Coffee with Chuck

Believe it or not, one of my favorite hip-hop albums of all time is MC Solaar’s Paradisiaque. Paradisiaque is MC Solaar’s third studio album. Now this is one of my favorites because it has the rhythms and vibrations of a classic g-funk album and top tier lyricism that paints the streets of France. While this is one of my favorites I have a complex relationship with it because I cannot share it’s brilliance with my friends who do not speak or understand French. Therefore, in an attempt to share this beautiful piece of art  I have translated the first five songs of the album so you can get a glimpse of its beauty. However, before we get to the translation I want to walk through my translation because it will enhance the experience of listening to the records with the translations. 

So let’s get into it. With this translation I took a sense-for-sense approach. I took this approach because hip-hop is an art form that relies on the message and I did not want to lose the message by trying to attempt a word-for-word translation. I believe if I took a word-for-word approach it would be irresponsible of me as a translator because I wouldn’t have been able to capture the cultural nuances appropriately. To take this sense-for-sense approach I apprioached as the way I believe that Cicero  would. Cicero said in defense of the need for sense-for-sense  translation the following “ And I did not translate them as an interpreter, but as an orator, keeping the same ideas and forms, or as one might say, the ‘figures’ of thought, but in language which conforms to our usage. And in so doing, I did not hold it necessary to render word for word, but I preserved the general style and force of the language”(31).  Meaning, in my translation I set out with the goal of bringing out the appropriate meaning of the songs while also keeping with the form.

In order to do this I needed to keep in mind my positionality. Which means, how as translator am I present in the translation. Meaning how does my understanding of ideology and socio-cultural context affect the translation. My positionality in this translation is the year is now 2021 therefore this album is 24 years old (1997), I am not a rapper, and I am not from france. Therefore, in order to complete this translation I needed to keep these things in mind. Keeping these things in mind required me to do a lot more research on cultural symbols, ideas, slang, and history. Also, I had to learn more about MC Solaar to see how his experiences shaped his music.

In addition to keeping positionality in mind I also had to avoid the negative analytical. The negative analytical is a translation principle that understands that there is a system of textual deformation that restricts the foreign being present. There are 12 deformative tendencies.  The two deformative tendencies that I focused on avoiding were the deconstruction of rhythm and the deconstruction of linguistic patterns. I first focused on not deconstructing the rhythm because an essential part of rap is the rhythm of the music. Also I did not want to deconstruct linguistic patterns because in hip-hip the patterns are important as they work to tell the stories. Ultimately, by taking this sense-for-sense approach, avoiding these deconstructions, and remembering my positionality I strived for hermeneutic motion which is the process of bringing out the appropriate meaning and emotions of the source text. 

Along with this general sense-for-sense translation approach I think my overall goal with this translation was to make it make cultural sense. So in order to do this required me to understand the nuances of the lyrics. To solve these nuances I had to do the work of translating cultural ideas via doing the research on the ideas. Bringing out the culture was my main goal because understanding culture is an essential part of understanding the stories which are being told through hip-hop. Meaning, if you just look at the lyrics without understanding some cultural references and ideas the lyrics  will probably not make the most sense to you. It is this goal of understanding cultural references in order to understand the stories which has led me to this project. It was important for me to do this because to create an appropriate translation I had to practice foreignization to bring these forign cultural ideas to the viewer. A platform that does a rather good job of explaining cultural references in hip-hop lyrics is Genius. Genius is an online platform that has lyrics to hip-hop songs, and along with providing the lyrics Genius allows for editors and verified community members to add annotations that explain cultural references made in the lyrics.

In the above screenshots illustrate the lyrical annotations that are provided by Genius. In the first screenshot are the original lyrics to Regulate by Warren G and featuring Nate Dogg. And in the second screenshot is the annotation that explains the cultural reference which lies in the bars. Genius has been a great tool for me with some of my other work but when I came to find some notes on MC Solaar’s work I could not find anything adequate that helped me understand the cultural references. It was these inadequacies that drove this project. I was driven with this project to begin to create something that was adequate to help people understand the beautiful stories being told by MC Solaar. So below I have provided some examples of annotations I made. 

Original Lyric	Translated Lyric	Annotation
Où les anges touchent le RMI	Where angels touch RMI	RMI: Revenu minimum d’insertion (French Social Welfare)
Je suis au 7ème ciel	I’m in 7th heaven	7th heaven: American family drama series
J’veux pas finir comme Kurt Cobain	I don’t want to end up like Kurt Cobain	Kurt Cobain: Musician who died  at 27 of an alleged suicide
Offre le bonheur comme un clip de Réciprok	And gives happiness like Réciprok	Réciprok: A French Funk Band
Ballesteros c’est mon prof	Ballesteros is my teacher	Steve Ballesteros: A Spanish Golfer
Demande à Claudia, j’ai plein de tours de magie	Ask Claudia, I have a lot of magic tricks	Claudia Schiffer: Wife of David Copperfield who was magician in the 90s

In addition to creating these annotations another key aspect of this translation was to make the target text fit the style and the form of the songs. In order to truly make the target text fit I had to avoid the deconstruction of rhythm and linguistic patterns. To avoid these deconstructive tendencies I had to do two essential things. First, I had to recognize what genre of hip-hop these songs belonged to. It is important to make this recognition because based on the genre the artist’s  flow will be different. Therefore, it is important to make this recognition because to make an adequate and appropriate translation I must work to replicate the artist’s flow. The songs that I translated all belong in the G-funk genre. The genre of G-funk is a subgenre of hip-hop that was first developed in the middle to late 1990s on the West Coast of the United States. G-funk music is a genre that uses funk samples in doing so the music is much more melodic and slower compared to a 1990s East Coast Boom Bap song. Knowing that these  songs belonged to G-funk gave me a sound to chase. I previously mentioned the song Regulate. This song was a pioneering song of G-funk. Therefore, I used Regulate as a parallel text to my translations. In the sense that I used this song as the standard sound of G-funk. Meaning, when creating my translation I referred back to Regulate to make sure I was respecting the sound of G-funk. Also, I used this song to help me make decisions on word choice. This song helped me on word choice because it allowed me to see how certain words fit in G-funk.

Knowing the genre gave me the sound I was going for. But, in order to create the appropriate sound I needed to avoid the deconstruction of rhythm and linguistic patterns. To avoid these tendencies I needed to understand word equivalence. Sometimes when we translate a word from one language to another there is a word in the new language with an identical meaning. We can call when this happens an equivalence. When there is an equivalence it is a great thing because we can just plug the word into our translation. However, sometimes using equivalences can limit your translation because the word might not carry the same weight, does not culturally mean the same thing, or the word might throw off your pattern or rhythm. In my translation I was really concerned with how using equivalences might deconstruct the patterns and rhythm. With this concern I made specific choices when dealing with equivalences in order to keep patterns and rhythm. I have included some equivalence choices. These choices can be found below:

Original Lyric	Translated lyric	Equivalence Choice
Viens dans les quartiers voir le paradis	Come to the hood to see paradise	Quartiers: Neighborhoods  Neighborhoods- hood
Ici le scooter est le véhicule	Where scooters are the rides	Véhicule: Vehicle  Vehicle- rides
Et les beepers pullulent	And beepers sound all around	Pullulent: Swarm Swarm- Sound all around
Demande à Interpol	Ask the cops	Interpol: Interpol  Interpol- cops

While these choices of equivalence were ways to keep with the patterns and rhythm these choices were also a way to practice domestication. Meaning, I made some of these choices to fit norms of the target text (English).  For instance in American hip-hop an artist would almost never say come to the neighborhood rather they would just say come to the hood. Now, the translation itself would not be possible without the use of translation tools. I mentioned when I was talking about my positionality I said I was not from France in this discussion I should have also mentioned I am not a fluent French speaker. With that being said, to translate I had to rely on some translation tools. The tools I used were Google Translate, Linguee, Wordreference, an English thesaurus, and Urban dictionary. Ultimately these choices of equivalence, the use of these tools, and the work to understand cultural ideas was my way towards creating the most appropriate and responsible translation which was my goal the whole time.

Now let’s listen to some dope hip-hop!

Track 1: Paradisiaque

Paradise

Viens dans les quartiers voir le paradis

Come to the hood to see paradise

Où les anges touchent le RMI

Where angels touch RMI

Ici le scooter est le véhicule

Where scooters are the rides

Et les beepers pullulent

And beepers sound all around

C’est d’un pas léger qu’arrive l’huissier

It is with a light step that sheriff  arrives

Accompagné du serrurier

Accompanied by the locksmith

Les idoles des jeunes sont des porno-stars

And kids idols are pornstars

Voire Pablo Escobar

See Pablo Escobar

Si les anges ont des ailes ici les gosses volent

If angels have wings,  here kids are fly

Und

Ils ont des pogs et songent à leur jacuzzi

They have pogs and think of their jacuzzi

A chacun son paradis

To each his own paradise

Je suis au 7ème ciel

I’m in 7th heaven

Ma tour est plus belle que celle de Babel

My tower is more beautiful than that of Babel

Je vais à l’école buissonière, je gère

I played hooky, I managed 

Et dans la ville j’erre

And I wondered around the city

Ne me parle pas de travail à la chaîne

Don’t talk to about working the assembly line

J’veux pas finir comme Kurt Cobain

I don’t want to end up like Kurt Cobain

Le maire deale douze idées dans le quartier

The mayor got 12 ideas for the hood

Et les parents s’en vont voter

And parents go to vote

Il a des récits propres

He has his own stories

Offre le bonheur comme un clip de Réciprok

And gives happiness like Réciprok

Il lève les bras se balance pour qu’on vote pour lui

He throws his hands in the air cause we voted for him

A chacun son paradis

To each his own paradise

Quand tu joues aux billes, je joue au golf

When you play ball, I golf 

Ballesteros c’est mon prof

Ballesteros is my teacher

Depuis le mon Mont-Sinaï, je prêche

From Mount Sinai, I preach

A des sumos qui rêvent de sauts à la perche

To sumo wrestlers who dream of pole vaulting 

Arrimé à la rime, je trime sans frime contre le crime

I’m addicted to rhyming, I work hard and away from crime

Un dream clean, poussé par la base B.I.E.M

A clean dream, driven by B.I.E.M

J’suis pas le boss des boss

I’m not the boss of the bosses

Le paradis pour moi est de voir grandir des gosses

Paradise for me is watching kids grow up

Les protéger de la pluie

Protect them from the rain

Constate ceci : Claude MC bronze la nuit

Note this: Claude MC tans at night

Demande à Claudia, j’ai plein de tours de magie

Ask Claudia, I have a lot of magic tricks.

Pour faire de l’enfer un paradis

To make hell a paradise

A chacun son paradis

To each his own paradise

Track 2: Gangster Moderne

Modern Gangster 

[Intro]

Yeah

Yeah 

Les Héros sont des petits voleurs

Heroes are petty thieves

Ils ont juste rajouté 4 ou 5 zéros

They just add 4 or 5 zeros 

Ne leur en voulez pas…

Don’t hold against them 

[Couplet 1]

Il est là, large, barge, près de la berge nage

There he is large on the barge close to the bank

A quitté la cage pour le marivaudage

Left the cage for the marivaudage

Le marécage est derrière lui, loin

The swamp is behind in the distance 

Son acte le plus sage est d’avoir tiré sur Le Parrain

His wisest act was to shoot The Godfather.

Dans son quartier, le général Noriega

In his hood, General Noriega

Est aussi respecté que Jean Bedel Bokassa

Is as respected as Jean Bedel Bokassa 

Nino Brown, Escobar, les blocs notes de dollars

Nino Brown, Pablo Escobar, dollar note pads

Sont aussi vénérés que Jésus-Christ le soir

Are revered as Jesus-Christ in the night 

En pleine crise, Aldo vole au Casino

In the middle of a crisis, Aldo steals from the Casino

Secrètement son rêve est de ne plus gratter des Banco

Secretly his dream is not to scratch any more bankers.

Son petit larcin est signe de malchance

His small larceny is a sign of bad luck.

Les balances sont des caméras de surveillance

The scales are surveillance cameras

Finis les costards à la Marlon Brando

No more Marlon Brando style suits

La démarche calquée sur De Niro de l’Actor Studio

The look modelled by De Niro in the Actors studio 

Heureusement que la santé fleurit à Fresnes

Fortunately that health blooms in Frenses 

Il rêve de politique pour être un gangster moderne

It is the politicians  dream to be a modern day gangster

[Refrain]

Gangster moderne, c’est juste ajouter quelques zéros

Modern gangster, it’s just a few zeros

Gangster moderne, huh

Modern gangster, huh

[Couplet 2]

Jadis c’était : Alphonso Capone et Nitty

It used to be Al Capone and Nitty 

Aujourd’hui Les Affranchis roulent en berline à Paris

Today’s  goodfellas drive sedans in pari

Laisse ! Dans ce business, Eliot Ness est de mèche

Leave it! In this business, Eliot Ness is in cahoots.

Satan dirige la messe, donc personne ne se confesse

Satan controls the masses, so no one confesses.

Il a rêvé de fumer de la thaï en toute impunité

He dreamed of smoking Thai with impunity.

Mais sait que seuls les députés auront l’immunité

But he knows that only deputies have immunity 

Que les plus grands gangsters font du marketing

That the biggest gangsters do marketing

Quand il blanchit des jeans, en CDI dans un pressing

When he cleans jeans, on a CDI with the Dry cleaners 

Il rêve action, gilet pare-balles, paranoïa

He dreams of action wearing a vest in paranoia 

Sans même le 13e mois veut s’installer dans la famiglia

Without even the 13th month he wants to settle in the family 

Pour reposer son père retraité et plein de peine

To rest his father who is full of sorrow

Il veut faire de la politique pour être un gangster moderne

He wants to get into politics to be a modern gangster 

[Refrain]

Les gangsters modernes

The modern gangsters

Sont les gens d’aujourd’hui

Are the people of today

Ils font les lois, ils font les lois

They make the laws, they make the laws

Les gangsters modernes

Modern gangsters

C’est l’idéal dans les HLM

This is their idea public housing

Le nouveau rêve, c’est un nouvel Eden

The new dream, it’s a new Eden 

[Couplet 3]

Un jour, il rencontre la femme de sa vie

One day he meets the woman of his dreams

Lui parle de Scarface et du Cartel de Cali

Talks to him about Scarface and the Cali Cartel, tells him

Ce monde est tien, bien c’est toi qui le fais

This world is yours, well it is you who make it.

Mais de l’abstrait au concret, j’veux pas être ta Florence Rey

But from the abstract to the concrete, I don’t want to be your Florence Rey.

Elle lui propose une ballade loin des pluies acides

She offers him a walk away from the acid rains.

Cheval en Camargue, brasse et repos placide

Horse in Camargue, breaststroke and placid rest

Un gosse passe, 

A kid passes by 

sur la bouche il a du Blédina

on his mouth he has Blédina

Aldo sort son flingue et tire sur le parrain de la mafia

Aldo pulls out his gun and shoots the godfather.

Le poster vole puis tombe sur le sol

The poster flies then falls to the ground

L’élu de haut vol est emporté par Eole

The high-flying chosen one is carried away by Eole

J’ai l’esprit critique et lis la presse quotidienne

I have a critical mind and read the daily newspaper

Constate que les ligues politiques sont pleines de gangsters modernes

See that the political leagues are full of modern gangsters

Les gangsters modernes

Modern gangsters

C’est l’idéal dans les HLM

This is their idea public housing

Le nouveau rêve, c’est un nouvel Eden

The new dream, it’s a new Eden 

Track 3: Tournicoti

[Couplet 1]

Tournicoti Tournicota

Tournicoti Tournicota

Claude MC prend le microphone et l’élite au Bic aime ça

Claude MC takes the microphone and Bic likes it elite

Délinquant ou chambellan, ouvre tes oreilles

Delinquent or chamberlain, open your ears

J’ai le son qui réveille le détenteur de carte Vermeil

I have the sound that wakes up the Vermeil cardholder

Je me lève puis me lave, m’Oïl of Olaz

I get up and wash myself, with olay

Quitte l’hôtel Plazza, pour la bande de Gaza

Leaving the Plazza Hotel for the Gaza Strip

Sans la moindre pression, passez-moi l’expression

Without the slightest pressure, pass me the expression

Ma mission dans l’action est la Solaarisation

My mission in action is Solaarization

Ce flot est fleuve Amour, fuck Lova Moor

This stream is river Love, fuck Lova Moor

Cela est juste pour l’humour, il faut qu’elle sache que j’suis glamour

It’s just for humor, she needs to know that I’m glamorous

Je mange du Côte d’Or pour avoir des abdos

I  eat Côte d’Or to get abs

Quitte le ring en chameau et l’ennemi fait du shadow

Leave the ring on a camel and the enemy makes a shadow

Le mécano des mots, le métallo au méga flow

The mechanic of words, the metallo with mega flow

Martèle au marteau flow le bateau de Flo Arthaud

Hammering with a flow that could pound Flo Arthaud’s boat

Ludique sur le bic, unique, assis je reste haut

Playful on the bic, unique, sit I stay high

Et les basketteurs sautent, pour atteindre laar-So

And the basketball players jump, to reach laar-So

[Refrain]

Tournicoti Tournicota

Tournicoti Tournicota

Claude MC prend le microphone et l’élite au bic aime ça

Claude MC takes the microphone and Bic likes it elite

Tralalalalere, tralalalalere
Tralalalalere, tralalalalere

Goûte au flow alto qui te mène dans les airs

Taste the alto flow that takes you up in the air

[Couplet 2]

Si d’occase des nases gazent sur des bases nazes

If occasionally nases gas on Nazi bases

Jouent les braves comme moi ils flippent, quand y a du Butagaz

Play the brave like me they freak out, when there’s Butagaz

Un boom dans la rue puis zoom vers la secte Aum

A boom in the street then zoom to the Aum sect

Après la Boom, le Box-office a le nain Atchoum

After the Boom, the Box-office has the dwarf Sneezy

Je vois, quoi ? la loi du boa

I see, what? the law of the boa

Depuis quelques mois, ils Faurissonent la Shoah

For a few months now, they have promoting the shoah 

Je prêche plus classe, que les dépêches de l’agence Tass

I preach more class, than the dispatches of the Tass agency.

De mèche avec la masse, si je prêche, je bois la tasse

In wick with the masses, if I preach, I drink the cup

Depuis les dix décès du DC 10 Addis-Abeba Roms

Since the ten deaths of DC 10 Addis Ababa Roma

L’homme xénophobe est pointé de mon critérium

The xenophobic man is pointed out by my standard

Le monde est plein de malades, contre ces salades

The world is full of sick people against these salads 

Le négro à plateau applaudi par Platon se ballade

The nigga with a platter applauded by Plato goes for a walk

Paul appelle interpole, interpole interpelle Jean-Paul

Paul calls the cops, the cops question Jean-Paul

Mais Jean-Paul est le pape, le pape parade par une parabole

But John Paul is the Pope, the Pope walks through a parable

Check l’encyclique, free-style au micro

Check the encyclical, free-style at the microphone

Le divin, comme Solaar a condamné l’art sot !

The divine  Solaar condemned foolish art!

[Refrain]

Tournicoti Tournicota

Tournicoti Tournicota

Claude MC prend le microphone et l’élite au bic aime ça

Claude MC takes the microphone and Bic likes it elite

Tralalalalere, tralalalalere
Tralalalalere, tralalalalere

Goûte au flow alto qui te mène dans les airs

Taste the alto flow that takes you up in the air

Track 4: Zoom

[Couplet 1]

J’entre slow sans faire de scolastique

I enter slow without doing a scholastic

Yo-Yo pour un clip le pied dans l’élastique

Yo-Yo for a clip the foot in the elastic 

Une technique du REG quand Lebed exergue

A technique of the REG when Lebed emphasizes

J’lègue à mon collègue Oleg le beat du bled

I bequeath to my colleague Oleg the beat of the village

Les aigus tuen t! Demande à Brandon Lee

The treble t! Ask Brandon Lee

Les basses baffent, prie, abandonne et lit

The bass whispers, prays, gives up and reads

Pour être objectif, on atteint l’objectif

To be objective, one achieves the objective

On scrute textes et mixes au téléobjectif

We scan texts and mixes with a telephoto lens.

J’ai l’flow relax sur le Wax, fax à Pentax

I have relaxed flow on the Wax, fax to Pentax

Qu’j’habille les tracks dans l’axe des peintres de Saxe

That I dress the tracks in the axis of the painters of Sax

Pax Romana grâce au son graphique

Pax Romana graces with graphic sound

Musicologique révélateur photographique

Musicological photographic developer

C’est le con ! Cave ! Qu’on vexe sans se fouler

He’s the idiot! Cellar! That one offends without spraining fellas

J’ai déversé le premier verset percé

I poured out the first pierced verse

Le mur du son, Bercé par Oum Kalsoum

The Wall of Sound, Rocked by Oum Kalsoum

Danse le beat tourne

Dance the beat turns

Je représente le zoom

I represent the zoom

[Refrain]

Maintenant tu sais que je représente le zoom

Now you know that I represent the zoom

Je représente le zoom

I represent the zoom 

Pas d’panique mec je représente le zoom

Don’t panic man I represent the zoom

[Couplet 2]

Je commandite, sur le beat, l’action anti-blabla

I sponsor, on the beat, the anti-blabla action

Cocktail explosif, j’exécute l’attentat

Explosive cocktail, I carry out the attack

Putsch musical verbal coup d’état

Putsch verbal musical coup

Parfois je revendique et sponsorise et l’omerta

Sometimes I claim and sponsor and the omerta

J’cours dans la ville le mic dans la main droite, je rappe

I run the city with the mic in my right hand, as I rap 

La BAC me traque, discrètement je me saque

The BAC is stalking me, discreetly I know I’m on the run

J’dois placer mon phrasé dans les points stratégiques

I must place my phrasing in strategic points

Tel un pain de plastique à l’endroit névralgique

Like a plastic loaf of bread at the nerve location.

Puis le son pète dans les discothèques

Then fart sounds in nightclubs

Déflagration de textes dans les bibliothèques

Text deflagration in libraries

Terroriste drag-gouine ! Dangereux comme Moon

Drag-gouine terrorist! Dangerous like Moon

Sismique tel Haroum

Seismic like Haroum

Je représente le zoom

I represent the zoom

[Refrain]

Maintenant tu sais que je représente le zoom

Now you know that I represent the zoom

Je représente le zoom

I represent the zoom 

Pas d’panique mec je représente le zoom

Don’t panic man I represent the zoom

[Couplet 3]

Quand le nippon nikkone j’articule mes particules

When the nippon nikkone I articulate my particles

M’inspire des libellules pour changer la pellicule

Inspire me dragonflies to change the film

J’suis un Leïca inversé pour gaucher

I am an inverted left-handed Leïca

Autoportrait sacré, on m’a canonisé

Sacred self-portrait, I was canonized

J’ai gâché des péloches, Avenue Foch, c’est moche

I spoiled sin, Avenue Foch, it’s ugly

Loupé le coche deux mioches, sur une roche, main dans les poches

Missed two notches baby, on a rock, hand in the pockets

Puis rodé mes rotules outre Atlantique

Then rode my kneecaps across the Atlantic

Clik-clak ils parlent d’un son photogénique

Clik-clak they talk about a photogenic sound

Différent dur este ancré dans ma contrée

Different dur este is anchored in my region.

Afro-Parigot, dégagé des clichés

Afro-Parigot, free of clichés

Car si le mime Marceau mime Marceau dans la Boom

Because if the mime Marceau mimes Marceau in the Boom

C’est clown, le beat tourne

It’s clown, the beat’s spinning

Je représente le zoom

I represent the zoom

[Refrain]

Maintenant tu sais que je représente le zoom

Now you know that I represent the zoom

Je représente le zoom

I represent the zoom 

Pas d’panique mec je représente le zoom

Don’t panic man I represent the zoom

Track 5: Le sens de la vie

The meaning of life

Sofa, télé, relax, glace Häagen-dazs

Sofa, TV, relax,  Häagen-dazs

Je zappe sur un film de garces

I zap on a movie with bitches

Me sape style rap, fly top et double gooze

Me sape style rap, fly top and double gooze

Pour qu’on me jalouse comme un douze

To make me jealous like a douze

J’ai le style, je file vers le Vietnam

I’ve got the style, I’m off to Vietnam

En priant Dieu pour qu’il sauve mon âme

Praying to God to save my soul

La ville est une jungle, mon bipper sonne

The city is a jungle, my pager beeps

J’ai des messages barges il faut être un surhomme

I’ve got some crazy messages you have to be a superhero

Le jingle de la jungle est le bang d’un flingue

The jingle of the jungle is the bang of a gun

Dans le slang bilingue du gang on dit : “people is dingue”

In the bilingual slang of the gang they say: “people is dingue”.

On recherche l’harmonie

We are looking for harmony

HLM, SACEM, est le sens de la vie Baby

HLM, SACEM, is the meaning of life Baby

[Refrain]

C’est le sens de la vie Baby

The meaning of life baby 

[Couplet 2]

J’ai le baladeur de mon oncle

I have my uncle’s walkman

La révolte d’un punk, une cassette de G-funk

The revolt of a punk, a G-funk tape

Passe devant la fac où ils triment

Passes in front of the college where they work

Dans des boîtes à sardines avec le chômage en prime

In sardine tins with unemployment as a bonus

Dans mes écouteurs une basse grasse pleine de beurre

In my headphones a fat bass full of butter

Paw ! sniper, en plein cœur

Paw! Sniper, right in  the heart

Eh ! je peux te draguer à la Marvin Gaye

Hey! I can hit on you like Marvin Gaye

Je suis l’amant t’es Lady Chaterley

I’m the lover your Lady Chaterley 

J’ai des bombes pour les ondes

I have bombs for the airwaves

Balade-toi dans le monde de la Seconde Joconde

Stroll through the world with  the Second Mona Lisa

J’aime l’art, il est mon harmonie

I love art, it is my harmony.

Il me guide vers Le Guide

It lead me to The Guide

C’est le sens de la vie, Baby

It’s the meaning of life, Baby

[Refrain]

C’est le sens de la vie Baby

It’s the meaning of life Baby

[Couplet 3]

J’ai maté la télé, les acteurs et les stars

I watched TV, actors and stars

Les voitures de luxe, la soie, le caviar

Luxury cars, silk, caviar

Dans la cité tout le monde fume

In the city everyone smokes

Sur le bitume, c’est le poids plume qu’on déplume

On asphalt, it’s the featherweight that we feather.

Halte à la confusion des masses

Stop confusing the masses 

À Dallas pas d‘cœur mais des liasses à la place

In Dallas no heart but instead bundles

Mon idéal ne change pas

My ideas remain the same

Même si comme à la TV l’ami peut faire des coups bas

Even if, like on TV, a friend can make low blows

Si je parle d’amour top classe

If I’m talking about top class love

C’est pour le donner à ma mère et cela avant qu’elle ne parte

It is to give to my mother before she leaves

Je jalouse ton aura appuie-toi sur moi mama c’est pas du cinéma

I’m jealous of your aura lean on me mama it’s not the movies

Tu es l’arbre qui donne vie, je veux être un bon fruit

You are the tree that gives life, I want to be a good fruit.

C’est le sens de la vie, Baby

Its the meaning of life, Baby

[Refrain]

C’est le sens de la vie Baby

Its the meaning of life baby