|
Written by Paul Zachary
|
|
Thursday, 05 June 2008 20:29 |
|
 Pity Weird Al Yankovic. Against Fatal Bazooka, he doesn't stand a chance. Unlike in the US where parody musicians and mainstream musicians are entirely separate entities, France's musical stars are more than happy to take the piss out of themselves, and they do it with aplomb and grace. There aren't any dreadful lyrics dubbed onto the original beat to be found in Fatal Bazooka's France.
For you see, Fatal Bazooka, a project by French radio DJ Michaël Youn, is a parody of gangsta rap, particularly its French incarnate. But all of the songs are entirely original, and he even miraculously managed to convince some of France's leading hip-hop stars to appear on his 2007 album, T'as vu (You Saw). The lead single, "Parle à ma main" features French hip-hop sensation Yelle and Christelle, manages to be both sassy, sexy, and even pack a sucker punch parody of Gwen Stefani in the brilliant music video.
The album manages to skid across every genre known to modern hip-hop: even the album cover is a direct knock of 50 Cent's The Massacre "Fous ta cagoule" sounds just like hardcore rap if you don't speak French, but for those who are Francophone, the joke immediately becomes apparent. "Fous ta cagoule," roughly translated, means I don't give a fuck about your hood, a reference to robber hoods that seem to be in fashion among a certain set now. "Ouais ma gueule" ("Yeah, my ass") sounds like it belongs on a Pitbull album.
The best part of T'as vu is that all of the songs are good enough to be listened to independently. Which makes it the best kind of parody.
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed