Rappers' violent lyrics face crackdown in riot aftermath

PARIS - Rap music has become embroiled in a bitter debate in France, where politicians have called for a crackdown on rappers whom they accuse of fomenting the country's wave of rioting with violent and racist lyrics.

A total of 152 members of the lower house of Parliament, backed by 49 senators, almost all of whom are from President Jacques Chirac's conservative UMP party, have urged Justice Minister Pascal Clement to take action against seven French rappers.

Among those cited in their petition are the group Ministere Amer for these lyrics: "I want to see Panam burn with napalm like in Vietnam ... I want to draw my gun on the chalky faces" and Lunatic for: "I'm gonna loot France ... I dream of placing a bullet from a Glock [pistol] in a cop's head".

Lyrics like these can only encourage unrest, said lawmaker Daniel Mach, while his colleague, Francois Grosdidier agreed: "This musical phenomenon is linked to the violence."

Their move has received nods of approval in some quarters, but it has also provoked a backlash. Opposition deputies, human rights groups and music experts say attempts to curb rap are unfounded, legally doomed or downright stupid.

Some say the rappers simply describe the misery of life on rundown housing estates and act as a healthy channel of dissent for restless youths in the city suburbs, la banlieue.

It is precisely when the young are no longer able to put what they feel into words that violence can take the upper hand, the anti-racist group SOS Racisme says.

"We rappers describe the ills, the breakdowns in the machinery of this society where the politicians like to conjure up a mirage of justice, fraternity, liberty and equity," says Passi, a member of Ministere Amer.

The UMP is trying to poach votes from [far-right xenophobe] Jean-Marie Le Pen, instead of talking about love, education, involvement and opening, says rapper Monsieur R. "Whenever the banlieue goes up in flames, they start looking for a scapegoat."

Music writer and journalist Olivier Cachin says French rap was initially inspired by its US counterpart 15 years ago, but has evolved quite differently and is far less misogynist and less violent than the American kind.

"Rappers comment, give ideas sometimes, or translate anger or a sense of injustice," says Cachin. "Everyone pretends that they believe that rappers are the new politicians, but that's not what they're about."

In 1990, rap group NTM recorded the track Nique la Police (F ... the Police), which won international recognition in a 1995 movie about the life on the estates, La Haine (Hatred) by French director Mathieu Kassovitz.

A few years later, two of NTM's members, Joey Starr and Kool Shen did an about-turn, releasing the anti-violence track Pose Ton Gun (Put Down Your Gun). And during the recent violence, some rappers, such Disiz La Peste, called for a stop to burning cars and schools, as such acts only made their neighbourhoods grimmer.

Fearful of inflaming tensions in the banlieue, the Government is treading very carefully, refusing to make a specific response to the politicians petition but also calling on musicians to act responsibly.

"Is rap to blame for the crisis in the suburbs? No," said Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, while adding that "all calls to hatred, all calls to violence, to intolerance, to racism and anti-Semitism are naturally condemned in our country. Whenever there is an incitement to hatred, the courts can be called upon to act."