"Auteuil, Neuilly, Passy (rap BCBG)" is a song recorded by the satiric group Les Inconnus

Les Inconnus

Les Inconnus are a French trio of humorists: Didier Bourdon, Bernard Campan and Pascal Légitimus. While their first successes were on stage, they are most famous for their satirical sketch comedy television show La Télé des Inconnus, which premiered in 1990 and remained popular throughout the...

 in 1991. Released as a single from their album Bouleversifiant, it had a great success in France, reaching number one on the national singles chart.

Lyrics and music

After their success with many sketches, Les Inconnus decided to release this single that was their biggest success, and that this is actually a humorous sketch. The group used in the song Maceo Parker

Maceo Parker

Maceo Parker is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, as well as Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of Brown's hit recordings, and a key part of his band, playing alto, tenor and baritone saxophones...

's music without his permission; as a result, they had legal problems due to copyright issues. The song has rap and R&B sounds, and is punctuated by many "Salut ! Tu - vas - bien ?".

The song is about the life of fictitious youngsters from the upper class

Upper class

In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...

 singing rap

Rapping

Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...

 on their allegedly difficult lives.

The chorus is:

Auteuil, Neuilly, Passy, c'est pas du gâteau ;

Auteuil, Neuilly, Passy, tel est notre ghetto

In English:

Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy, it ain't a piece of cake ;

Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy, such is our ghetto

Ghetto

A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...

Chart performances

The song was one of the biggest hits of 1991 in France. It debuted at number 2 on June 8, and managed to reach #1 three weeks after, where it stayed for four not successive weeks. The single remained for a total of 18 weeks in the top ten and 21 weeks in the Top 50.

It was certified Gold disc by the SNEP, the French certificatior, for a minimum of 500,000 copies sold. According to Infodisc website, 428,000 copies of the song were sold, making the hit the 747th best-selling single of all time in France.

Track listings

CD single

1. "Auteuil, Neuilly, Passy (rap BCBG)" — 4:10
2. "C'est ton destin" — 3:45

7" maxi

1. "Auteuil, Neuilly, Passy (rap BCBG)" — 4:10
2. "C'est ton destin" — 3:45

Certifications and sales

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified	Physical sales
France	Gold	1991	500,000	428,000

Charts

Chart (1991)	Peak position
French SNEP Singles Chart	1