FR: This book by Alexandre Grondeau, founder of Reggae.fr and author of Génération H, traces the career of Tonton David, a popular figure in the French reggae scene who emerged from the Paris sound systems of the 1980s. He achieved great success in the 1990s, reaching a wide audience, before gradually fading into obscurity until his untimely death in 2021. Based on first-hand sources, this biography sheds welcome light on the emergence of Parisian rap and ragamuffin in the 1980s and its links to sound system culture. Beyond his individual career, Tonton David’s trajectory is part of the collective story of racialised youth in post-colonial France who managed to make their voices heard in the musical landscape of the 1990s.

Language: French

Link to Book