While I spent a lot of time digging for my childhood music in the video games I played, I did not put as much effort trying to remember which movies had an influence on me. The first (and only?) movie that comes to mind is Ma 6-t va crack-er, French movie released in 1997 about the hood that was partially eclipsed by La Haine, and somewhat understandably as Kassovitz’ movie is quite objectively better. Yet, I spent a good chunk of my teenagehood watching this movie at least once a week, back to back with Yamakasi, the freerunning robinhoods. Ma 6-t va crack-er’s trope is to go back and forth between the activities of the teenage guys from the hood and their older siblings. Both hide their activities from each other, but in the end their lives are eerily similar and it’s pretty clear the young are bound to follow the violent tracks of their older peers.

The music is really what kept me coming back to the movie, the second half of the movie is absolutely filled with amazing old-school instrumentals. Back in the days I even had a list of time marks which I would keep going at, just to watch the same scene over and over again. I would like to share 4 of these time marks with you, and their corresponding clip which I took the time to upload to on my drive in the hope I would avoid a copyright strike.

Ma 6-t va crack-er - fight scene after sports class

The first scene I would always skip to is right at the 27:00 mark. The younger bros just got attacked by another crew during sports class, and they fight right back after school. They find the two guys who bullied them and fuck them up right in front of the projects, archetypical of French suburbs. The instrumental slaps, and is unfortunately never re-used for any tracks of the OST (as far as I know).

Ma 6-t va crack-er - police chase scene

The second scene is at 52:40 mark. The older siblings just stole a lot of alcohol in a supermarket and get ambushed by police at the train station. A chase scene ensues, with the instrumental from X-Men - Retour Aux Pyramides playing in the background. Probably my favorite scene as a teenager, where I would picture myself chased by the police, trying to get some distance and preparing the pepper spray for an imaginary cop running after me. Pretty dumb considering I was a rich yt kid from the green hills of Normandy’s countryside, but yea, is it dumber than say, become emo? I was 14 ok, don’t judge.

Ma 6-t va crack-er - club scene

The third scene I could actually find on YouTube, at the 01:08:20 mark. The younger band tries to get in the club, and all get bounced but one. While the ones that get rejected go on to burn a car (see next scene), this scene follows the guy who gets in the club and gets to hear the live version of 2 Neg & Mystik - Le Temps Des Opprimés, which believe me is far better than the album version. For the longest of time, YouTube only had the album version which sounds so bland compared to the one in the movie. Used to know the lyrics by heart! This is such a banger of a track, with a part that always made me lol: et cours plus vite que les balles, ou porte un gilet par balles! (“and either run faster than a buller or wear armor”, believe me it sounds better in French).

Ma 6-t va crack-er - club parking lot shooting scene

Finally, my current-days favorite scene, the last scene before everything goes to shit and escalates into nationwide unrest: the club shooting at 01:12:12. This absolutely cult clip shows the older crews from both hoods meet up at the club and start shooting at each other. It is the climax of the movie, where the camera keeps going back and forth between the younger and older generations, same hatred and desperation in full display. The instrumental is so fitting, and having this scene in mind when listening to the actual lyrics of the original track by IAM will help recontextualize them.

Hope you enjoyed these few excerpts from one of my cult teenage years movies. Watch the movie if you can, don’t expect anything at the level of La Haine, but it’s a good watch.