All Hail K-Reen, the Queen of French R&B

K-Reen is one of the pioneers of French R&B, a genre which really only got its foothold in the 1990’s. The singer/songwriter began as a member of a Rap group, but emerged in the mid-90’s as more of Mary J. Blige figure, collaborating with seminal French rappers during the birth of French Hip Hop.

As a solo artist, she was in the right place at the right time with the right sound. Ophélie Winter had begun making Dance R&B (think Lisa Stansfield) and Teri Moïse debuted her jazzy Neo Soul in 1996, but nobody was blending R&B with newly popular Rap music until the young K-reen (Karine Patient) stepped on the scene.

A native of French Guiana, K-Reen (pronounced KAH-reen) was raised in the Paris suburb of Créteil. She wrote her first songs at age 13, but had no training or instruments with which to compose the melodies training. When she left home at 16 and got her first job, she bought herself a keyboard and taught herself to play and program it.

You can find her singing on classic tracks with Fonky Family, MC Solaar, Fabe, Shurik’N (of the group IAM), Oxmo Puccino (“Le Mensongeur”), and on her breakthrough song with Def Bond, “Tu me plais.”

Here’s an example of what she did so well, and why she was highly sought after for collabos. Check out her brilliant turn on Mystik’s song, “Le fruit défendu.” (You’ll recognize the melody as Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors.)

K-reen

After her early success on other compilations and other people’s songs, the singer released her own self-titled debut in 1998. It’s considered a classic, and served as a blueprint for all the R&B princesses that would follow.

“Explique-moi, dis-moi” is typical of the New Jack Swing-influenced R&B flava of the day. You can see why this song took off in France. I’d have been bumping it in the States myself if I’d heard of it back then.

Dimension

Her second album Dimension was a strong follow-up that once again captures the sound of the late 90’s — even though it was released in 2001. (French R&B and Rap used to lag behind American trends a bit in the pre-internet radio/video era).

This album’s got some 90’s girl group, Aaliyah/Timbaland flavor, and Mary J. Blige flavor, along with a couple of Zouk songs.

Here’s the single “Prends ma main.”

With her own early career struggles in mind, she formed her own label in 2006 to help aspiring artists. She also writes songs for other artists, and pops up here and there with new singles and collaborations of her won. She teamed up with Kaysha (Afro-Caribbean artist/producer) in 2006 for “Ritounin,” one of my favorite songs from her.

Here’s another of her drive-by singles that doesn’t appear on an album, “Dance sur tout” from 2010.

Himalaya

2012’s Himalaya was K-Reen’s first studio album in 6 years. Fans who’d been waiting for her return had no reason to be disappointed. It’s modern and fresh, as she skillfully updates her style to fit with the times.

One change in her style is that the Rap influence here is minimal. The production isn’t Hip Hop oriented, and save a verse by Kamnouze on “Battre des lèvres” and Youssoupha’s appearance on the Reggae single “Comme Avant,” there’s no Rap to be found.

K-reen has discovered what many, many French R&B singers and rappers from the 90’s have figured out — that there’s a bigger market for them in French Caribbean music. Everybody from Bams to Matt Houston to LS (of Afrodiziak fame) has found a receptive audience recording Zouk songs, and the singles K-Reen has released in 2013 and 2014 seem to be in that vein.

What do you think of this artist? Leave a comment below.