- Wu-Tang Clan, Dee Nasty
Suprême NTM, or simply NTM, is a French Hip-Hop band formed in 1989 in Saint-Denis (a low income and multi-ethnic suburb of Paris) by graffiti artists and rappers Didier Morville aka JoeyStarr (born 27 October 1967) and Bruno Lopes aka Kool Shen (born 9 February 1966). "NTM" is the initialism for "Nique Ta Mère" - "F*ck Your Mother", which gives more than a clue on what one's up for about their songs. Their musical style is predominantly Hardcore Hip-Hop, although their albums drew from funk, soul and reggae influences.
Along with fellow heavy hitter of The '90s IAM, they're considered among the very first French Hip Hop artists to have reached massive success on a national level, coincidentally in The Golden Age of Hip Hop, and they've remained influential ever since. They've stopped making new songs in 1998 and have reunited sporadically. JoeyStarr has ventured into acting since about 2008.
Their albums include:
- Authentik (1991)
- 1993... J'appuie sur la gâchette (1993) Translation
- Paris sous les bombes (1995) Translation
- Suprême NTM (1998)
Tropes about this band:
- Anti-Police Song: A lot of their songs are about Police Brutality and controls in the low income French suburbs with heavy ethnic diversity they come from (banlieues
). 'Nique la Police' ('Fuck the Police') is a common occurence in lyrics, and they attacked Ministers of the Interior (a job that's often nicknamed 'First Cop of France') such as Charles Pasqua and Jean-Louis Debré in their songs on occasion. Needless to say, their Cop Hater behavior made them quite infamous among law enforcement agents, and they made even more songs about that as a result. - Auto Erotica: Lord Kossity's lyrics in "Ma Benz" mostly amount to doing things with a woman in a Mercedes Benz car.
- Conscious Hip Hop: Police Brutality of The '90s in French banlieues has a large place in their songs, and said songs can also be about hard life in the banlieues, racism, parental neglect ("Laisse pas traîner ton fils"), the consequences of gun violence ("Pose ton gun"), far-right etc.
- Crossover: "Ma Benz", which they did with Lord Kossity.
- Gratuitous English: The lyrics and titles of their songs can include some English words.
- "Pose ton gun".
- "Back dans les bacs".
- 'Girl, quand tu whine', 'Girl t'es jolie dans ton Versace' in "Ma Benz".
- Harsh Vocals: JoeyStarr's trademark raspy and gravelly voice, which gives a more hardcore vibe to the band's songs if the lyrics weren't enough.
- Miscarriage of Justice: Unfair justice and allegedly corrupt judges is also a recurring thematic in their songs along with Police Brutality.
- Motor Mouth: Kool Shen has the fastest flow of the two.
- Pig Latin: Per the slang of their native banlieues, some of their words have the consonant clusters switched (a form of expression called "verlan" in French).
- Sampling: They often sampled lyrics from American rappers.
- "That's My People" samples Prelude op. 28 #4 by Fryderyk Chopin as well as the lyrics 'That's ma people' from "What The Blood Clot" (1994) by Method Man and 'I make music for my people' from "Intro" (1996) by Keith Murray.
- A 'Nique la police' lyric by JoeyStarr ended up sampled by DJ Cut Killer along with KRS-One's "Sound of da Police", Assassin's "Je glisse" and... Édith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien", for the soundtrack of La Haine.
- Self-Titled Album: Their 1998 album titled Suprême NTM.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz:
- Kool Shen.
- The album title Authentik.
