Hip Hop You Don’t Stop
MC Jean Gab’1, French rapper and actor, is one of the main stars of FFF. He came to present Pierre Laffargue’s movie Black, where he had the leading role of a gangster, who eventually fights on the good side. His lifestory is somehow similar to this.
What does hip hop mean to you?
To me, hip-hop is a life-style. It’s not only about making money. I live the hip hop lifestyle. Before, when I was a hard boy and I smuggled, I robbed, I sold drugs, I would never have dreamed about what’s happening to me now, like acting in movies. I’m doing rap music, I’m writing a book about myself. So I am enjoying myself! What I live is hip hop. What I mean is that if you try to stay on the same level, you’re dead, you’re like the other people. I live day to day. I decided to be in music production, so we created a label called Doeen Damage. Then I decided to put my life in a book, but it came too slowly so I chose rap, which is an easier way to say what I want to say. I was lucky to go on TV. Now I am working on my second LP and the book will be out some time in November.
Jean Gab´1 at Fresh Film Fest
I started in 1995, but it was only small roles. I wasn’t happy with that so I decided to quit and got back to my business, which was selling drugs. Then in 2004, Luc Besson came to me and asked me to play in the movie he wrote, so I started to make Banlieue 13. And then I met director Pierre Laffargue and after some time, in 2007, we started working together on the movie Black. We started shooting in France and then we went to Dakar, Senegal. I was happy to go to Africa, it was first time in my life. When I was in Africa, some things shocked me, like poverty and illnesses, some made me happy. And also, for the black people in Africa, I was just a black European, which was a big insult. You look like them but you ain’t like them. After this movie I acted in two other films, in Seuls Two and Banlieu 13 – Ultimatum. But when everything is over with acting, I’ll go into music again.
What do you think about the immigration issue in France?
Immigrants in France ain’t nothing to do with anything. We are old folks with old traditions, we had colonies. I say “we” because I’m French. The French are not interested in these issues, that’s French mentality. When you go to Africa, all French parts have less money than the other parts. We have some nice words like human rights and other bullshit, but that’s only words, that’s the French ways. The French don’t want to change, every country changes, but not France. They live in the past, Napoleon is dead, Lafayette is dead but for the French, it’s the good old days. But they were good days for them, not for me. For them, other countries don’t exist. Poland, Czech Republic, what is that? You must keep the savages out of the borders.
And what’s your opinion about Sarkozy and his politics?
I don’t care about Sarkozy, what he says, what he does; the only thing I care about is that he had the balls to change the old style, old tradition. This is the good thing. And he understands what power is. But I can’t talk about politics, I don’t know anything about politics. I know how to rob somebody.
Why did you choose MC Jean Gab’1 as your a.k.a?
Because I ain’t stupid! I speak old French. But you can’t hear that in the movie. You are not free in the movie, you have the script and you talk the way they want you to talk. That bothered me all the time. And Jean Gabin is the best French actor of all times. He talked the way I talk. And MC is the acronym of my real name, which is Charles M'Bouss. You would have to be 60 or 70 years old to understand the way I speak. If you talked to me on the phone, you would think I’m a white guy. Most black people in France live in suburban areas and their French is full of Arabic words. I don’t like that. My parents gave me birth in France and I’ll stick to that language!
MP
