demain which demanded with power and conviction change in modern society. Police was surrounding the concert and there were unfortunately some riots after the concert.

Throughout their career, two major live events have set France's hip hop history and are for many french hip hop fans the best concerts there ever were in hip hop music overall: NTM Live au Bataclan in 1996 and NTM Live au Zenith in 1998.

One of their most impressive songs played live were Qu'est ce qu'on attend...[2] "What are we wating for.. to set everything on fire" in which Joey Starr finishes the song with his lion-like voice by a now famous "Dorénavant la rue ne pardonne plus" meaning "from now on the street doesn't want to forgive anymore". This song was accused among others by some politicians to have contributed in unleashing the social riots that France has known in October 2005

Here are links of some of their best performances:

- NTM Live 1998 Qu'est ce qu'on attend: [3] - NTM Live 1998 Pose ton gun : [4] - NTM Live 1998 Paris sous les bombes: [5] - NTM Live 1998 Laisse pas trainer ton fils: [6] - NTM Live 1996 Plus jamais ca : [7] - NTM Live 1992 Boogie man:[8] - NTM Live 1996 Pour un nouveau massacre: [9]


In January 2008, a newspaper (les inrock) has announced the possible return of NTM on stage. Both singers did indeed say , even if they have no intention of reforming (they haven't spoken for 8 years now), that a live event is not out of the question. Many interviews had been done this last month causing a huge buzz in France and many now think that the live event might be held at the Stade de france (France's biggest stadium), where NTM was supposed to do a concert in 1999 but was cancelled since the group already had been separated. That only made a bigger buzz since the Stade de France is right in the middle of the notorious 93 district, NTM's territory. Since the rumours themselves about this possible return on stage are quite an event, one can only imagine the impact that NTM still has on crowds, even after 9 years without activity.

It was confirmed on the 12th of March 2008, that NTM would be back for 3 concerts at Bercy. Tickets went on sale on the 15th of March at 10 o'clock and sold in 30 minutes.

[edit] Collaborations

NTM has collaborated with a number of International artists. NTM collaborates with famed New York Hip-hop artist Nas for a song called Affirmative Action. This is a cross continental, cross cultural attack of the racially stratified status quo. It is also "the first trans-Atlantic collaboration in France."[3] Nas espouses messages of the corrupt nature of governmental agencies saying, "Feds cost me 2 mil to get the system off me"[4]. This collaboration played an undeniable role in the elevation of NTM to the international stage, and in their ability to spread awareness of "The condition of the black minority in France today and the bankruptcy of the African continent [which is] by no means a reflection of the continents worth and potential"[5]. Both contexts/rappers espouse the organization of a Mafiaesque counter governmental organization meant to empower the lower classes of the US and France in this song. NTM collaborated with Lord Kossity from Martinque to create a track that mixed rap with dancehall. The song, titled "Ma Benz" appeared on NTM's 1998 self-tiled album. NTM's established success helped to boost Lord Kossity's popularity.[6].

[edit] Discography

[edit] References

Mauvaise réputation , book written by Joeystarr in collaboration with Philippe Manoeuvre, 2005 Flamarion [10]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Video l'histoire du rap français partie 2 (ntm) - ntm, iam, joey, starr, assassin - Dailymotion Share Your Videos
  2. ^ Gross Jean, McMurray David, SwedenbergTed, "Arab noise and Ramadan nights: Rai, Rap, and Franco-Maghreb identity.", Diaspora 1994 v.3
  3. ^ Amazon.co.uk: Best of: NTM, Supreme NTM: Music
  4. ^ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself
  5. ^ Helenon, Veronique. “Africa on Their Mind: Rap, Blackness, and Citizenship in France.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 151-66. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Pres
  6. ^ Helenon, Veronique. “Africa on Their Mind: Rap, Blackness, and Citizenship in France.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 151-66. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Pres

[edit] External links

"Affirmative Action" by Nas and NTM http://youtube.com/watch?v=L41OXyNDz5Y]

[edit] See also

Suprême NTM