Interview with DJ Cut Killer

This interview with DJ Cut Killer, marks an exceptional opportunity as the first interview with this living legend of hip-hop. It reflects the scope and importance of Cut Killer in hip-hop culture at the International level. 

While Cut Killer is about to appear on The Carte Blanche, we had the opportunity to have an open discussion with the artist himself.

For the fans who know you and those who don’t, can you tell us about the big project that is coming up for you with your participation in The Carte Blanche October 6 next?

As part of my time on the airwaves of France TV at the show Carte Blanche, we want to revisit to the general public the classics of the French song in hip-hop.

For the event, Cut Killer decided to invite some guests, the invited artists are Benjamin Epps, Bigflo and Oli, DJ Pone, DJ Fly, Joey Starr, as well as promising young talents such as Skia, Elena Copsi and Sicario78 will be part of the team that will offer exceptional performance.

Praised for his kindness in sharing the stage, he replies:

Because I consider that the French song is also the current music and that the very essence of what we consider hip-hop brings together a lot of things.

Musical evolution and innovation will be at the rendezvous. Throughout his career, Cut Killer shared the stage with multiple artists. Today, it maintains its artistic and professional coherence by highlighting the new generations for the well-being of hip-hop culture.

As an artist, you are versatile, you have several strings to your bow. You are also an author?

Yes, I wrote with Julien Civange the book Mixtape 2.0 – 30 years of hip-hop culture, which was published on October 13, 2022 and contains 224 pages on the history of hip-hop. In this book I retrace thirty years of pieces, objects, personalities, places and events that have marked my career.

At the level of your second book, you have already started writing. What made you want to do second book, is it because of the good reviews?

No, I have a specification and a nice direction to share with you since for this one, I will work with Les Éditions Belles lettres.

In his response, we can feel the love in his face that he carries to the very essence of culture

In fact, Cut Killer is one of the pillars of Francophone hip-hop culture in the world after all. Killer mentions the passage of his beginnings with his Double H label and the many quality collaborations in which he has participated. It also refers to the cessation of collaboration with record companies in 2006.

The record companies took an artistic commercial turn that did not suit me less. Because we had in 1990 a life direction compared to hip-hop where we were revolutionary, the Entertainer movement... came in 2000. By the way, it’s discord, but I find what is done in rap generally quite honorable.

The killer question, is current rap generally positive?

Yes, because even though some of the younger generation is more interested in entertainer, others are more focused on the message of an inventory despite everything ...

in what way?

I find it interesting because they have managed to develop a kind of new French variety and not just urban music focused on French music in general.

What do you think of the hip-hop culture of recent years?

Rap in the last 15 years, everyone has put it aside because the break started in a sense, MC became independent, DJs have made their way. The Hip-hop meaning no longer existed. It’s that there we see in the last years, we see that the industry was created in New York, you see the house of hip-hop does not exist in the United States, I think it should be everywhere.

Cut Killer reminds us in the interview that at the time the dream was to release an album and launch its message. Today’s generations have a different perspective.

For Cut Killer, the trend has changed. It’s how music is exploited and how young people get it.

They go to the platforms, listen to a song, and if they like it, they listen to it three weeks later, another song comes out. The last sound goes through, and we listen to the new one. People at that time had a Tribe Called Quest album, and people (ate it). It’s not like today when people select songs only, the ease of free. 

Was rap better before?

No, rap was not better before or less good today. We are in a trend where some artists do not reinvent themselves and certain musical current goes around? So for now...

What about the industry?

Everyone has reached saturation. We arrive at a moment when nobody really knows how to stand out, and we come back on a frame where the artists will have a more interesting reflection and much more focused on a globality of artistic themes than to make bangers that do notbe not last.  So here, it comes back to another vision. There are those who are much more educated at musical levels and pay attention to the texts and others to the rhythms because they have thought that the trend is great, but to survive as an artist you must tell a story. So today, we are on this movement where there are elders who say “yes, he is and tattoos everywhere, he raps in any way, the text does not mean anything that it makes no sense”, so they start taking positions, and all over the world, Everyone is starting to have that position.

So at some point, when it’s like that themselves the blaser of today’s artists, because they themselves as they take the music of the moment, the music does not last, themselves. An artist they knew three years ago, young people don’t care. Obviously, the tone in his voice is imbued with sincerity and passion.

You talk about education, do people know the culture?

I find it interesting because they have managed to develop a kind of new French variety and not just urban music focused on French music in general.

By making a House of Hip-Hop and one Hip-Hop Institute, we value the principle of culture because you’re going to tell an old and a new generation, your children, if you want to educate them and make sure they have life goals. Well, we’re going to give them a framework and that framework, we’re going to bring it into these institutes and these houses, because if we could have had that back then, things would have been totally different for culture today. Projects such as the Hip-Hop House and the Hip-Hop Institute are being established to educate future generations.

You are going to celebrate the 40th anniversary of hip-hop in France, yet Quebec in 2023 will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Hip-hop in Quebec, what do you think?

In fact, it is necessary to understand a very simple thing, in France as in the United States, on August 11, 1973 when Kool Herc organizes a Block Party and that a master of ceremony records on a cassette, hip-hop already existed. It was 1971, and we were already in a kind of mechanics.

Who are the people who were present before 1973, because everyone knows the famous history, but it seems that there are many forgotten artists?

It's not that they are forgotten. That is to say, when Kool Herc arrived, he was part of a movement where he was one of the precursors. We give him more credit than others, but it's not that the others were forgotten, it's that afterwards, he rode the wave. It was determined that way. In France, we determine our starting point in 1984 with the Sydney show with HIPHOP, but there was already an atmosphere that existed, because it didn't happen overnight.

Who do you think would be the first in the history of francophone rap to have made a rap song?

Phil Barney had been in a group called “Chagrin d'amours” and had made a song “Chacun fait c'qui lui plaît” (actually, he raps) in 1982, when it came out. Potentially, it would be him, in terms of sound. But at that time, Phil Barney already had a radio show and was close to Sydney, which was in a funk show setting. For them, it was a drift of funk, and when the Sugarhill Gang happened, people tend to say that hip-hop is the Sugarhill Gang. In terms of the record, yes, but in terms of hip-hop, it existed before. We don't have a specific date because it hasn't been legitimized. For us, 40 years really start in 1984, when everyone knows about it.

What does hip-hop represent in the world?

Breakdance is at the Olympics, it says everything about culture recognition.

You're gonna do the House of Hip Hop in Paris ?

Yes, we are working to open the House of Hip-Hop which looks like the Hip-Hop Institute. Our goal is to have a performance hall and a place to provide education in hip-hop culture and more.

Do you plan to come to Canada eventually?

I can’t wait to get back there and especially that I still have this mixtape ‘'Freestyle Canada’' that I had produced in Montreal which is part of my DJ career and which reminds me of excellent memories.

Believe me when I tell you that he still cherishes the time of Dagobert in Quebec, Cut Killer particular affection for Quebec.

According to Cut Killer:

Initiatives such as the Maison du Hip-Hop in Paris and theHip-Hop Institute in Canada are projects that culture needs to educate people on the essence of hip-hop.

It shows that hip-hop continues to grow, connecting people around the world, and creating opportunities to celebrate its heritage. Hip-hop culture is alive and vibrant, and these initiatives aim to preserve, promote and share it with the world.

Cut Killer, I thank you for this magical moment for hip-hop culture, it was an honor.

To see the show The Carte Blanche : LINK

House of Hip Hop (Europe)

http://www.maisonduhiphop.com/

Hip-Hop Institute (Canada)

http://www.institutduhiphop.com

Artist:

DJ Cut Killer – LINK 

Benjamin Epps – LINK 

Bigflo and Oli – LINK 

DJ Pone – LINK 

DJ Fly – LINK

Joey Starr – LINK 

Skia – LINK 

Elena Copsi – LINK 

Sicario78- LINK

Good Pick – LINK