An essential element of urban culture is rap, which has grown progressively in importance to and for post-migratory postcolonial minorities since the mid-1980s. As André Prévos (2002) and Charles Tshimanga (2010) have shown, French rap has always been highly politicized, particularly in the case of multicultural populations; as such, it has been an ‘urban’ location where institutional identity politics are scrutinized and reformulated. Rappers like Roçé, Abd Al Malik, Disiz, or La Rumeur can be seen as the heirs of Albert Camus and Frantz Fanon, whom they quote, but they also refer to Malcolm X's political vision as a source of inspiration for minorities in France. One interesting development in the last decade is the emergence of a group of rapper-writers who use various platforms to offer a counternarrative to dominant discourse on the banlieues as well as to redefine Frenchness in the twenty-first century.

Abd Al Malik is a French spoken word artist born in Paris of Congolese descent who has published five books and directed a film adaptation of his first, autobiographical novel, Qu'Allah bénisse la France [Sufi Rapper: The Spiritual Journey of Abd Al Malik] (2004). In his spoken word performances and in his books, he strives to redefine his Frenchness in a global context, taking into account his Congolese background, his French education, and also the influence of American rap. In his mixed-form essay-rap-poem Le Dernier Français [‘The Last Frenchman’] (2012), he claims that France needs to see itself in a different light and encourages unity and inclusiveness amongst different ethnic groups.

Disiz (born Sérigne M'Baye Gueye) is a rapper and actor who has authored two novels, Les Derniers de la rue Ponty [‘The Last Ones Left on the Rue Ponty’] (2009) and René (2012), but is mostly known for hits such as ‘J'pète les plombs’ [‘I'm Freaking Out’] or his role in the movie Dans tes rêves [‘In Your Dreams’] (2005). On his album Transe-lucide (2014), he evokes the complexities of new French identities in songs such as ‘Complexité Française’ [‘French Complexity’] and ‘Banlieusard Syndrome’, and strives to blur the lines between binary constructs such as parisien vs banlieusard, activist rapper vs entertainer.