100 years after his birth, why is Aznavour so taken up by rappers?

You couldn’t have missed it. This winter, and perhaps again during the spring until this summer, the treble and nasal sound of this violin will sound familiar to your French ears. Bad Bunny’s single Monaco, with Al Pacino as a guest star in a clip partially shot in Carbon, sampled not only the intro melody of his song “Here Encore” (1964) but also Charles Aznavour’s voice.

“Monaco” played endlessly on airwaves and streaming platforms, where the Puerto Rican rapper monopolized listening in 2023. His album “Un Verano Sin Ti” was Spotify’s most played of the year: 4.5 billion listens…

But what do they all have in common with Charles Aznavour, born just 100 years ago (May 22, 1924, died 2018)? Rap and hip-hop, especially American, have drawn heavily from the repertoire of Franco-Armenian singers. His title track “Because You Believe”, written and composed by himself in 1966, is certainly better known in its versions arranged by Dr Dre/Eminem (What’s the Difference, 1999) and Sean Paul (Breathe, 2003). American rapper Nas, with his group The Firm, covered the song “À ma fille” in a 1997 album titled (“Firm Fiasco”). Masta Ace adapted “You Was Too Pretty” (1964) for his track “Travelocity” (2004).

LeBron James is also a fan

The list is long and not even inclusive Samples French actors (Passey, Sniper, Kerry James, etc.). A “higher encore” was also included in the final scene of “Lupine 3” with Omar C. Even basketball star LeBron James was once filmed at home listening to Charles Aznavour with a glass of wine in hand. “I was watching a film on a plane, where one of his songs was broadcast, explained the Lakers basketball player during the Click Show. She was in the background of this film and she was brilliant. I did Shazam, and I downloaded all his music and I couldn’t stop listening to it. »

The most surprising thing is that LeBron James was particularly attracted by the music and atmosphere of the singer-songwriter’s pieces. “I couldn’t understand the language, but I caught the tone and intensity he gave to his music, and it was captivating.He explained. “Music was the meaning.”. This is undoubtedly the whole secret of Charles Aznavour’s work, which explains why, even half a century later, on the other side of the world, it resonates with a new generation that has little in common with this son of Armenian immigrants. Born in 1924 in a hospital for the poor in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.

“Aznavour was a revolutionary”, Explains Bertrand Diekel, a French journalist who wrote a biography of the artist (Tout Aznavour, 2017). “It changed everythingThe reporter continues. The way the songs were written, the topics the songs could address, the way they could be performed. He borrowed a lot from Sinatra, including the way he sang off-key while sitting on a bar stool. »

Aznavour dubbed the rappers

His style of music did the rest with the young American audience. “Charles Aznavour often began his songs with large symphonic orchestrations and scholarly arrangements. », the biographer explains. For a producer looking for a loop to integrate into a song, it makes an ideal library. A pedigree that Aznavour never denied: “French music is currently having amazing luck: rappers and slammers write our language wonderfully, The singer explained one day on the Michelle Drucker Show. These youngsters know the song very well. There is a flowering of wonderful singer-songwriters. »

Criticized for not being “proper”, Aznavour must have recognized himself somewhat in this youth, whose voice, body and style were mocked in his early days. “I don’t know if I like rap,

He also told L’Affiche magazine. All I can tell you is that it’s good to hear. Because every new expression in art leads to something. When jazz started, people already said it was the music of savages. When Ye-Ye started, we said ‘this will only last for two days’. Everything has always been like this. » And 100 years after his birth, we’re still listening to — and sampling — Charles Aznavour.