Page "French hip hop" Paragraph 34

Although hip hop in France has been greatly influenced by American hip hop culture, the lyrics remain typically in French.

Other than English, other language influences are based on oral traditions such as African griots, " talk over " of Jamaica and the blues.

French music lyrics typically feature puns, play on words and suggestive phonetic combinations.

Such artists as Boby Lapointe often use alliterations, onomatopoeia and puns or double entendre lyrics.

The dialect of choice for many hip hop artists in France is verlan which is based on the inverse of original French words.

In some cases artists rap in several different languages on a track including Arabic, French and English.

The purpose of the lyrics, no matter the language, is " to popularize and vent the anger and frustrations of many disadvantaged and sometimes mistreated individuals, and to defend the cause of the poorest and least socially integrated segment of French society ".