Y’a t-il un problème ?” (Pablo Master) : French raggamuffin and the record industry

This communication aims to show that raggamuffin, a genre of rapped reggae (close to rub’a’dub), which appeared in France during the 1980s (Bethune, 2003; Allègre, 2023), was put aside by the French record industry in favor of a white reggae and rap. Raggamuffin can be seen as the result of a double conjecture: aesthetic, by mixing reggae sounds from Jamaica and Europe (King Daddy Yod, 2022); cultural, by bringing together within the same scene artists who mainly belong to the West Indies and African diasporas. I will first show Gainsbourg’s leading role as a musical intermediary between French and music from the English-speaking world (Julien, 2017) and as a cultural mediator between French Antilles and France (Kaiser, 2020; 2024). I will then present the 1980’s raggamuffin scene by recalling its different soundsystems, disc shops, local radio and bands, and some recordings made on the margins of the music industry (Pablo Master’s ”Y a t’il un problème?”, Super John’s ”Inventeur”, Daddy Yod’s ”Né pour toaster”, etc.). I will finally expose the way the majors were more supportive of a white festive reggae (Lavige, Bernardi, 2003) and a Parisian rap (Hammou, 2020) at the time when dancehall became a commercially viable genre at an international level.

Marc Kaiser. Y’a t-il un problème ?” (Pablo Master) : French raggamuffin and the record industry. Recording Popular Music - IASPM 23rd international conference, IASPM, Jul 2025, Paris, France. ⟨hal-05343852⟩ (lien externe)