This is going up a little late for Monday, but it counts anyway…
[Video]
[6.17]
Julian Axelrod: I should be sick and tired of flute loops by now, but Niska’s bendable posable falsetto gives the trope a new sheen. Meryl and Pyroman’s beat is impressive on its own, but Niska’s nimble flow practically arm-wrestles the loop into submission. And don’t flutes just sound better with a French guy rapping over them anyway?
[7]
Wayne Weizhen Zhang: French is such a fun language to listen to rap in because it’s linguistically so quirky. First, in comparison to English or other tonal languages like Chinese, French is relatively monotone. Second, there are no stresses on syllables, so you can get away with saying words in really bizarre ways. Third, there’s a distinct kind of French slang called verlan, where the syllable order in words can be rearranged while preserving the meaning. “Du Lundi au Lundi” is a showcase for Niska to play with these traits: relatively flat verses contrasting with “Du LUNdi au LunDI” sung on the hook like a seesaw going up and down; “L’enfant est te-RI-ble” stressed oddly on the hook, and “billets” stretched into “illets-bi” just because he can. It all makes for a monster of a hook, the catchiest in French rap since Niska’s own “Réseaux.”
[7]
Iain Mew: The style is familiar enough and language unfamiliar enough that I’m mostly going on the flow for how much I enjoy this. Both the oiled glide of the hook and the rapid sequences of syllables snapped out in between work well, and go together even better.
[7]
Jessica Doyle: Niska is cute, and the uninflated lifejacket is a clever touch (at least at video’s length), and his voice gets more interesting once the smoothing of the chorus drops out. All that having been said, I’m not finding anything particularly new or compelling here. This sounds like the just-past-initial-success, first-victory-lap song, which is not the best song to start with when learning about an artist. But as it is, I’m not surprised the women in the background — who all, undoubtedly, know more about French and West African diaspora hip-hop than I do — look unimpressed.
[4]
Kylo Nocom: Infectious fun if you’re feeling Niska’s charisma on the mic; annoying and cartoonish as fuck if you aren’t. I’ve swapped between the two all day.
[6]
Ian Mathers: The best part is definitely the chorus, which approximates the effect of the song circling the listener, throwing jabs from odd angles. When he drops his voice and tries to get in close for a body blow on the verses, it doesn’t really land as strongly.
[6]