MC Solaar

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

MC Solaar is the artist name of Claude M'Barali, born in 1969 in Dakar to parents from Chad. When he was six months old the family moved to the Paris suburbs, including Saint-Denis and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. At twelve he lived for nine months with an uncle in Cairo. He studied languages and philosophy and released his first single in 1990. In the summer of 1991 he went to Paris with his friend Jimmy Jay, and success came quickly with Bouge de là, based on a sample of The Message by Cymande.

Music and breakthrough

His debut album Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo appeared at the end of 1991 and sold more than four hundred thousand copies in France. In 1994 Prose Combat followed, which sold a hundred thousand copies in its first week and became a bestseller in twenty other countries. In 1995 he received a Victoire de la Musique. Paradisiaque followed in 1997, Cinquième as in 2001, Mach 6 in 2003 and Chapitre 7 in 2007. Outside France he signed with the London acid jazz label Talkin' Loud and recorded with Urban Species and with Guru of Gang Starr.

Influence

His rap is fluid, full of wordplay and questions, over supple, jazzy grooves, often with Jimmy Jay as producer. In his lyrics he wrote about Black immigrants in France and about his own roots. He is regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of France and showed that French rap could be literary and danceable at the same time.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1991Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo
• 1994Prose Combat
• 1997Paradisiaque
• 1998MC Solaar
• 2001Cinquième as
• 2003Mach 6
• 2007Chapitre 7
• 2017Géopoétique
• 2024Triptyque : Balade astrale
• 2024Triptyque : Éclats cosmiques
• 2024Triptyque : Lueurs célestes

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• After Hours: Session 4^NL Reader