If you understand French, studying it or can appreciate music in other languages, GET THIS ALBUM.
I've been playing this album on repeat for the past 3 days or so...
I’m at a lost for words and that normally never happens to me. This album is so great on every level, I just haven`t heard anything that great since… Since forever, as an overall package, this album might just be the greatest rap album I’ve ever heard.
Lyrics you wouldn’t believe, crazy productions, dope and interesting subject matter. Totally unique style. Replay value. This is superb.
Youssoupha definitely claimed the crown of french rap with this one in my opinion.
The first video clip is really great. It's a nice fresh air I guess from the gangsta stuff that's been around for some time.
It sounds great but I don't think they'll ever be rap that can compare to the one I grew up with (NTM, IAM) and not because it's better or worse, just because I grew up with it
Youssoupha definitely claimed the crown of french rap with this one in my opinion.
Let me know what you guys think!
A little hard assumption there What about IAM, SNIPER, Funky Family, NTM and even SINIK?
Anyway I'm always up for some new shits so I'll give it a try. Just so you know, you've set the bar high on this one.
Yeah, I grew up on most of these, IAM, Sniper and FF, I never was big on NTM tho. A Sinik song holds the most played position in my ITunes and on my Last.Fm.
However I think that bars for bars, instrumental for instrumental, if you can put all of the bias aside, some artists are indeed better than others. And I think that Youssoupha has reached a level touched by few. Someone you didn't name that I would actually compare to him right now in terms of skill level is Oxmo Puccino.
So a friend asked me to translate "Espérance de vie", the second track I linked. I did. It was the hardest thing ever to translate as every bar is a punchline, every rhyme is a play on words and often references current events, french and African culture. I tried to explain stuff that might be hard to get in parentheses and to keep it as close to what was meant to be said but yeah it was really hard and a lot of the meanings and wordplays were lost in the process. Definitely the hardest one from the entire album to translate and I picked it as the first one T_T
here it goes
Esperance de vie (life expectancy)
Call me Youss', we know each other (His name is Youssoupha, also known as Prims, he also goes by the name, the Lyricist of Bantu since he's from a village in Africa called Bantu) Prims, we know each other Lyricist bantu, but before eveything else, we know each other Black, beur, babtou from everywhere we know each other "Talk to us about love before money Youss" is what the elders and the mothers are telling me Far from the claws and the decaying carcass Even in ??? I only have one word When death comes, you get buried without your millions Have you ever seen a safe in the back of a hearse Still uncultivated, I was told that knowledge is a weapon My brother in prison told me that the visiting room is a tear To the men and the women locked up far away in palaces and that brought me their flame during my shows at halfway houses (flame as in energy) Im in the arena, sponsored but I'm nervous And apparently, we're being hunted I'm disappearing after this song Fuck ! After this safe-fire, I'm not going out anymore How do you want me to live a dream life when I don't even sleep anymore ? For a little gold, we become filth And you already know there's damage done, the disputes last The officer incites the hypocrites to make as if They'll forget that I'm black when I'll sign them blank checks Check the mood, the music is melancholic But you can enter in the dance if your spirit is still free I'm delirious, but I', delivering big ??? far from fat mouths I'm more of a lonely kid, ask Ox'Pucc' (Oxmo Puccino being one of the greatest french lyricist) They dare to say that the ghetto is cool (tema) (?) The kids grow up while the metals are crashing and me (Could be metal as in guns or as in buildings falling (9/11), buildings in bad condition, etc) I see their smiles all yellow The street is killing us, some treat her like a mother so I call her Veronique Courjault For all the regions far from the magnificient country If this country is beautiful go tell that to the people of Montfermeil (?) I'm awakening, beach dream for the kids not from a dirty land Because you must not believe that we surf on a sandlot But since we're evading, we already come from far We were already stoned when we were 20 years younger (Not a very good translation...) Tell them we're not crazy, the medias don't talk about it Tired of watching TV because the TV is not watching us And they tell us to buy more at christmas If they could they'd put ads in our dreams Even this life is becoming in between risks and return (a return as in from an investment) Go tell the gossips that I want to live from my discs and my speeches I run not to fall like dominos If in this business you need a long arm I'm the Venus of Milo (???) When my pen files a complain, it's provocation They advise me to make a point, I make points of interrogation Why am I not afraid of my death but that of my close one's Why is Marianne having remorses what is she accusing me of ? On national identity I get corrected But did my ancestors really have the face of Vercingetorix (He's from Senegal, Africa I believe and in France, French citizen and politicians are pretty hard on who they actually consider a "French citizen") Me I have Africa's and the cold ghettos rhetorics My heart is so hot that I can't say everything in two sentences So I hit the spirits at the right places (???) I'm an eternal misunderstood, therefore only the eternal will understand me It becomes dramatic, ego is a disease When men and women think they have a corner on Heaven (a corner as in the financial term to have control over an entire area of production or product) Fuck self-centered religious people I prefer an atheist that acts like a believer than a believer that acts like a scum I'm all open with this text a little out there I paid for the labcoat but the crisis finally got to me I wanted to know how to make more money from the game I asked the moon and she mistook me for Nicolas Sirkis (???) Don't be so sad, bad karma When all the dreams of the street turn into carnage Because to me, the time of brick is over (a way to say he's done with the ghetto and the street mentality I guess) And life is like a Bic you can cross your mistakes but you can't erase them (Bic as in the company that makes pen) Too angry but drunk enought to smile I don't know if hope gives a reason to live but it stops me from dying And love can kill me, one shot and my heartbeat accelerates I want to be a happy man to whine like William Sheller (??) And if sometimes I look far from the torment Mom, my life is great but you're always missing mom I can sing how munch I'm proud but without any claim God mostly accepts praying, not beautiful songs The only ransom, is the status of the pople we like amine (?) No tension, we all gain from knowing each other, amine (?) Having all the virtues is impossible I have a thought for all the pople I lost and for all those that you lost too. The number of bars in this text if you think about it Equals to the average life expectancy of the people in France But it's not about age, numbers or statistics Me I mostly talk about rage, love and hope Life expectancy
I can speak French but it's really hard for me to catch the words, your lyrics actually help me hear what he's saying which is pretty sick to be honest, thanks!
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.rap2france.com/photos/20111207162933_youssoupha_noir_desir.jpg)
