paris show in february 2026 - The Music

14 Feb

For the Paris opening, I pulled together a playlist built around soul records that quietly shaped hip hop history. It’s a selection of deep cuts and warm, analogue textures — the kind of tracks later sampled by producers like J Dilla and other crate-digging obsessives.

From the velvet ache of ZZ Hill and the storytelling of Jerry Butler, to the harmonies of The Dramatics, the sweetness of Little Beaver, and the raw soul energy of Sly, Slick & Wicked, Dee Dee Sharp, and The Brothers of Soul — it’s a quiet tribute to lineage.

Soul becoming hip hop. Past becoming present. A soundtrack rooted in texture, rhythm, and emotional honesty — the same qualities we look for in the artists we exhibit.

This of course is extremely relevant to Paris.

Artists like Freeman and the wider movement around IAM built their sound on the same lineage: dusty soul loops, jazz samples, emotional depth, political undertones.

Those ZZ Hill and Little Beaver records aren’t just American nostalgia — they’re the DNA of French boom-bap. Paris audiences grew up with producers flipping those textures. This isn’t random soul — it’s the foundation of the culture that shaped French rap in the 90s and 2000s.

Best,
Chris