“Not everything is so easy, everything hangs by a thread.” If rap is today the most listened to genre in France, it took years of work for hip hop culture to be recognized and promoted throughout France.
The Serie The world of tomorrow – in reference to the eponymous title of NTM released in 1990 – traces the genesis of the hip hop movement in all its forms (graff, breakdance, DJ’ing and rap) in the 80s in France, through the journey of three pillars of this culture: DJ Dee Nasty, the graffiti artist Lady V and JoeyStarr and Kool Shen, leaders of the group NTM.
Inspired by true events and based on period archives, this series, produced by Katell Quillévéré and Hélier Cisterne, won the Grand Prize at the Series Mania festival last March. Available from this Monday until November 16 on arte.tv, The world of tomorrow It will also air on October 20 on the Arte channel.
three parallel routes
It’s 1983. Returning from a trip to the United States where he discovered an emerging hip-hop scene, Daniel Bigeault (future DJ Dee Nasty) -played by Andranic Manet- is determined to bring this culture to life in France and make a name for themselves in the world of DJ’s.
At the same time, young Bruno Lopes (Anthony Bajon) and Didier Morville (Melvin Boomer) first learn breakdance, discovered on the esplanade of the Trocadéro, and then graffiti before establishing themselves in rap by creating the group NTM.
The third figure of this movement, Lady V (Laïka Blanc-Francard), also stands out for her love of graffiti. Kool Shen’s partner, the young woman accompanies the rap group as a dancer. Her journey offers a new perspective: that of a woman, who finds it difficult to assert herself in a masculine and misogynistic environment.
Testimonials and files
If other initiatives such as the Hip Hop 360° exhibition at the Philharmonie de Paris or the film supreme -biopic about NTM directed by Audrey Estrougo- have recently tried to honor French rap and its more than forty years of history, The world of tomorrow is one of the first series to portray with such fidelity the history of hip-hop culture in France and its universe (scenography, costumes…).
We owe this realism to the work of directors Katell Quillévéré and Hélier Cisterne who compiled hours of testimonials directly from the pioneers of the hip hop movement in France. Kool Shen, JoeyStarr, and Dee Nasty also had the right to see all the episodes and were present on set to help the actors who played them.
“It was about deconstructing clichés, so we went to meet our characters and who was rubbing shoulders with them at the time. […] The reality of this story turned out to be so rich that our course of action was never to betray these testimonies and reveal their poetic, social and political dimension”, explains Katell Quillévéré in a press release.
“We have built a large archive base, we have found images, sounds, details of the characters and the real settings of this story. The bond created with our witnesses was essential. They gave their opinion on the scenes, they corrected attitudes, they replied They allowed us to be even more precise, until the vintage collector’s clothing recovered thanks to Dee Nasty, the trophies and the photos of the Lopes family donated by Christiane, the mother of Kool Shen “.
Source: BFM TV
