A recent musical series on Netflix called “Reign Supreme” is based on the true story of the well-known French hip-hop band NTM and French hip-hop pioneer Daniel Bigeault. Reign Supreme presents the fictionalized tale of the French hip-hop revolution, which highlights the four key factors that have the power to transform the entire world: music, dancing, poetry, and art. So, let’s set out on their journey to see how they brought the revolution to French music through hip-hop.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Reign Supreme’ Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Series?
Daniel Bigeault (played by Andranic Manet) arrived at a gig in the woods of San Francisco, where a frenzied crowd was gathered for a hip-hop jam session. Daniel was inspired by their hip-hop culture and dreamed of bringing hip-hop to French music. Daniel came back to Paris and found out that his roommates had sold his room to a junkie, who had sold all of Daniel’s LPs and records. So, Daniel now had to bring those records back or probably buy new ones, but he was running out of money, so he decided to sell the LSD that he had brought from the US. He persuaded the disc shop owner to buy LSD from him in exchange for all the discs. In the meantime, he met Beatrice (played by Leo Chalie), who ran her father’s local store. The two of them started seeing each other, and Beatrice came to know that Daniel was a struggling musician. Daniel told her that he was going to work for a pirate radio station where he could play hip-hop. He met a friend called Eskenazi, who was going through a heartbreak and had been kicked out of his girlfriend’s apartment. He had to pay his bills; otherwise, collecting agents would seize his belongings. So, Daniel arrived at Eskenazi’s girlfriend’s apartment in disguise as a collecting agent and brought all the musical instruments that belonged to Eskenazi. Then Daniel and Eskenazi found a secluded place near a farm to record their hip-hop music. After having trouble with noise, they managed to record their hip-hop songs in a room made of hay. Daniel and Beatrice came to the local disc shop to ask the owner if he would buy these albums, but the shop owner wasn’t convinced at all. Beatrice bickered with her, showing how much she loved her boyfriend’s creation, which motivated Daniel to make more songs in a similar style. Elsewhere, in Saint-Denis, two rising hip-hop stars were still in their germinal state. One was Didier Morville (played by Melvin Boomer), and the other was Bruno Lopes (played by Anthony Bajon). While Bruno was forced to play for an academic soccer club, on the other hand, Didier was being abused by his father, who wanted his son to apply for a postal worker job. Both of them were intrigued by hip-hop music and dance when they saw the break dancing at the Place du Trocadero near the Eiffel Tower. They started practicing together whenever they got a chance. Meanwhile, a graffiti artist, Vivi, wanted to make her own mark on the walls full of creative graffiti, but she was repeatedly prohibited from doing so by some male graffiti artists who thought that graffiti was their thing to do and not for women. In the interim, Vivi wanted to find her father. When she finally found him and dialed his number from a phone booth, her father hung up after hearing her and her mother’s names. Vivi realized she didn’t need these men in her life and was better off with her mother, who was self-sufficient and worked for a record label.
Bruno, on the other hand, was having family problems as a result of his hip-hop dancing. His father, who was a pastor in the church, asked him to focus on soccer, but he didn’t listen to him and made the decision to leave the game. Didier and Bruno both wanted to practice their dancing skills, so they joined a dance studio where a show organizer offered them to move to Italy to dance in his shows, which would pay them substantial money. Both Didier and Bruno made fun of him and declined his offer. But when, at midnight, Didier sneaked into his room and his father beat him like a monster, he decided to run away from there. He accepted the show’s organizer’s offer and boarded a train to Italy with him. He didn’t even think to inform Bruno about this, and Bruno, as well, started moving ahead in his dream without caring for Didier too much. After six months, when Bruno was learning to paint graffiti along with a group of guys, Didier came back from Italy with a huge load of cash. He was more into drugs and women, which frustrated Bruno and his other teammates, but Didier didn’t defocus on his goal. They went to an open concert organized by Daniel Bigeault, aka Dee Nasty. Daniel started organizing shows so he could make people know his name and his work. The show further explores how Didier and Bruno made their way into rap and became the famous 80s band Supreme NTM.
How Did Didier And Bruno End Up As The Supreme NTM?
Influenced by graffiti culture and inspired by the rise of rap, Didier and Bruno formed a band and named it NTM. They started freestyle rapping and were completely devoted to it. Meanwhile, Bruno found his soulmate, Vivi, on a TV news channel. Vivi finally got approached by gangs of graffiti artists who liked her style. Vivi made her mark on the walls, and Bruno found it enticing. So in an open concert at La Chapel, where Daniel was a DJ, Bruno met Vivi and kissed her. But the journey became more difficult when both Didier and Bruno were pushed by their respective fathers to leave their passion and work in conventional services. Didier was sent to military training while Bruno was forced to work as a bank employee, but soon he decided to quit the job. Didier also left military training and came back to Paris to develop his rap and hip-hop skills. Both of them performed several shows to gain recognition and get greater opportunities from various studios. They even performed on Radio Nova, where the NTM got to perform live under the influence of Dee Nasty, aka Daniel Bigeault. Didier took the name “Joye Starr,” while Bruno’s stage name was “Kool Shen.” They were eventually approached by a well-known studio whose owner sought to persuade them to sign a contract under which the studio would provide their lyricist. NTM couldn’t stand the idea of not having their own poetry and lyrics used in their music, so they turned down the studio offer and walked away. Finally, when Bruno invited their whole band to his girlfriend Vivi’s place, Vivi’s mom, who worked for a label named Epic, helped them contact the studio. Epic wanted to make an album with NTM under the contract for six months, during which time NTM was going to make three albums with Epic. While Bruno got stressed out by the six-month time period, Didier was extremely happy to have 20,000 francs in advance. Bruno and his bandmates tried to show up at the studio and maintain their punctuality, but Didier didn’t follow the routine that much. However, Didier did know his limits. He might give off the vibe that he only ran after money and didn’t care about his music, but that was completely wrong. He showed up at Epic and started performing his rap, which infuriated the other NTM members, who couldn’t actually stand the fact that Didier only followed his own schedule. Nevertheless, Bruno and Didier put aside all their problems and concentrated on their rap. Finally, NTM got the recognition that it deserved. Their CDs got released and sold in local stores. NTM finally became famous, and they consistently started performing in shows. Didier went to his old house and slid one of their albums through the door without even meeting his father. The man who spent his entire life torturing his son deserved this treatment. Didier and Bruno, along with other NTM members, arrived at Vaulx-en-Velin to perform a gig, but the area was closed by a member of city hall as the mayor had restricted any kind of show during the riot at Lyon. But Didier and Bruno didn’t give up because why would they? It is music that is pacifist and harmless. So why should any riot stand in their way of enjoying the music? Music can only give people hope for a better life; therefore, the NTM followed their impulses and broke down the gate to the area to perform their show. Didier and Bruno put on a concert filled with music, dance, poetry, and paintings that was both harmless and uplifting. It was encouraging for many who relied on music to reduce stress. The show may not have had a large audience, but no matter how many people were present, they found a way to remember the music and get a taste of French hip-hop, defying all social conventions. NTM created a revolution by showing that if you believe in your instincts, success will come your way.
Vivi, on the other hand, did not want to be known as the girlfriend of a singer. She wanted people to recognize her for her own talent. So, whenever she got the time, she used to rap or dance. She also wanted to be a hip-hop artist and not only Bruno’s girlfriend. So she joined a female hip-hop band and began her journey to stardom.
‘Reign Supreme’ Ending Explained – What Happened To Daniel? How Did Daniel Find Beatrice?
When Daniel was organizing several open concerts, the money they got from the gigs was never enough to make ends meet. So, Daniel decided to appear in an adult film, which Beatrice found was a good way to earn easy money. So, Beatrice decided to act in that adult film instead of Daniel because she was more prepared to expose herself than Daniel was. Daniel, on the other hand, was working for Radio Nova with Lionel. Daniel assisted the hip-hop band IZB by doing free publicity for their next event, but he only received two tickets to their show. Daniel was extremely frustrated because he willingly supported the band without expecting any money in return, but all he received was selfishness and inhumanity. As a result, Daniel and Lionel decided to roast IZB on their radio show. They mocked IZB, which infuriated the IZB members, prompting them to appear at Radio Nova and threaten Daniel. Daniel was barred from the radio station following a major quarrel between IZB and Daniel.
In the meantime, when Daniel was working at Globo, he overheard two men slut-shaming Beatrice. Daniel couldn’t stand it and gathered all the CDs from the record store and threw them into the river. When he returned to his flat one day, he discovered that all of the adult film performers and producers were having a party in their room, which was hosted by Beatrice. He spoke to Beatrice and advised her to have some self-respect since he didn’t like how she exposed her body in that way. Beatrice responded by expressing that she didn’t do anything to lose her self-respect. since it was her choice to expose her body, which she did not mind doing. She disclosed her dark background, claiming that she became a prostitute after being raped at the age of 11, and couldn’t deny it. She understood Daniel had a sense of entitlement over her, which she despised. She didn’t want to become anyone’s property, so she moved out of Daniel’s apartment the next day. Daniel was losing his position at Nova, so he was completely devastated by everything that was going on in his life, and he also missed Beatrice. He looked everywhere for her but couldn’t find her. Daniel understood that he should let Beatrice be herself because she had always done the same for him. Daniel confronted her in a strip club, startling her with his presence. Daniel admitted to her that, in this selfish world, no one cared about anyone. They didn’t give them the chance they deserved, instead grabbing everything. Only Beatrice could properly push Daniel to concentrate on his passion in this self-centered society; therefore, he couldn’t risk losing her. They got together once more. They were separated by a glass window, but it couldn’t hold them back from kissing and feeling each other’s presence.
Final Words
Supreme NTM was a well-known hip-hop group that was formed in Saint-Denis in 1989. In the interim, Daniel Bigeault, aka Dee Nasty, the pioneer of French hip-hop, had emerged. To be honest, we had no idea these bands existed because, despite receiving global renown, we never had the opportunity to hear their music or learn about their history. But, in my judgment, the aim of the series was not so much to introduce us to the band as it was to highlight what it may take for an artist to come from nowhere and achieve great success. The struggle of an artist to conquer his dreams shown in “Reign Supreme” was riveting. It tells us that if we believe in ourselves, we can achieve anything. As we’ve seen in the series, Didier and Bruno, or Daniel, had such strong willpower that they didn’t care about the difficulties on their path. They were well aware of what they were doing. They promoted their voice through music and art nonviolently and gave people hope for a new world that would one day encourage all types of music, art, and poetry. The fascinating voyage of the artists, who never held them back but instead paved the way for the future of French music, was beautifully captured in “Reign Supreme.”
“Reign Supreme” is a 2022 biographical drama streaming on Netflix.
