Narrer la Négritude de façon transmédiale : le cas du rappeur Youssoupha

Abstract

French rap music provides an original contribution to literary exposition, redefinition and re-adaptation. As a postcolonial product, rap music rehabilitates the memory of an often forgotten colonial past and offers a new transdisciplinary and post-colonial perspective on contemporary French society. Through his music, French-Congolese rapper Youssoupha enters into dialogue with French Martinican poet, author and politician Aimé Césaire, one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature. Through the analysis of the albums Sur les chemins du retour (2007), Noir D**** (2012) and NGRTD (2015), the purpose of the present study is to investigate how Youssoupha unfolds and actualizes Césaire’s works and the concept of Négritude across multiple media channels.