Mèlaaz

The Algerian-French MC and singer Melaaz Bennacer had the backing of France’s musical royalty: she came up as part of MC Solaar‘s Posse 501 crew, and her sole solo album from 1995 was produced by the late Philippe Zdar (Motorbass / La Funk Mob and a thousand big name production jobs) assisted by soon to be house superstar Etienne De Crécy. But for all that the reggae / hip hop production of this album is stellar, the true star of it is Melaaz herself. Her singing is relatively untrained-sounding but absolutely on point, and her rap and ragga flow, which switches easily from fluid to rapid-fire and back, is truly impeccable. Her cover of Dawn Pen’s “No No No” (as “Non Non Non” of course) was the breakthrough track and has found its way onto untold mixtapes and compilations, but the entire rest of the album fit perfectly into a landscape of Fugees, Massive Attack and co. It remains a classic – and collector’s item – but it’s one of the great musical tragedies of our time that she never broke bigger nor followed it up.