Posted by You People is a movie directed by Kenya Barris, released on Netflix on January 2023. Starring Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy, it’s a funny film about a mixed-race couple, Ezra and Amira, and their struggle to get the right confidence with each other’s parents. The guys want to marry, but unsolvable incompatibilities between them and their partner’s parents make the perspective of being together impossible. Luckily, the movie has a happy ending after many funny situations and an extraordinary soundtrack. One song, in particular, marks a key moment of the film: the song Ezra and Akbar hear while they are in the car, about “Paris.” Not everybody recognized it: let’s discover the track, the lyrics, and their meaning.
You can watch the official trailer for You People here on Youtube.
You People movie soundtrack: what’s the “Paris” song? The lyrics & the meaning
The “Paris” song Ezra and Akbar hear in the car, when Ezra tries hard to look cool and show his love for that music, is Ni**as In Paris by Jay-Z & Kanye West. You can watch the official video below.
The song was released in 2011, as part of the collaborative album Watch The Throne released by the two American rappers. It’s one of the most recognizable hip-hop tunes of the 2010s, and it allowed the movie You People to create a funny situation: when the song kicks in, Ezra immediately reacts like he loved the music, and Akbar provokes him, asking him what he loves about it. “It’s provocative; gets the people going,” answers Ezra, a bit in trouble when supporting his tentatives of being an integrated member of the black community.
The hilarious part of the scene is when Akbar asks him to name the song’s title. Ezra stays still for a second, then says, “…so provocative!” He obviously doesn’t know what to say because the song’s title contains the infamous N-word, and, as a white guy, he will never say it. So he comes up with “I don’t know, I think… is it ‘In Paris’? Is it Midnight In Paris?” mentioning the famous movie by Woody Allen. But Akbar states firmly: “no, it’s not midnight. It’s somebody else in Paris,” inviting Ezra to say that word, while the spectators laugh to death.
The song represents Kanye West’s take on what being in Paris means for a black American person. “I am where art meets commercial,” said Kanye in an interview with XXL Magazine in 2010, highlighting the unique cultural mix of the French capital.
Excuse my French, but I’m in France, ahah, I’m just sayin’
Prince Williams ain’t do it right, if you ask me
‘Cause I was him, I would have married Kate and Ashley
What’s Gucci, my n**a? What’s Louis, my killer?
What’s drugs, my dealer? What’s that jacket, Margiela?
Doctors say I’m the illest ’cause I’m suffering from realness
Got my n**as in Paris and they going gorillas, huh
Ni**as In Paris, therefore, fits perfectly inside a movie about integration and differences among people from various cultural origins. You People plays the song again over the ending credits, making it a symbol of the message the movie wants to convey.
