Claude M’Barali dropped his first reggae-infused single fresh out of school in 1990, under the graffiti-tag-inspired moniker MC Solaar. It was the dawn of a revolutionary canon of work—bold both in its deft lyrical soliloquy and border-busting sonic foundations. The Saint-Denis rapper elides political intent and comedic punchlines as his languid baritone flows over a dynamic dance of jazz grooves, old-school scratching and restless beats. It’s a shimmering, soulful playground of instrumentation that cracks open hip-hop’s rule book to reshape the possibilities of the genre.