Home to France’s first rap album in 1984, Paris remains a cutting-edge producer of hip-hop. France is currently the world’s second-largest market for the genre thanks to the 2010s Parisian rap revolution, which utilises a diverse array of sounds to speak to marginalised communities. The group Sexion d’Assaut and its member Maître Gims as a soloist ushered in a commercial explosion existing between hip-hop’s true school and huge radio hooks. MHD took influences from his West African heritage and American rap to create “Afro Trap”, and the pan-continental conversation continues in the rhythms and sounds of Niska, Booba and Keblack. And the duo PNL have become international stars, mixing the Auto-Tune beloved by American rappers and Algerian pop stars into their own dreamy melancholy.