The 'Les Flammes' awards in Paris celebrate the diversity of rap music

France is holding its first awards ceremony for the genre, which considers itself under-represented at other music awards.


By Djaïd Yamak
Published today 


The stage of the Les Flammes award ceremony at the Théâtre du Châtelet, in Paris. 

The first Les Flammes ceremony, which aims to celebrate rap and "popular cultures" more broadly, is being held on Thursday, May 11, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The "historic and iconic venue," according to organizers Tom Brunet and Yoan Prat, founders of Yard Media, embodies the academization of hip-hop and the musical currents associated with it. Hosted by comedian and actress Fadily Camara, the ceremony will be punctuated by the presentation of 21 awards and numerous musical performances. Fourteen artists will perform live. Among them, Dinos, Ronisia, Gazo, Enchanted Julia and Prince Waly.

The ceremony fills the gap, according to the two organizers, left open by the Victoires de la Musique awards which have never managed to really take hold of rap music and the sub-categories associated with it. But in France, these genres top the charts and earn the most streams.

From 2007 to 2019, rap was included in the Victoires de la Musique category for Urban Music Album of the Year. "The term 'urban' is reductive. Rappers rap. They don't 'urban.' They are not urbanists," the founders insisted. However, the pair does resort to the term "urban", so that "those who use it understand what we are talking about," while simultaneously promoting the term "popular cultures."

The "s" on "cultures" is justified by the diversity of the musical currents associated with rap, exemplified by the multiple Flamme awards to be handed out during the ceremony. Two distinctions value African and Caribbean influences: the Flamme for the Caribbean song and the Flamme for the Afro song. The R'n'B song of the year will be awarded to a song composed in collaboration between artists. Stromae, Disiz and Tiakola are vying for the Flamme for New Pop Album of the Year.

Transparent voting system

The top honors were broken down by gender, Male Artist Flamme and Female Artist Flamme of the Year. "We assembled a committee made up 100% of women in the industry. They voted and helped us make the decision to gender the categories so that women would be better represented at the ceremony," said Tom Brunet and Yoan Prat. Lyon rapper Lala & ce, a former member of the 667 collective, is competing alongside Aya Nakamura and Cape Verdean singer Ronisia for the Flamme of the Female Artist of the Year. Dinos, Gazo and Tiakola are vying for the male artist award.

The organizers wanted to make the voting system transparent. "The public often criticizes the ceremonies for not knowing who the people who vote are," said Yoan Prat. For each category, a shortlist of 10 artists was established by a group of journalists. Out of the 17 categories submitted to the vote, nearly 140,000 Internet users, who account for half of the vote, then ranked their choices. To ensure that the weight of the fan communities did not skew the voting, the other half of the voting panel was formed by a jury of industry professionals, journalists and public figures.