Ëpisode 0 (EP)

Time elapses between Sopico’s releases, but as Oxmo Puccino recently said, breaking away from the music industry’s demand to release an album every six months can only be good. Mojo (2016) and YË (2018) have kept their promises of quality. The new EP Episode 0 is much lighter, if not minimalist. One could almost imagine a sentence by lining up the titles – “D’où je viens”, “Décoder”, “Sans titre”, “Loin”, “Thème” (Where I come from, Decode, Untitled, Far, Theme) – and then say, “Nothing to add, nothing to declare”. This quarantine release confirms the strength of the new wave of young Belgian and French rappers reclaiming French songcraft. The music is not hip hop, but rock. The track “Atterrir” gives Strokes-style sounds a fast and unexpected take-off, after an intro on a slow guitar background. Moving along, we find a zouk number, yes, but subtle, with a “Purple Rain”-style beginning. Not to mention the sublime end of “Thème” with its saxophone. This fusion of genres and its diffuse and scattered lyrics make this seemingly light album a little nugget. As far as French chanson is concerned, there’s no doubt about it, this new generation is reinventing it with a flow carried sometimes by the notes, sometimes by the cadence of the lyrics. Sofiane, his real name, brings poetry to his rhymes, and represents the next generation of French rap. He is also very photogenic on Colors Show, and on guitar in the very recent series The Eddy by the excellent director of the film Whiplash. A mix of genres and arts, whether you’re the most bourgeois or broke-ass, beauty is everywhere.