The tall boy flexibly unfolds his tartan-wrapped grasshopper legs to greet us politely. We better understand the nickname he chose for himself: “Youv Dee”, a reference to an expression of One Piece, a hit Japanese manga series regarding a boy whose body acquired the properties of rubber following he inadvertently ate a Devil Fruit and who tries to become the Pirate King. Jamal Thioune, in life, is above all becoming the king of Generation Z. Member of L’Ordre du Périph, a collective of rappers inspired by American emo rap, an omnipotent genre across the Atlantic mixing rock and hip-hop and exploring the darkest feelings, he honed his rhymes in the open mics Parisians before being a hit with his solo projects since 2017. Dressed in a Gucci or Vuitton tracksuit, he raps regarding his dreams of money and he ends up winning it. Classic, you whisper. Except that the sequel won’t make you yawn.
Indeed, if Youv Dee seduces so many “zoomers”, it is because he has freed himself from all the codes of French rap and cities. “In France, we like to put people in boxes,” he observes, in his soft, calm voice. “For record companies, a rap artist must stay in the rap category. But I always looked at what the Americans were doing rather than the Europeans. As a child, I was a fan of rapper Lil Wayne, who had a big rock, guitar, skate phase. At the time, it was singled out because it wasn’t part of black culture… But it was quickly imitated, so it seemed possible to me. »
He puts his hand on his bag shaped like an electric guitar. Attention danger ! The object is heretical in French rap, even cursed. Woe to those who touched it. Disiz la Peste almost disappeared following releasing a rock record, only his return to rap saved him. And if Oxmo Puccino scratches the strings, they are acoustic and resonate with Latin melodies. However, from its beginnings in New York in the 1980s, hip-hop and punk attracted each other. Blondie very early made a duet with Grandmaster Flash, then the Beastie Boys gave birth to “rap rock”, Jay-Z had an affair with Linkin Park… In France, rockers and rappers have long looked at each other from afar, with contempt, despite their common roots in working-class neighborhoods. Today, young artists like Youv Dee or Sopico are changing mores.
“I started quite early to put samples of metal in my songs,” continues Youv Dee, whose latest songs are downright rock (he even started singing). “In fact, I do what I would have liked to listen to as a child. If I was a teenager today, I would be a fan of mine,” he laughs. “Rock may not be the predominant genre in the world today, but it can’t be outdated: there will always be people to resuscitate it. I bought my first acoustic guitar during the first confinement, then an electric one and a bass… I dreamed of finding myself in the studio with a guitarist, a drummer, a band with whom to think and make music. Today, I took the plunge and I have the impression of living in the film of what I would have liked to live… For me, everything is a door to go somewhere else and maybe one day, I will be a conductor. I’ve always liked the grandiose side of orchestras…” A taste that goes back to childhood.
Neither rapper nor rocker, craftsman
At the beginning of the millennium in the 95, he went to school in Deuil-la-Barre, a residential town where he was the only black, then returned home to Sarcelles, where people laughed at his perfectos, his little ones pants, its fashionable accessories. We find him too white, we call him a Parisian. Indeed, every weekend, his grandmother takes him to Paris to see operas or classical music concerts. Jean-François Zygel’s recitals gave him a taste for the stage. “There weren’t many young people at the shows, even less renois! My grandma was a school principal, I was her first grandson and I read very early, so she liked that I was a nerd. In the car, she put Mylène Farmer, David Bowie, Indian music, records she had bought from Amma, the cuddle guru… Thanks to her, I remained curious regarding world music. With Shazam, I manage to find Japanese or Turkish artists whose names I would be unable to spell. There, I’m coming out of a big phase of Russian electro… I’ve always been between two worlds. It’s the same in music: I’m too geek for rap and too street for rock. In reality, I am neither a rapper nor a rocker, I want to be an artisan, an explorer of music! he enthuses, fondly recalling the first time he yelled into a microphone in a punk-like head voice.
Nourished on American rap by his father and zouk and R’n’B by his mother, inspired by Stromae, he told himself that the easiest way to get into rock for a boy from the estates is was to succeed in rap. Then he would have nothing more to prove. “I always felt weird in interviews for the rap media, since I was offering something different…In the beginning, I was compatible with the street believe, I boasted regarding taking drugs and selling them. Today I grew up, I moved, I no longer aspire to the same things. »
At 25, he lives in the 16e where his piercings, facial tattoos and his blue nail polish matching his dreadlocks shake the chic stone facades of this bourgeois and sleepy district, which he skates through. If Youv Dee is heterosexual, his audience is increasingly LGBTQ. “No openly gay rapper has made it here yet, we don’t have an equivalent of Lil Nas X [le rappeur texan flamboyant, NDLR]. In French rap, street culture is still dominant, so people don’t dare break free from codes. A 10-year-old in his neighborhood can’t dress like me. He will put on a set like all his friends. In the United States, rappers aren’t afraid to talk regarding their feelings. Here, yes. It’s a bit silly, because it’s music… Well, I think it will evolve over time. If I exist, I inspire others. I receive a lot of thank you messages, like “thanks to you, I take responsibility for myself”. In my signing sessions or my concerts, the boys have varnish, a quickdraw…” he confides, replacing his cap with small cat ears.
Under his right eye is tattooed the word “grateful” in Chinese characters. Why ? “I try to be as noble as a manga hero! »
“La Vie de Luxe / Dark Edition” on Virgin Records.