JUL: Is the King of Marseille Falling into the Gentrification Trap? From the contempt of purists to the top of the charts: a look back at the cultural heist pulled off by the King of Marseille
This is the underlying theme of the documentary "Team JUL", conceived by Hadrien Bels and directed by Anthony Igoulen. At a time when the Marseille rapper is breaking every record in the book, one crucial question arises: are the music industry and the ruling classes smoothing out and appropriating a phenomenon they spent years looking down on?
A Historic Concert
After drawing 100,080 people per night at the Stade de France -an absolute record for the Parisian venue, which is hosting more and more large-scale concerts- JUL proved that he is no longer just the king of his hometown, but the king of the entire country. To pull this off, the rapper curated a guest lineup that would make any major festival jealous. No fewer than ten guests joined him on stage on the second night: from Theodora to Gradur, alongside Naza, Kendji, dancer Salif, and even iconic actor Vincent Cassel.
With JUL, the historic rivalry between Marseille and Paris -so deeply rooted in football culture and the tensions between OM and PSG- instantly evaporates. Today, the artist is just as capable of filling Marseille’s Orange Vélodrome with 98,000 fans (where he performed a year earlier) as he is of shaking the foundations of the Stade de France. In terms of crowd fervor and raw numbers, he has now surpassed the records previously set by national monuments like Johnny Hallyday.
It must be said that the Marseille rapper's statistics make him a true cultural anomaly (or ovni, as he is affectionately known): 34 albums under his belt, including 24 studio albums and 10 free releases. According to a count by La Provence, this represents a frantic pace of 2.6 albums per year. It is a level of productivity that pays off, as JUL ranked as the most-streamed artist in France for four consecutive years, from 2021 to 2024, on Spotify -the music streaming platform that largely fueled his rise.
JUL’s Working-Class Genius
Once a rebellious counterculture in the 80s and 90s, rap has massively dominated the charts in recent years to become France's favorite musical genre. Today, its influences are diverse and talent is everywhere, from emerging new faces like La Rvfleuse to Jeune Morty. Yet, in the middle of this saturated landscape, JUL has stood out as a singular force since 2013.
"The J" didn't win over critics overnight. In his early days, music journalists and purists took great pleasure in mocking his heavy use of Auto-Tune and the apparent simplicity of his lyrics. Consequently, it was first in Marseille, on a local scale, that he managed to build his fanbase, while the capital was still a long way from validating him. But thanks to his legendary productivity and the passion of his fans, several of his songs became true national anthems, traveling far beyond the borders of Marseille's Département 13.
If JUL is now trending among a more bourgeois-bohemian (bobo) or Parisian crowd, it is also because the city of Marseille is on everyone's lips every single summer. Or perhaps it is the other way around? Maybe Marseille has become THE ultimate summer destination for Parisians thanks to the cultural aura of a talent like JUL.
JUL’s success, much like the elitist contempt he endured, actually stems from a rare ability: fully embracing popular culture by blending rap with musical influences often deemed "cheesy" or ringard. As revealed in the documentary, his very first television appearance was on a variété française (French pop variety) special on France TV. Throughout his career, the rapper has never hesitated to sample or flip mainstream French pop classics, such as Début de soirée’s Nuit de Folie or Les Démons de minuit. By reworking these songs that everyone knows by heart, JUL guarantees an instant hook in the minds of his listeners.
With this approach, he delivers a masterclass in thumbing his nose at rap purists, but also, more broadly, at music industry professionals who often look down on working-class forms of expression. This ambivalence was perfectly captured by host Ondine Guillaume on Radio France during the release of the album Extraterrestre in June 2022. Journalist and musician Olivier Namm remarked: "There is a genius to JUL, and at the same time, part of that genius lies in making mediocre records." To which the host countered with a crucial question: "But shouldn't we see a certain pleasure in this assumed mediocrity? In this hyper-awareness of completely subverting everything critics blame the rapper for?"
More Than a Rapper: A Master of Personal Branding
Beyond the music, JUL has established himself as a formidable businessman through an ultra-efficient personal branding strategy -one that completely discards traditional luxury codes. Paradoxically, one of the pillars of his strategy relies on the extreme rarity of his public appearances. Unlike some of his peers -such as fellow Marseille rapper SCH, with whom he shares numerous hit tracks- JUL never attends Fashion Week runway shows or major music industry award ceremonies.
This refusal to play the high-society game hasn't stopped the artist from flawlessly monetizing his music and image through endless merchandise and pop-up stores -like the one located a stone's throw from Place de la République in Paris, open until May 24th. Yet, he has no interest in chasing collaborations with premium brands or haute couture houses to buy artificial respectability.
JUL consistently prioritizes the everyday brands of the streets and working-class neighborhoods -with the sports retail giant Decathlon leading the pack. His successful partnerships with staple streetwear labels are countless, including his sneaker capsule with Reebok in 2022, and his very recent collaboration with Asics for a sneaker model soberly named Asics JUL.
Today, JUL seems to have definitively won over the hearts of the very people who dismissed his music in the beginning. As the ultimate emblem of Marseille, "The J" has absolutely nothing left to prove. His influence no longer just spans from his childhood neighborhood in Marseille's 5th arrondissement to the Old Port; the whole of France, and even Europe, has fallen for his melodies. JUL now brings everyone together, automatically becoming a sort of ultimate guarantee of "cool." Through his voice and catchy beats, you can hear the essence of the South and its sunshine. In the process, his brand has become a magic formula for Parisians or members of the upper classes looking to boost their social credit and buy themselves some working-class validation.
Because JUL’s secret is simple: he makes music for everyone, without distinction. By echoing everywhere, his work was eventually catapulted into the upper social classes who initially rejected his writing. Now an unmovable monument of the French music scene -to the point of overtaking legends like Johnny Hallyday- the artist is facing the price of success. By being continuously broadcast, shared, and validated by the elite, his music is experiencing a form of cultural absorption and trivialization by the dominant classes. By remaining fiercely loyal to his original aesthetic while charming the masses, JUL’s case poses a crucial question to the cultural industry: can you be validated by everyone without losing your soul, or is the phenomenal success of "Team JUL" the first step toward the inevitable gentrification of his work?