Doc Gynéco

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Doc Gynéco (real name, Bruno Beausir) is a popular French hip hop artist of Guadeloupean origin. His music is typically characterized as a ragga/rap style, that has found its fan base in France. Born in Clichy-sous-Bois in Seine-Saint-Denis, on July 7, 1974, Beausir's mother was Caribbean and his father white. The latter left them in 1990, and partly as a result of this, Beausir was poor in his later teen years.

Doc Gynéco launched his career at the age of 19, writing a few tracks for the hardcore rap group Ministère AMER. After this rap group parted, Virgin Records signed him with the intent of converting his demos into an album in Paris.^{citation needed}

This project partially fell through; Doc Gyneco then agreed to leave for Los Angeles to work with a famous American producer, Ken Kessie. The result of this work would be Première Consultation, released in 1996, which received large media praise and huge success both in France and the world. Singles from the album include "Est-ce que ça le fait?", "Viens voir le docteur", "Dans Ma Rue", "Passements de Jambes", and "Né Ici".

Two years later on December 1, 1998, his second album appeared in the shops, entitled Liaisons Dangereuses. Although the main single -- "C'est Beau La Vie" -- created with the help of a politician (Bernard Tapie) was a flop, the album still sold reasonably well and earned its author even more notoriety.

In the spring of 2001, Doc Gynéco tried to come back at the front of the music scene after a few years of silence with his third creation Quality Street. Guest stars on the album included the Wu-Tang Clan and Gregory Isaac. However, the single "Caramel", the first release from this new album, met little success.

In August 2002, Doc Gynéco's 4th album, Solitaire, came out. This last realization found its audience and gave Doc Gynéco the "Victoire de La Musique" award for "Best hip-hop/rap album of the Year". Singles included "Funky Maxime", "Frotti Frotta", and "Flash".

A collection of his hit singles since the beginning of his career was raped during 2004 (called 'Menu Best-of').

During 2006 the album Homme Nature was released.

Like many French rap artists, his works caused controversy; he was criticized for demeaning the status of women.¹ Not all critics characterized him that way, though; one wrote, "Unjustly attacked for misogyny, he is in fact capable of encapsulating complex poetic emotion into the crude language of a ghetto love song such as 'Ma Salope a Moi' - 'My Slut'."² He has also been criticized for promoting drug use,¹ and dealing with other sensitive subjects (such as suicide in his song "Nirvana"). He stands apart, however, for rarely promoting violence in his works, something that had become a trademark for rap artists in France.

He was part of a movement that popularized rap in the 1990s, along with groups such as 'IAM' or 'Suprême NTM' and took it to every home. His laid-back attitude, his style, as well as his appreciation, knowledge and involvement with popular or controversial subjects like football, sex or drugs all strongly contributed to his fame, particularly among France's adolescent population. Riding his popularity, his appearance in French television shows became regular, particularly at the start of the new century, using his appearance and style as a catalyst.

Style

After the release of his first seed, his asexual and provocative lyrics raised a matter for discussion and critics. However, the album was a huge success (800,000 sold).² Thus, he became part of the movement that made rap popular in the 1990s. His music, a mix of ragga and rap, addresses many popular controversial subjects like drugs, sex, women, racism, and poverty. For example, one of his biggest hit at the time was “Nirvana,â€� a very pessimistic song in which he promotes the use of drugs: “Je veux me droguer aux aspirines facon marylinâ€� (‘I want to drug myself with pills like marylin’). In this song he explains how corrupted life is in our current society and how it pushes him to use drugs and commit suicide: “Je veux atteindre le Nirvanaâ€� (‘I want to reach the Nirvanaâ€�).³ Like "Nirvana", a lot of his songs are very nostalgic and refer to poverty and the poor living conditions in the banlieux. The reason for this is that he had actually lived in the "cite" since he was born. In fact, "Ne ici" ('Born here'), another hit song in the 1990s, expresses how ungrateful he is to be born in a banlieu. He says: “Ma mere est ne la bas, mon pere est ne la bas, moi je suis ne ici dans la misere et les crisâ€� ('my mother and father were born there (in the Caribbean) but I was born here (in a Parisian banlieu) around poverty and pain').⁴ Hence, one principal role for his work is to underline the issues of contemporary society. Another main theme in his first album is relationships with women. Doc Gynéco is a typical rapper in that he is very misogynist. He actually has a song called “Ma salope a moiâ€� (‘My very own b****’) in which he claims that women are all prostitutes.⁵ Also, his name 'Doc Gynéco' was given to him by his "male" friends when he was younger to brag his qualities of seducer. The name stands for 'doctor gynecologist', which has sexual connotations. Those connotations are to be found in his song: “Viens voir le docteurâ€� ('Come see the doctor') in which he states that he enjoys having sexual intercourse with teenage girls ⁶ Interestingly, Doc Gynéco's style is very peaceful. He likes to mention small papers during his performances. Even though he appears as a sadistic seducer, he never promotes violence in his videos and his rap is very laid-back and soft. He disapproves of the acts of violence that occur in the banlieux. He says that the young people in the banlieux should not express themselves with violence because it will not improve their situation. Unlike many French rappers, he is close to politicians like Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy showing them his support during their presidential campaigns.^{7 8} Doc Gynéco is actually helping the French president Nicolas Sarkozy to halt the idea that the people of the banlieux should always count on subsidies. "He told the convention that the immigrant rioters were clowns who should break their dependence on welfare payments." Other rappers denounce Gynéco as a traitor. Indeed, he might be the president's new friend but about 10 years ago he went himself through a period of rebellion against the French government. One of his songs says: “Je kiffe quand les keufs cannent (I get a kick when cops croak).â€� “France is a country of cops. There are a hundred on every street corner. To keep order, they get away with murder.â€�¹

Politics

In 2001 he claimed to be close to the Libertarian Party, but in 2006, he joined the Union for a Popular Movement and announced his "support" for Nicolas Sarkozy in a "party meeting" in Marseille.⁹

His support of Sarkozy has been "controversial": Stomy Bugsy no longer considers Beausir a friend partly because of the support he offered to Sarkozy, and Beausir was booed off the stage in Geneva in August 2007.¹⁰

Discography

• Première Consultation (1997)

References

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia