"Never show that to anyone": the documentary on Orelsan, this little rapper from Caen<

It all starts in his room, in Caen. Aurélien Cotentin (Orelsan) is the only one to have an apartment of his own. He welcomes all his gang of friends there. It's dirty, untidy. The walls smell like cigarettes. A teenager's room but for 20-year-old guys.

They get up at 3 p.m. Between two beers, they fiddle with pieces of music for fun. And this, until dawn. In the middle of this assembly of “losers”, the little brother of “Orel” observes, the camera in focus. “I am convinced that these four guys are destined to do great things. »

But in Caen, no star, no model. No one projects. Possibly on the stage of a bar in Caen. Yet they dream of light and delirious crowds. But they know it, everything is decided in Paris. Or in Marseille where the group I AM has succeeded in placing Marseille on the rap map.

Skread, the impresario

In Caen, Orel has no professional network, nor social networks to make itself known. We are in 2005. He ends up taking on a job as a salesman in water bottles but he “doesn't like it at all”. He does several odd jobs. Sometimes gets fired. His job as a receptionist in a Caen hotel lasts longer than the others. We see the rapper polishing his costume shoes, wearing a shirt too large for him. "We don't know what we're going to do with him," confide the parents.

To please them, he entered a business school, still in Caen. Against all odds, this is where he saw the turning point. Not thanks to the courses he half follows but to meeting Matthieu (aka Skread) a student who “makes intruders”.

Skread is more structured than the group of friends who smoke in the apartment. He leaves for Paris. “Here I see that we are not dumber than the others, there is room for us. He comes back and sets a goal for the group of apprentice rappers.

For his part, Skread signs three titles on the album "In my bubble" of Diam's, including "La Boulette" which he co-produces. Integrated into the music industry, he understands the codes, how to put on a show, organize a tour, manage relations with the media. He puts Oral on the way to Orelsan.

"Dirty bitch" and the CVs to become a "variety singer"

Skread signs with Warner and convinces the record company to also sign his friends, Orel and Gringe (the other rapper of the group). But for them, it's the minimum budget. Orelsan records the first tracks at home, in a cupboard lined with blankets.

In a few months, everything is racing. Orelsan knows its success, before everything collapses. Old music made at home between friends finds itself at the heart of a scandal. “Sale whore” tells the story of a cheated guy who dreams of killing his girlfriend. The 8 p.m. newspaper propels the promising rapper into an artist hated by almost all of Paris.

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The concerts are greeted by protests from feminist movements. Even the National Assembly is debating the limits of freedom of expression to apply to rapper Orelsan. The ax falls with the cancellation of the Francofolies festival. In the process, 80 dates are deleted.

It was his first album. Orelsan keeps smiling but knows his career is doomed. The tour is in deficit of 40,000 euros. He starts sending CVs again to be a "variety singer". The rest, we know. The rapper currently totals 2 million listeners per month on the Spotify platform.

Myspace and others

Clément Cotentin, transformed into a documentary filmmaker, unveils "Never show that to anyone", a series in six episodes, six installments of an unannounced success. He had to sort through 2,000 hours of rush. In addition to the incredible rise of a group of friends to the biggest French stages, the director draws the evolution of rap over the past 20 years. And we understand how a little white man from Normandy managed to find a place for himself in French rap which at that time was “not nice like today”. At the time, no rap on France Inter but only on Skyrock which made the rain and the good weather in the industry. You had to come from the neighborhoods, be “wicked, arrogant”. Orel was not in the guns. And yet.

We also understand how the emergence of social networks has changed the game. In the mid-2000s, the arrival of Myspace offered unexpected visibility to this unknown group. When Orel and Gringe reach 35,000 subscribers, they have the feeling of doing the Printemps de Bourges. “I feel like people recognize me on the street. »

2 millions

The number of listeners per month of Orelsan on the Spotify platform

Whether you like rap or not, this documentary series will galvanize you. The trajectory of Aurélien, nice guy, lambda, badly trimmed, gives you the impression that everyone can break through, you like the not very stylish person you have just met at the supermarket.

Through the different episodes, we also see the work force of Orelsan under his apparent dilettante. We remain silent when we see him, 10 minutes before going on stage, relaxed when nothing is set. The concert will be a triumph. In short, the chronicle of the "least productive rap group" in history...