Letter from Abidjan

This April, two concerts captivated the Ivorian youth, who are big fans of rap: one by local "drill" star Himra and another by French trap pioneer Kaaris. During the Anoumabo Urban Music Festival, "K2A"was performed on Kaaris' native soil in front of tens of thousands of enthusiastic fans who, despite their young age, knew all his classics by heart. "The future of rap is Africa," he exclaimed the day before on France 24. "It will happen here."

And it's hard to disagree. For the past five years, French rappers have flocked to Côte d'Ivoire's economic capital to record collaborations with local artists or shoot music videos, and they are increasingly incorporating nouchi, the Abidjan street slang, into their tracks. "French rap is losing momentum," explained Sheku Tall, director of the label Coast 2 Coast. "It needs to reinvent itself, and what better way than by going back to its roots?"

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