The new heroes of the French hip hop scene are called Feniksi, Vicelow, Sir Samuel, Sly The Mic Buddah, Leeroy Kesiah and Specta. This six-strong collective began creating their exuberant, and highly personal, mix two years ago. Leeroy Kesiah, specialist in 'vocal sound effects', explains the genesis of the Supa Crew : "We all come from the outermost reaches of the Paris suburbs, from the East, the West and the South. We met up in a recording studio run by DJ Fun - he's one of our musical masterminds together with Also Prod By. Anyway, Fun had this studio in Stalingrad (Parisian district) where small-unknown groups could go along and record demo tapes. We were all there doing our own thing. Then, after listening to each other's material one day, we decided to try and get something going together. Basically, it was me and Feniksi who were behind the idea of fusing three different groups together and forming a "super-group". We started off by recording an E.P. called "Saïan Supa Land" which featured five tracks (one by each of the groups involved and two joint compositions). We produced "Saïan Supa Land" ourselves and released 1,000 copies of the E.P. in June '98. That was our first release. After that, we signed a deal with Source who released our first joint E.P. under the name "Saïan Supa Crew". That came out on the 11th of May 1999. And now there's the album... ".

And man what an album it is! The Supa Crew are aces when it comes to mixing up hard-hitting urban hip hop grooves - c.f. "Raz de marée" and "J’adore ça" - but the collective are undoubtedly at their best when they move into burlesque mode on tracks such as "G-Padpo", a song which relates a series of hilarious adventures en route to a gig. However, make no mistake about it, Saïan Supa Crew are not looking to develop their comic side. We don't want people to think we're complete clowns", insists Vicelow. So, in order to stop music fans getting the wrong impression, the Supa Crew have included a number of more sinister, disturbing tracks on their first album such as the excellent Darkness (a track which, incidentally, features some breath-taking string arrangements!) The Supa Crew also strike a serious note on a moving soul ballad entitled K.L.R, a tribute to their close friend and musical collaborator who died in a recent car crash. "K.L.R's death brought us all closer together, says Feniksi, and motivated us to finish the project of making an album. We dedicated the most personal song on the album to him - the final track".

Saïan Supa Crew have managed to weave so many different musical styles into their new album that music fans may well find their heads spinning after a first listen to the 20-track opus. Fasten your seatbelts and prepare to be catapulted from ragga ("Ragots") and reggae ("Que dit-on?") to house ("Ring My Bell") and even that strange French fusion speciality: rap/folk ("G-Padpo"). But the Supa Crew's most outstanding and original achievement on the album is their ability to produce the most astounding vocal effects. The six-piece contort their mouths into weird and wonderful positions, imitating samplers, scratches and drum machines to perfection - and if you don't believe us, check out the utterly amazing Pitchy & Skratchee Show!

Saïan's innovative musical approach goes hand in hand with the collective's highly original line-up. "What you have to understand, Sir Samuel explains, "is that Saïan is not a group in the traditional sense of the term. We're not a group, we're a Crew. That's to say, there's an overall structure binding us together but within this main structure there are three sub-divisions, which are each groups existing in their own right. There's Explicit Samuraï - that's Leeroy Kesiah and Specta - then there's Simple Spirit - that's Sly The Mic Buddah and me - and O.F.X. - which was made up of Feniksi, Vicelow and K.L.R. We've got a lot of work on our plate right now trying to get all our different projects off the ground. There are albums to think about for each of the different groups involved and then there are solo projects for the individual members of each group. Right now, Leeroy's working on a solo release, which is due for release soon. Working as a six-piece is a challenge, which we've been dealing with on a daily basis for the past two years. It's good because it's helped us become more professional, but it's a bit of a headache when it comes to the organisation side of things. We're working hard to get a bit more co-ordination going right now". And, judging by the fluid co-ordination of the Saïan's recent stage shows, the group's hip hop rivals had better watch out - Saïan are not called the "Supa" Crew for nothing!

French text: Nicolas Mollé
English translation: Julie Street

K.L.R (Source/Virgin).
Catch Saïan Supa Crew in concert at the "Transmusicales" festival in Rennes (December 3rd).