Oh Momma, I’m going to keep my promises better than Obama
Keep my promises better than Joborama
I’ll live up to your sacrifices
In the ring, I’m up to this, squaring up to Iblis [Satan]
I’ll do my best, because here you’re judged on appearances
And in my case, there’s never any ‘case dismissed’
I grew up in the Marseilles estates, where mothers
Talk to their children like Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze
Haram is sure as hell in fashion
Human values going begging, Shaitan taking out protection
Families face the strain with a rope
Yes, we’re heading for a fall with legs like Usain Bolt’s
Believe me, nothing shocks
Since [reality TV star] Loana in the pool, modesty bares its flesh
Our little sisters are learning to twerk with Hannah Montana
Pass me a skin so I can strip off quicker than Rihanna
Or Kim Kardashian, it’s no fun being Gandhi
Being [reality TV star] Nabilla, that’s smart, help me
The sex scandals of our leaders
Chime louder than [right-wing writer] Zemmour’s out of bounds comments
Like [rapper] Youss: talk to me about love before you talk to me about money
About Banksy before Monet
I only paint with the colours I know
Black, White, Arab, red sometimes, when blood has been shed
Green sometimes, purple sometimes
Because, like Kader said, let’s stick with the pay-off from this subject
Money has transformed us into Gollum
Here [TV host] Pascal is not a big brother but a guru
Another lyric which scatters its shots, hoping it hits home
Yeah, waiting to hit home with someone, Momma
Oh Momma
Oh Momma, don’t cry
I’ll get through this
You’ll see, I give you my word on that
Oh Momma
Momma, I’m fighting
I’m going to get through this
That’s my promise
I take up the mike as I see fit for my fits of rage
I don’t claim to be my esteemed colleagues’ guide
But the media talks about the crimes the brothers commit
And I had to get out of crisis to make myself known
Give me a beat, so I can void myself with a seemly theme
Since our careers go quick like a flaring comet
We’re trying to build an empire while our dreams move on
Oh Mama, I won’t lie to you with fine promises
With tears on my cheekbones, I hold Zaire dear
I’ve got some poet friends like Sérigne and Saïd
I’ve got some gimmicks, no more bad-boy tricks
My eloquence is renowned now that France is singing ‘Dreamin’’
I’m ruminating about rapping on loops
Bear in mind angry ewes become more dangerous than wolves
I open with heavy-heavy, see my life in numbers
Purify myself with Zamzam water [from Mecca] not Givenchy perfume
Mom, I’m setting myself free from all these tarantulas
I know my frankness will cause offence
I kill joy like a heathen black
Banned from the scene, I just party in my own dreams
I haven’t got a career plan, I tough life out
Mustn’t look back because the past doesn’t predict the future
I go off like a rocket, I’m still with my homies
It’s not that we were wrong, in fact we were right too soon
These shitty photos won’t make us visionaries
This shitty lottery won’t make us millionnaires
We know the twenty-one grams, the disease
Momma, the euros I earn can’t buy you paradise
This life chats you up, it has no shame
If you fight, you may lose, if you don’t fight, you’ve lost
So I tough it out, too much humour and too many tears
Does life survive into the hereafter?
Oh Momma
Oh Momma, don’t cry
I’ll get through this
You’ll see, I give you my word on that
Oh Momma
Momma, I’m fighting
I’m going to get through this
That’s my promise
I’ve covered the ghettos, from the Northern Zones [of Marseille] to Brooklyn
From Grande Borne to Saint-Denis [either side of Paris], from Guediawaye to Pikine [in Dakar, Senegal]
Poverty as the norm, violence freewheeling
Where helpless laughter is the veil over what makes us suffer
Lack of money, lack of sex, lack of a father
Lack of landmarks, like cruel partners, go hand in hand
Where reading is a waste of time, no one spares your blushes, and
Hope of life and of change have been quashed
Politics sidelines you, shoots you a line, casts the film shoot
If you’re the big man in class or crib, you get bought
Ask [aviation firm] Dassault… thirteen billion euros
We’re not there yet but for a few pirates #BlackSparrow
A few squalls [translated name of the Dassault Rafale fighter plane] of notes shot at the fate of a housing estate
And the laws are as useless as these lyrics
God preserve us… from the Devil and his cohorts
Our faith is just a starter till our funeral rite
Sandwich, kebab, indoor football, nightclub
In search of a recipe to chase this boredom away
Happiness in homeopathic doses
As master in the art of shady dealings, of getting put away, you get into practice
To make up for not having happiness within our reach, we’ll find
Happiness within a roach
Within a bitch, within a bottle
I want to swim in happiness, bring me that bottle
We calm our problems with other problems
To change our plans, we make plans
And, when you scratch the surface, we’d like to change
But there’s that voice saying “You’ve got to eat”
“I’ll take up prayer again when I reach the top”
It’s like waiting till you’re clean to take a shower
Or until you’re a teacher to learn
Or until you’re alone, to love
Does soap wash itself? You need advice?
The truth’s inside you, no one lights the sun
Oh Momma
Oh Momma, don’t cry
I’ll get through this
You’ll see, I give you my word on that
Oh Momma
Momma, I’m fighting
I’m going to get through this
That’s my promise
Oh Momma
Oh Momma, don’t cry
I’ll get through this
You’ll see, I give you my word on that
Oh Momma