Keny Arkana
Entre ciment et belle étoile

THE REVIEW

Elegant contaminations balancing cultural identity and subversion. A clear and piercing voice wanders through the alleys of Marseille, denouncing and living the decay and discrimination.

Keny Arkana presents herself as the new icon of French rap thanks to the twelve tracks of "Entre ciment et belle étoile". Raw pieces that do not spare an insensitive society, nineteen cuts into the fabric of a France shaken by struggles for integration and political changes. The discontent sweeps away a romantic and enamored country; the atmosphere vibrates between the notes of a merciless piano and the continual incursions of the sampler. Truths spat in the face with words as heavy as punches to the stomach, relentless rhythm that does not give a moment's respite.

Keny surprises with immediacy and intensity: her voice in a few years has become aggressive and full of energy, making one instantly forget the weak uncertainty of her beginnings. The album alternates moments of strong impact with reflective and melodic interludes, creating a contrast that gives the audience the possibility to explore the nuances and complexity of the rap genre. The flagship is undoubtedly La mère des enfants perdus, the mother of the lost children, to translate it with a touch of poetry. Or more simply, the mother of lost, bewildered, frightened children. A mother who fights every day not so much to improve the future but to survive in the present. Vowels elongated like laments, insistent chords, the steady pace of black and white keys fighting each other. Also noteworthy is Victoria, a flood of words without taking a breath, a song of liberation anxious and sudden, which has the taste of a never-before-experienced sensation.