In ancient Rome, a gens (/ˈɡɛns/ or /ˈdʒɛnz/), plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps (plural stirpes). The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the period of the Roman Republic. Much of an individual's social standing depended on the gens to which he belonged. Certain gentes were considered patrician, others plebeian, while some had both patrician and plebeian branches. The importance of membership in a gens declined considerably in imperial times.

The word gens is sometimes translated as "race" or "nation," meaning a people descended from a common ancestor (rather than sharing a common physical trait). It can also be translated as "clan" or "tribe", although the word tribus has a separate and distinct meaning in Roman culture. A gens could be as small as a single family, or could include hundreds of individuals. According to tradition, in 479 BC the Fabii alone were able to field a militia consisting of three hundred and six men of fighting age. The concept of the gens was not uniquely Roman, but was shared with communities throughout Italy, including those who spoke Italic languages such as Latin, Oscan, and Umbrian, as well as the Etruscans. All of these peoples were eventually absorbed into the sphere of Roman culture.

Keny Arkana (born 1982 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France) is a French rap artist. She is active in the alter-globalization movement with "La Rage Du Peuple", a music collective created in 2004 in the neighborhood of Noailles in Marseilles.

Raised in Marseilles of Argentine heritage, Arkana began rapping in 1996, with her first texts at the age of 12. She formed the collectives Mars Patrie and later Etat-Major, gaining performance experience in the Marseilles underground scene, culminating in the 2003 release of Etat Major's first mixtape.

After several solo appearances on various projects, Arkana released her first EP Le missile est lancé (The rocket is launched) in 2004. Her first album Entre ciment et belle étoile (Between concrete and stars) was released in October 2006. Her first single, La rage, released in 2006, pointedly references the 2005 civil unrest in France.

Keny Arkana also launched a series of local social fora through the association Appel aux sans voix (Call to the voiceless).

Jacques Brel (French pronunciation: [ʒak bʁɛl]; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson. Although he recorded most of his songs in French, he became a major influence on English-speaking songwriters and performers such as David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, and Rod McKuen. English translations of his songs were recorded by many top performers in the United States, including Ray Charles, Judy Collins, John Denver, the Kingston Trio, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Scott Walker, and Andy Williams. In French-speaking countries, Brel was also a successful actor, appearing in ten films. He also directed two films, one of which, Le Far West, was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973. Jacques Brel has sold over 25 million records worldwide, and is the third best-selling Belgian recording artist of all time.

Fabien Marsaud better known by his stage name Grand Corps Malade, often abbreviated GCM, born on July 31, 1977 in Le Blanc-Mesnil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France is a French slam poet

Fabien Marsaud was born in 1977. His father Jacques Marsaud was a communist activist, and a regional functionary and general secretary of the commune in Noisy-le-Sec and Saint-Denis and later on director general of services at Conseil général du Val-de-Marne and later in la Communauté d'agglomération Plaine-Commune. His mother was a librarian. They lived in Noisy-le-Sec.

Fabien excelled in his classes, particularly in literary courses and in sports, with sports becoming a passion of his, particularly playing basketball. He received offers to be on the youth development team of Toulouse, but preferred to stay in Saint-Denis. After playing in basketball teams in Nanterre and Saint Denis, he signed with a basketball team based in Aubervilliers, a northeastern suburb of Paris that had a team playing in Division 3 French basketball.

Florent Pagny (b. 6 November 1961 in Chalon-sur-Saône, Saône-et-Loire) is a French musician. He has also acted in many French films. He records work in French, Italian, Spanish and English, and his greatest hits include "N'importe quoi", "Savoir aimer", "Ma Liberté de penser" (all three were #1 in France) and "Caruso" (#2 in France).

As of 2008, he has sold 4,268,980 copies of singles, 7,273,606 copies of albums and total over 11,542,586 copies of records in France, he was the 25th best selling artist in France from 1955 to 2008.

Pagny began his artistic career as an actor in popular films and television dramas. He appeared in La Balance, L'As des as, A Captain's Honor or Fort Saganne.

In 1987, he wrote his first song : "N'importe quoi." Pagny's first album, Merci, was released in 1990. The album's songs, mainly written by himself, began to attract controversy, with the press eventually boycotting some of them. This led to a decline in sales, culminating in personal problems. His follow-up album, Réaliste, was also not as successful.