Revealed in “Nouvelle École” on Netflix, Parisian rapper 2L will be in concert at the Bikini on Thursday, May 21 at 7:30 p.m., accompanied by the Toulouse rap collective La Cercleuse. Between committed rap, violin and math studies, the 23-year-old artist recounts his atypical trajectory.
Finalist of season 4 of Nouvelle École, the rap competition show on Netflix, 2L is moving against the tide. At 23, the Parisian rapper, born Lola in the 20th arrondissement, cultivates a unique universe where classical violin, political texts and raw introspection intersect. Before arriving at the Bikini, to meet her Toulouse fans, the artist returns for La Dépêche du Midi to what really builds her.
“I don’t beat around the bush”
His short nickname sums up his direct relationship with things. “It’s just because my name is Lola. There are two “L”s in Lola,” she corrects. “It represents what I’m trying to show: I don’t beat around the bush.”
Music has always existed in her home. A musician mother, member of the Radio France choir for thirty years, a self-taught drummer father, rock, jazz, punk at home: “It helps to say that music can be a profession”, notes the finalist of Nouvelle École. But the family heritage is also militant. “It built an imagination around the struggle, the understanding of the difficulties of others, a posture of empathy.”
Conservatory versus bitumen
A violinist since childhood, 2L nevertheless refuses to sacralize the classic. “The conservatory gave me knowledge. But rap taught me to live with music.” She adds: “Conservatories remain very strong spaces of social reproduction.”
As a teenager, she discovered rap at the time when PNL, MZ and Damso exploded. Then she goes back through the history of the genre, to the figures of conscious rap and the Scred Connexion, whose artistic and political heritage she shares today.
Her electric violin, seen even in Nouvelle École, is not “a risk-taking, it’s a tool that I have up my sleeve”, nuance 2L. She improvises directly on the productions to add “an organic, spontaneous and human side”.
“Là où j’ai envie d’être”
If Nouvelle École has propelled her to the general public, 2L says no to marketing calculations. “There are big machines in the industry. I’m not exactly that but I try to be who I am. I stand where I want to be,” she says. A line that she continues on “Aria”, her latest project, more sung, melodic and introspective.
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On stage, which she dominates, the artist also claims a form of simplicity. “I have my DJ but I stay alone, standing, talking to the public.” A direct relationship that leaves a deep mark on her: “Meeting people reassures you about your work and puts your feet back on the ground. Behind the numbers, there are real humans.”
Among her non-rap influences, she readily cites Georges Brassens: “He refuses the image of the star. In his texts, he can be mocking, satirical, then hypersensitive just after.” An artistic definition which resembles 2L herself.
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