TAPE : Lil Wayne

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At first glance, nothing connects Lil Wayne to Donald Trump: one is an African-American rapper from the poor neighborhoods of New Orleans, the other a rich white heir turned President of the United States. And yet without Donald Trump, Lil Wayne could have gone to prison for up to a decade. TAPE tells you all about this surprising relationship.

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Rewinding the History of Music

Lil Wayne

Without Donald Trump, Lil Wayne could have gone to prison for over a decade

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Dave Grohl is the co-author of only one Nirvana song: Scentless Apprentice, on the 1993 In Utero album. Frontman Kurt Cobain said, "I found it a bit stupid." But since the end of Nirvana, Grohl went on to release ten albums with the Foo Fights, wrote 76 songs and had 9 US hits. Not bad for a once-overlooked drummer.

Foo Fighters

Was Dave Grohl's talent ignored in Nirvana?

Since his birth, Keith Richards has been burning the candle at both ends, and yet he's still fighting fit. He's even survived 2016. Is the Rolling Stones guitarist too rocky for The Reaper? Quite possibly... 

Since his birth, Keith Richards has been burning the candle at both ends, and yet he's still fighting fit

Keith Richards

Satanist texts and bloody imagery are standard fare for Iron Maiden. But at the beginning of the 90s, the US government decided to use them in a road safety campaign. Road deaths fell significantly in the space of a year.

Iron Maiden

All his life, Lou Reed spat in the face of the establishment. Politicians, bigots, the self-righteous… All have drawn the ire of the Velvet Underground founder. But he reserved the worst of his contempt for journalists.

Lou Reed

Austere face, dark looks, tormented psyche: at first glance, Nick Cave is a gothic hero. But the king of indie music and the world of darkness have more of a love/hate relationship.

Nick Cave

The child-star of the Cosby Show, Raven-Symoné signed her first contract by the age of five. In 1993, Raven-Symoné came out with the hit song That's What Little Girls Are Made Of, featuring Miss Elliott - but in the music video, Missy was replaced by an actress. Missy didn't look the part. That was devastating to her... but it didn't stop her rise and rise. 

Missy Elliott

The music industry tried to break Miss Elliott - but she changed the game instead. 

Sting was an ecologically-conscious yogi hipster before it was even a thing. He's always been fighting for our right to enjoy a better future than the one we are making for ourselves. Perhaps a strange mission for someone with punk musical roots?

Tape

Sting was an ecologically-conscious yogi hipster before it was even a thing

Sting

To accompany the release of their first album in 1967, the Doors send their biographies to the press. The bio of their singer Jim Morrison is worth a second look. Full name: Jim Douglas Morrison. Eye color: blue. Parents: dead. Hmm… Really?

The Doors

Why did Jim Morrison lie to the press about his parents being dead?

1974: ABBA’s victory at the Eurovision Song Contest was a taste of things to come. But a year later, when it was up to Sweden to host the Eurovision, the counterculture mobilised big time. On Channel 1 was the Eurovision and on Channel 2, a rival, parody version of the competition designed to mock ABBA and mainstream music as hopelessly capitalist and try hard.

ABBA

When it was up to Sweden to host the Eurovision, the counterculture mobilised big time in a bid to take down ABBA

Miles Davis made his comeback on the stage of the very prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in 1984. In his tracklist, the trumpeter includes Time After Time, a cover of a slow song by Cyndi Lauper. And that, for jazz purists who considered Miles Davis a living God, was an act of high treason.

Miles Davis

How the God of jazz, Miles Davis, shocked jazz purists

January 20, 1997. Daft Punk released Homework and began their conquest of the planet. But Inrockuptibles music critic Christophe Conte was scathing. 24 years, 6 grammys and 11 million albums sold later, he's had to eat his words. Daft Punk's victory begs the question: what if everything the journalist hated about them was precisely what made the band so successful?

Daft Punk

What if everything that critics hated about Daft Punk was precisely what made the band so successful?

On October 1, 2014, Snoop Dogg made the guests of his Youtube show laugh by attacking Migos and their signature flow. But the Atlanta's technique is nothing new! So what annoys Snoop so much about the Migos rap style?

Migos

What annoys Snoop Dogg so much about the Migos rap style?

Phil Collins is the king of pop who doesn't make waves. Patrick Bateman, the anti-hero of American Psycho. But Bateman is quite the Collins fan... how come?

Phil Collins

Patrick Bateman, the anti-hero of American Psycho, is a Phil Collins fan

At a time when the climate emergency is being felt everywhere, we need to be all hands on deck to solve it. And that includes rock stars. Even Deep Purple might need to get a little green...

Deep Purple

Last year, Lil Nas X drew the ire of  American pastor Greg Locke, who filmed himself reacting to the Montero music video. Lil Nas X broke onto the music scene with his country-rap hit Old Town Road in 2019, but this new song was different. It features inverted pentagrams, devilish cosplay, and a lapdance to Lucifer. What is the meaning of Lil Nas X's satanic twerking?

Lil Nas X

What is the meaning of Lil Nas X's satanic twerking?

Apple launched its streaming service in 2015, and to celebrate, the company made their customers an offer they couldn't refuse: three months free subscription. The problem: during these three months, the artists streamed will not receive a penny. But that was without reckoning for Taylor Swift, who published an open letter to the firm on her Tumblr detailing why refusing to pay artists for their work was unacceptable. Apple backtracked. 

Taylor Swift

In 2017, Justin Bieber attended the Hillsong Church conference with his pal Carl Lentz, the star pastor of this powerful evangelical church. Thanks to him, and after going through an existential crisis, the pop star said he was finally saved. But their close relationship wasn't to last...

Justin Bieber was close to star pastor Carl Lentz, member of a powerful evangelical church

Justin Bieber

Elvis Presley had a bone to pick with the Beatles. Their worlds couldn't have been more different. TAPE analyses the tensions between the icon of the 50s and the band of the hippie generation.

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley had a bone to pick with the Beatles

July 4, 2020. To pay tribute to the doctors on the frontlines of COVID-19, the Japanese consul in New York, Kanji Yamanouchi, performed a Jimi Hendrix-style rendition of the American national anthem. 50 years after his death, the artist has become the patron saint of all apprentice guitarists in the world.

Jimi Hendrix

What if guitar enthusiasts who love Jimi Hendrix have got the wrong end of the stick?

In 1998, Johnny Cash received the Grammy Award for best album of the year. But that only came after a decade of being shunned by the industry and his peers in Nashville. 

Johnny Cash won a Grammy but only after a decade of being given the cold shoulder

Johnny Cash

August 19, 2014. Nicki Minaj releases the music video for Anaconda. The message is clear: down with the dictatorship of skinny pop stars and make way for XXL shapes and XXX speech. Provocative? Maybe. Feminist? Definitely.

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj says down with the dictatorship of skinny pop stars, and make way for XXL shapes and XXX speech

Flavor Flav, a liability or a bankable asset for Public Enemy? There's an ideological chasm that separates the MC from the rest of the group. TAPE investigates.

Public Enemy

Flavor Flav, a liability or a bankable asset for Public Enemy?

Incredible but true: Dexter Holland, the frontman of The Offspring, has a doctorate in molecular biology. But a punk researcher in hard sciences isn't such a rare breed after all...

The Offspring

Incredible but true: Dexter Holland, the frontman of The Offspring, has a doctorate in molecular biology.

Drake gives us a little crash course in humanitainment. The Canadian rapper has a knack for helping his neighbour… when the cameras just so happen to be rolling. These publicity stunts see the artist make money on the backs of people in need.

Drake

These publicity stunts see the artist make money on the backs of people in need

The number one rule of being a gangster? You never, ever rat out your friends. And yet that's exactly what Tekashi 69 did when he betrayed the Nine Tray Bloods. The entire world of hip hop turned its back on him, and he even got death threats.

The number one rule of being a gangster? You never, ever rat out your friends...

Tekashi 69

Wanting to smell like a slut doused in blood and sperm, and having a polite meeting the Dalai Lama may sound like contradictions. But they're just different sides of the same coin when it comes to Lady Gaga. She speaks out on behalf of the voiceless, insists on expressing herself and her strangeness. 

 Lady Gaga speaks out on behalf of the voiceless, and insists on expressing herself and her strangeness

Lady Gaga

Bono is on a mission to make the world a better place, from charity fundraisers, meetings with the Pope and humanitarian trips... Bono is rock's Mother Teresa. But can celebrities save the world?

In the track Godzilla, Eminem hits a record-breaking 7.46 words per second: listening to him is like being hit with a wall of words. But breaking and making records is just a part of Eminem's MO.

Breaking and making records is just a part of Eminem's MO

Eminem

At a party organized by GQ magazine, Noel Gallagher admitted it: the Oasis secret sauce for success is good old-fashioned plagiarism. How did the greatest rock band of all time manage to copy all the other greatest rock bands of all time - and get away with it?

At a party organized by GQ magazine, Noel Gallagher admitted it: the Oasis secret sauce for success is good old-fashioned plagiarism

Oasis

When Cardi B won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album of the Year 2019, haters around the world piled on to her; saying she didn't deserve it and that she was a bimbo. The backslash was so bad that Cardi B temporarily left the platform. 

When Cardi B won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album of the Year 2019, haters around the world piled on to her

Cardi B

On December 25, 2006, the whole of America went into mourning: James Brown was dead. His funeral was of an opulence that matched his luxe, zany life, with a solid gold coffin and a stadium full of mourners.

James Brown's funeral was of an opulence that matched his luxe, zany life

James Brown

Thanks to her 1994 smash hit 'All I Want for Christmas is You', Mariah Carey is almost as Christmassy as Santa himself. The diva has managed to not only storm the charts but turn Christmas into her very own money-making machine.

Thanks to her 1994 smash hit 'All I Want for Christmas is You', Mariah Carey is almost as Christmassy as Santa himself

Mariah Carey

Britney Spears is like kryptonite to Somali pirates: so much so that the British navy have taken to using her tunes as a weapon of war. One blast of Britney and the pirates are out of there.

How Britney songs are fighting piracy in Somalia

Britney Spears

Kanye West started off as a megalomaniac hip-hop star who transformed himself into a modern-day messiah. But is his preaching just another type of celebrity? After all, it is lucrative...

Kanye West started off as a megalomaniac hip-hop star who transformed himself into a modern-day messiah

Kanye West

TAPE - Rewinding the History of Music

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The trio led by Matthew Bellamy is one of the most explosive and creative forces in rock music over the past two decades. There is no one else quite like Muse. Be impressed by their committed performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds Festival.

Tempelhof Sounds 2022

 There is no one else quite like Muse. Be impressed by their committed performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds Festival.

Muse

To celebrate 50 years of French radio station FIP, Sting gives a special performance in the monumental surroundings of the Pantheon in Paris.

50 Years of FIP Radio

Sting at the Pantheon in Paris

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Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish perform at Hellfest 2022.

Nightwish

Hellfest 2022

In Europe, the last primary forests are found almost exclusively in the mountains in the east or south-east of the continent. These virgin forests have never been exploited or cut down, and have remained as they have always been. Few studies have been done on this forests, which are presumably havens of biodiversity. We go on a research trip to the Dinaric Alps in Albania.

The Green Lungs of Europe

We go on a research trip to the Dinaric Alps in Albania

Geo Reportage

Just a few weeks before the release of their new album, The Sick and the Dying… and the Dead! Thrash metal stars Megadeth perform at Hellfest 2022.

Megadeth

Dutch band Epica returns to Hellfest to present Omega, a new album showing off their inimitable symphonic heavy metal sound.

Epica

According to the latest calculations by the OECD, South Korean women could live to be over 92 years old on average in 2070, and men over 89. That would be a world record. What's the secret?

South Korea: An Obsession With Health

South Koreans are on track to be the longest-lived people in the world

ARTE Reportage

Anglo-French guitarist Laura Cox presents the Scorpions, probably the most successful German rock band ever, headlining at Hellfest 2022. For more than five decades the German five-piece has been producing international hits and have sold more than 100 million records.

Scorpions

Anglo-French guitarist Laura Cox presents the Scorpions, probably the most successful German rock band ever, headlining at Hellfest 2022. 

The philanthropic foundation set up by US billionaire Bill Gates quietly co-finances experiments with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in several African countries. In the age of philanthropic capitalism, billionaires "save the world" and make money in the process. But who is helped the most, ordinary Africans or the food industry?

 In the age of philanthropic capitalism, billionaires "save the world" and make money in the process. An investigation into GM experiments in Africa.

Africa, GMOs and Bill Gates

Why does the European Union allow deadly pesticides banned at home to be exported to developing countries? Brazil, especially, uses large quantities of harmful pesticides imported from Europe with terrible effects on the population’s health.

Why does the European Union allow deadly pesticides banned at home to be exported to developing countries? 

Pesticides: European Hypocrisy

Drockick Murphys are perhaps the most Irish of American bands. The Bostonians baptize their new album Turn Up That Dial at Hellfest 2022.

Dropkick Murphys

Punk rock fans note: The Offspring have released a new album: The Californians perform tracks from their latest work at Hellfest, Let the Bad Times Roll.

Brazilian cult band Sepultura is back at Hellfest! They unleash their intense thrash metal in front of a white-hot audience.

Sepultura

The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland. Once German East Prussia, it is now home to 1 million Russian citizens. What is life like in this small territory now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began?

Kaliningrad: Putin's Enclave

The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland and is now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began.

JInjer are Ukraine’s official ambassadors of metal. Led by the voice and charisma of singer Tatiana Shmayluk, they are bringing their special blend of progressive groove metal to the world.

Jinjer

Hellfest invites a heavyweight of crossover and thrash metal: Los Angeles natives Suicidal Tendencies make the main stage tremble!

Suicidal Tendencies

Yazidi women box in a gym in the heart of a refugee camp in northern Iraq. To recover their sense of dignity and self-confidence, they train in self-defense. They are survivors of horrific abuse, having been kidnapped and used as sex slaves under IS rule.

Iraq: Return to Sinjar

Yazidi women box in a gym in the heart of a refugee camp to recover their sense of dignity and self-confidence.

On the French Caribbean island of Martinique , large-scale use of insecticides caused serious damage. But the earth is being revitalised by several initiatives inspired by age-old agricultural practices. 

A Documentary by Florence Lazar

Revitalising the Earth

Since the 1990s, total insect biomass has declined by 75 percent. The rapid decline affects all food chains: fish and birds can no longer find enough to eat and are becoming fewer and fewer. Studies show that neonicotinoids used in pesticides aren't just destroying the insect popualtion, but also affect human health.

Since the 1990s, total insect biomass has declined by 75 percent

How Chemical Giants Destroyed our Ecosystem

With their latest album Soul on Fire, The Last Internationale brings a rebellious spirit to the main stage of Hellfest 2022.

The Last Internationale

Known for their incandescent, fiery performances, Swedish black metal band Watain perform their pyrotechnics at Hellfest 2022.

Lil Wayne

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