We met the female French rapper Chilla in her Parisian studio prior to the release of her first EP ”Karma”. Discovered by the famous French producer Tefa, with whom she signed a record deal, she immediately became viral with millions of views on YouTube. She’s been working for about one year on this project where she clearly expresses herself as being a feminist girl. We also talked about her good karma, the current female french rap scene and how she met one of our favorite rappers Jok’Air. 

Hello Chilla, can you describe yourself quickly? 

I’m Chilla, I’m 23 and I’ve started doing rap music when I was in Lyon. So I think I represent a little bit this city now. 

I’ve listened to your EP and I feel that it treats some feminist aspects while keeping your feminity. Is that important to you?  

Oh yes totally. But I’m not a girl trying to focus only on some feminist stuff. I sing about my life in general and but yes it’s normal to talk about the place of women in our society. It’s important especially in the rap industry to defend women rights! As well, in this project, I wrote so many things about believing in me and my daily shit. 

And how does your family react when they heard those silly words in your songs? 

Haha, it’s funny you know, as my mum always told me to avoid these silly words in my daily life! I’ve got a really strict education about that, but now, I think she understood that my music is an art and sometimes to better express some important messages you need to use some “bad words”. She’s ok now, thanks, mum!

 

”Years ago when a girl was making hip-hop music she was dressed like a man with some XL sportswear but now everything is changing.”

 

Your EP is called ”Karma”, is that a message for someone or just about your good karma of having signed a record deal? 

Very good question! I think yes it’s particularly the karma of having signed a record deal as I’ve got some bad events in the past and I was not thinking doing music as my main job until Tefa contacted me. So yes, I think it’s about my karma of doing music with a great team!

 

I think it’s pretty cool what is actually happening in the rap culture in France. Years ago when a girl was making hip-hop music she was dressed like a man with some XL sportswear but now everything is changing. It made me think about Lil’Kim who was just killing the game with her feminity 15 years ago! Now we have in France a few rappers like Shay and Sianna and that’s great! Everyone has its own personality and I hope it will continue like this in the future. 

 

”Jok’Air is an alien in the rap game in France.”

 

Is there any competition among all these female rappers? 

No, I don’t think so! Everyone has it’s own team so we do our own stuff without any critical aspects. Shay, for example, I’ve listened to some of her tracks and they are damn good. I’m not here to be in competition with them as I know we do a different kind of rap music. 

You also worked with one of our favorite rapper Jok’Air, how did this happen? 

Since a long time, I wanted to work with him as I really enjoy this guy. Jok’Air is an alien in the rap game in France. He inspired me a lot so I told me, producer, to contact him for a featuring. He came in the studio and we made a track which was really weird. The next day, my producer gave me another track and he was still in the studio. We decided to work on it together all night long. One year later the track Exil was born! 

And who is your favorite rapper actually? 

IAMDDB! 

35mm photography by Valentin Le Cron

Listen to ”Aller Sans Retour” below: