Intro

Early Doors: 1979-1985

False Dawn: 1985-1990

Underground Years: 1990-1995

The Renaissance: 1995- 2000

The Future: 2000 & Beyond

Artists & Discographies

The Saian Supa Crew are a six man collective who hail from Paris, France and are receiving much success in their home country. In 1997 the crew formed out of three other crews (OFX, Simple Spirit and Explicit Samuraï) who found they had a common set of ideals. The group comprises: Specta, Leeroy Kesiah, Feniski, Vicelow, Sir Samuel and Sly the Mic Buddah, each one coming from a different district of Paris. Two years later they put out some releases including 'Saian Supa Land' and 'Trop Agile' as well dropping their debut LP, a 20 track offering, entitled 'KLR' (KLR is the name of a former band member who has now passed away), from which the single 'J'Adore Ca' came. They followed this with a limited edition Christmas single 'Y'A-T-Il Un Pere Pour Sauver Les Rennes? (Noel Est La)' and another 12" 'Raz De Maree' which came on blue vinyl and is maybe better than this offering. 

Their new 12" 'Angela' b/w Hey Yo My Man' is released on 11th December 2000 on Source/Wordplay and follows on from their recent UK tour in which they played at venues in Brighton, London, Nottingham and Bristol throughout November. Personally I have never really got into French Hip Hop for various reasons, such as a lack of originality and the un-critical nature of the fans, and I don't believe this record will be making me change my mind. Of course I'm being stereotypical and it is all compounded by the language barrier, maybe I am not hearing the right tracks? On this release the two sides are very different, and strangely I might be feeling the more commercial track.

The A side 'Angela' is a mixture of R'n'B and a whole jumble of other styles such as Ragga and world music. Yes this is the more commercial one and has ridden high in the French charts shipping more than 400,000 copies! Whilst listening to this track you could be forgiven if you forgot this was a Hip Hop crew.

The flipside comes in two similar flavours, the normal version and the jazz version and both feature the cool lyrics of the UK's own Roots Manuva (who has two verses). This isn't necessarily a natural combination and one senses that each side of the collaboration is in it for the business advantage it could engender in the others home territory. Apparently the two groups met at the Glastonbury festival where the idea for this track came about. This track is much more Hip Hop, but still don't really hit the right notes for me. Strangely for a Hip Hop crew the Saian Supa Crew don't have a DJ and instead rely on their two beat-boxers (Sly & Leeroy) to provide vocal scratches!! Make of that what you will.

One positive aspect of the Saian Supa Crew is that they have been supporting the French Embassy 'Rap in Schools' scheme. This has involved visiting schools to encourage kids not pre-disposed to learning French to encourage them to take up the language.

Visit Wordplay/Source on the web: www.sourcelab.net
Wordplay/Source, 113 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3BX
For more info Email: [email protected]
Tel: 020 7841 0150 :: Fax: 020 7833 9702

Other Links: www.saiansupacrew.fr.st :: www.cplus.fr