Have you ever heard someone say that a song was not real music, or that a certain work could not be considered art? I’m sure that has happened to you, and if so, it is because legitimate culture has won, but the people haven’t said their last word.

Legitimate culture, as defined by Pierre Bourdieu, is the set of knowledge, tastes, and behaviors that are valued and recognized as superior by society’s institutions, particularly in education and the arts. It is often referred to as “high culture” and is distinct from other cultural forms. Bourdieu argued that this form of cultural capital is not neutral, but is actively used to maintain social class distinctions by favoring those who possess it.

A study conducted by Higher Education and Research shows that the social conditions in which a child grows up have a huge influence on their career path and success in a society that values a very specific culture, one that could be described as “legitimate” through the learning of the same codes and an almost innate social reproduction.

However, some artists such as Jul and Theodora are breaking with this idea by remaining true to their roots and origins, allowing another form of art and cultural legitimacy to emerge on the modern musical and cultural horizon. By embracing their own codes rather than those promoted by society, they allow social classes that were previously devalued to be seen in a new light.

Jul has been a rapper since 2010. I remember that in middle school, almost everyone hated him because he used too much autotune and his lyrics weren’t deep at all. It was trendy to hate him, and I remember listening to him in secret for months. When I got to high school, the trend reversed, and it was no longer cool not to listen to him or to criticize him. But later, when I got to literature prep school, where legitimate culture reigned supreme, people judged me for liking this kind of music, as if listening to him made me lose value or vocabulary.

Grégoire Simpson released a YouTube video called “Why was Jul so hated in the first place? (Sociology of Class Contempt)” in which he explains that Jul was not only hated for his music, but also because of a certain social contempt, considering him vulgar and incompetent in his field.

Jul represents what Claude Lévi-Strauss theorized in his 1959 book “Entretien avec George Charbonnier” (Interview with George Charbonnier). In his work, the anthropologist differentiates between “cold” societies, which seek stability and traditions, and “warm” societies, which are more inclined towards movement and change. The rapper clearly belongs to movement and change. He is representative of this vibrant society, since the majority of his audience comes from a working-class background, challenging the elitist codes of a bourgeoisie whose cultural boundaries have been defined for centuries.

Gradually, Jul began to grow in popularity and his audience expanded to include all social classes. Yet, he always remained authentic and did not want to sign with a record label in order to keep full creative freedom. In 2015, he created his own label, “D’or et de platine”, in order to maintain this freedom. The rapper has also released eight free albums so that everyone can have access to them, and he is the only one to have done it so many times.

Today, Jul is an integral part of French culture and brings together all social classes, to such an extent that he lit the first cauldron of the Olympic Games in Marseille, his hometown.

Theodora, on the other hand, has only recently appeared on the music scene, but she is already considered an artistic pillar in France. She is not content with simply succeeding in pop culture, she is building her own codes based on popular diaspora. By mixing identity, style, and discourse, she once again redefined what we call “legitimate culture”.

Theodora preserves her identity and her origins, transposing them into an eclectic musical universe that combines rap, amapiano, pop, and bouyon. She refused to leave these styles behind, considered “unserious” or even “too popular”, in order to appeal to the masses or fit into a box. Today, even culturally legitimate media outlets such as “Le Monde” are embracing her career and describing her as a “pop phenomenon”.

Five years ago, no media of this stature would have given so much importance to styles considered “underground” or popular. This means that this artist exists outside the circuits validated by the elite: her legitimacy comes from the people, not from critics.

Today, mainstream culture dominates, but the media has understood that times are changing, and that if they do not participate in popular movements, they will lose both legitimacy and audience.

Thanks to these independent and creative artists, the trend is reversing, proving that mainstream culture is not a matter of taste, but above all a matter of power. Like Jul, Theodora is breaking this system by succeeding in an aesthetic that “cold” culture has not recognized until now.

We are entering a new era full of artistic freedom and the reversal of codes, while remaining true to our roots, and this is surely one of the most beautiful things of our time.

Luna Serrano

Sources:
Comment les bourgeois se sont appropriés Jul ? – YouTube
le niveau d’études selon le milieu social – état de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Innovation en France n°18