UN JOUR UN TUBE (14/32) - All summer long, Europe 1 invites you to discover a song that marked the summer every day. Today, "I dance the Mia", from IAM. 

It's THE hit of the summer of 1994: Je danse le Mia , from the IAM group, remained in number one in sales for eight weeks! But do you know that it has not been performed on stage for twelve years? 

A title at the heart of the advent of rap in France

The song seeks to reproduce the atmosphere of the nightclubs of the 80s, especially in Marseille, where the group of committed rappers comes from, most of whose lyrics are less light. But it is this title that has remained at the heart of the advent of rap in France. 

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For this song, IAM sampled a passage from the song Give Me The Night , by George Benson, an artist the band was a fan of. For them, it was out of the question to use his song without asking him. So one day, when the band was in New York and the artist was working nearby, IAM "popped a head" to ask if it was possible to use his song. 

Obviously, George Benson said yes. the story even says that a lot of champagne flowed that day… Result, Je Danse Le Mia , even if the group did not perform it for more than ten years on stage, remains its biggest success… and allowed rap to find a place on the airwaves.