A figure on the rap scene in northern France, Bekar is releasing his first album this Friday, stronger than the storm. An ambitious record that marks a turning point in the career of the 25-year-old Roubaisien.
Long remained on the sidelines of the national musical landscape, rap from the north of France is now taking an increasingly important place on the French hip-hop scene.
Through committed texts and overflowing creativity, more and more young artists, coming from Lille and its surroundings, stand out with innovative and unique artistic proposals.
Born in Madrid, but raised in the North of France, between Valenciennes and Roubaix, Bekar is one of those touching and authentic Lille feathers. Through four very personal projects – boreal, Red bricks, Mira et Sierra – released from 2019 to 2022, the 25-year-old artist has established himself as one of the major rap figures of the northern scene.
In order to confirm this status, Bekar takes a new step in his career this Friday and unveils his very first studio album, Stronger than the storm. On the occasion of this outing, the young man from Lille talks about his career at the microphone of BFMTV.com.
“It seemed impossible to me to make it my job”
For Bekar, rap is originally a “delirium between friends”. In high school, he founded with four of his friends his first group, the Green Connection. “We rapped wherever we could together,” he recalls. It was more a passion than anything else, because it seemed so impossible to me at the time to make it my job”
Growing up, the young man from Lille then tried his luck solo. While studying graphic design, Bekar met Lucci, a local producer, who encouraged him to release a record. Juggling between his studies and odd jobs to finance his studio recording sessions in Roubaix, the rapper unveiled his first EP in March 2019, borealdistributed on his own label, Northface Records.
Between egotrip and softer and more introspective titles, this promising business card of twelve titles allows Bekar to highlight the extent of his artistic palette and gain notoriety for the rest of his musical adventure.
“In the months that followed, we were contacted by almost all the record companies in Paris. We went back and forth between Lille and Paris. That’s where it all really started”, explains Bekar.
Red Bricks, first success
After the success of this first EP, everything is linked together quite quickly for Bekar. The rapper wins the regional springboard of the Main Square Festival in Arras, engages with his first partner, the turner Arachnée Productions and signs a few months later a contract with the record company Panenka, founded by Fonky Flav ‘, former member of the group of rap 1995.
This signature offers Bekar a new framework and allows him to be ambitious in his work. Expected at the turn by his fans, he released his second project in September 2020. Red bricks – in reference to the typical architecture of the North.
On this 18-track disc, without any featuring, the rapper reveals himself with sincerity about his Lille youth, his complex family relationships but also his anxieties and fears.
“Even though there are things I might have done otherwise, I’m proud of this project because it means a lot to me about where I come from, where I grew up. It is also thanks to this disc that I understood how much rap allowed me to exteriorize what I had in me”, confides Bekar.
And to add: “It’s important when you’re in music, especially in rap, to affirm where you come from. It reinforces something singular. I think my music would not be the same if I grew up somewhere else.”
Transform essay
To make his public wait between Red bricks and his future album, Bekar is working in parallel on the first part of a project, Mira, which is meant to be “transitional”. In 2022, Bekar completes his album with a second opus, Sierra. Together, the two projects form the name of the neighborhood that saw it grow in Madrid: Mirasierra.
“Unlike Mira, where I focused more on vibes and melodies, this second part is much more accomplished in terms of lyrics and artistic direction,” explains the rapper.
But after four successful projects, it is now necessary to transform the test. Surrounded by his lifelong producer, Lucci, Bekar therefore set himself a new objective: to produce his first album.
“At first it was a bit laborious. With Lucci we made about twenty models, I tried a lot of things but I found that there was not really an artistic direction that stood out”, adds- he.
To find consistency on the album, Bekar takes the metaphor of the storm as a common thread. “Sometimes it rumbles in a super violent way, sometimes it’s very calm and it represented the somewhat tumultuous periods of my life”, he confides.
“And to add in the title of the disc that I am ‘stronger’ than the storm, it sends a message of determination, as if I had fought my old demons and that I had come out of it”, continues the rapper.
“I wanted to take my music elsewhere”
Attached to rapping what he lives, Bekar delivers on this album a testimony of the first 25 years of his life. He confides in difficult subjects such as the failure of love (Vide sentimental), the mourning of a loved one (Above an Airbus), without forgetting his life in Lille (Razorlight).
With this record, Bekar also takes an artistic risk. To compose his project, the rapper surrounded himself for the first time with real musicians, pianist Vladimir Pariente, guitarist Vincent David and producer and artist Myth Syzer.
“I really wanted to take my music elsewhere. I had never released such an ambitious record in terms of productions and lyrics. But it’s important in an artist’s life to make choices like that, to assume a delirium on your own and push hard,” Bekar said.
The Lille artist also invites many artists such as the singer Zinée (Effet mer) or the rapper PLK (Fisheye), for which Bekar performed the first parts of his Zéniths and which surprised him to collaborate with him on the occasion of his birthday.
“PLK is someone I really appreciate humanly and artistically so I wanted us to work together. I had sent him a prod but I hadn’t heard back. I thought he had forgotten but on my birthday, January 8, at midnight sharp, he surprised me by sending me his verse,” says Bekar.
While the Lille rap scene is in full development, with artists like ZKR, Ben PLG and Sto, the arrival of Bekar’s first album could finally be the consecration that the region has been waiting for for many years. With stronger than the stormthe 25-year-old Roubaisien is also taking a new step and opening up a royal path with the greatest.
