The World's New Culture Meccas

MarseillesFrance: Rap to the Rescue

Tucked into the Mediterranean coast among dramatic rocky inlets, Marseilles is an ancient, once thriving port city with a modern reputation for racial turmoil, unemployment and organized crime. By the 1990s, Marseilles realized it desperately needed to stem the flood of denizens choosing to leave (some 10,000 a year) and slash its 20 percent unemployment rate. It has found an unlikely solution from within the immigrant communities that some had blamed for its blights. Marseilles now finds strength in its diversity; more specifically, in its music.

The city proved fertile ground for the introduction of hip-hop by the U.S. Marines and sailors who visited port in the 1980s. "They'd bring mix tapes and teach us about American rap," recalls K-Rhyme Le Roi, one of Marseilles's top rappers. "They were from Harlem and all over. We'd talk with them until 2 a.m., until there was no one in the streets."

Fifteen years later, Marseilles produces some of France's elite hip-hop stars who have helped revitalize the city's image along with other artists, like director Luc Besson, who recently produced a series of fun, action-packed comedies featuring a North African protagonist.

Investors are starting to take note of the creative ferment. A massive federal rehabilitation program, known as Euromediteranee, is transforming the city center into an economic and cultural mecca by opening grand museums and rejuvenating the docklands. And since Marseilles was connected to Paris via the TGV bullet train last year, millions of visitors can access the city's attractions much more easily. "Marseilles is a la mode, now. It's trendy," says Marc Pietri, owner of a property-development firm who left in the 1980s and has since returned. "They're not making fun of me anymore; now they ask me how they can buy a home here."

Tracy McNicoll

WITH ESTHER PAN

© 2002