France to host first awards ceremony for rap, R&B and afro music

Absence of genres from country's mainstream music awards has long been source of controversy

France, the second biggest market for rap music in the world after the US, will host its first awards ceremony for rap, R&B and afro music on Thursday, following years of criticism that the popular genres are woefully under-represented at the country's mainstream music awards.

Rap, R&B and afro dominate streaming downloads in France in what is considered to be a new golden age for French rap, four years after the US hip-hop magazine DJBooth deemed greater Paris area the world's most successful city for hip-hop.