Le jeu incertain des générations

French rap music is now an established industry, although it is still a recent innovation. This paper shows that its establishment is the result of the complex relationship between three generations of artists, oligopolistic music production companies and radio networks. In particular, we studied the discographic conventions (chorus, featurings, producers…) used by French rap artists between 1990 and 2004. The artists of the first generation released their first album between 1990 and 1993 with the support of major music companies. The second generation, emerging between 1994 and 1997, didn’t enjoy the same context. Internal divisions, caused by the way radio networks promoted them, ruined their efforts to distinguish themselves from the first generation. Some of the second generation artists benefited from informal accreditation through collaborative work with the first French rap artists, while the others were excluded. Rap music thus appeared as an autonomous profession, which can be described as an exception within the recording industry. Lastly, the artists who started their career after 1998 distinguished themselves by behaving as candidates in a social world that they thought predictable. Analysing the growth of this new vocal technique within the French music industry highlights the relevance of generations as a conceptual tool, to understand art worlds and professional dynamics