La misère est si belle [English translation]

[Verse 1: Ademo]

I'm sad, as usual

Fuck, there's no need for pondering

The melody does me good

I don't think of Gucci anymore when I dress

Sometimes, I'll dress like a bum, I don't give a fuck

Appeal to who, what, what for ?

Years are passing just like the hardships

I'm still dreaming about that house by the beach

There has been good times, but way less than those dark ones

Which settle in my eyes, in my mirror

Igo1, no comment, jinxed background

Go figure why I have nothing left in the drawer

I sport a smile, I tell myself that it's fake

It's not normal to be this unhappy

At 2 a.m, I don't sleep, I tell myself that it's early

I see my demons but I'm not scared

Solitude is nothing but a whore

To be accompanied by these phonies would be a gang bang2

And tonight I'm smoking, I'm shirtless

I became as empty as my pencil case3

You need to get through, Tarik4

That's life, Tarik

Screw them, Tarik

The day will come, no panic

[Bridge: Ademo]

Well, the tears are steaming hot

Oh my God, I'm waiting for the dices and quick

What goes around comes around, or maybe not

At the end of the day, all of this is up to you

I don't take love for an answer

I let them believe that they know all of this

If they knew what it meant, what it implied5

But oh well, as they say, time will tell

[Chorus: Ademo]

Hey, that's life, life, honey

Wow, this poor man is so ugly, I find him attractive6

Misery is so beautiful anyway

Khey7

Hey, all year long I love them

I dream of a fortunate future for them

For in the end, the smile suits us so marvelously

Misery is so beautiful (zoo8

Misery is so beautiful (homie)

Misery is so beautiful (don't you know ?)

Misery is so beautiful (C building9)

Misery is so beautiful (zoo)

Misery is so beautiful (homie)

Misery is so beautiful (don't you know)

Misery is so beautiful (C building)

[Verse 2: N.O.S]

Blue lights in the city, I fear nothing, away from the illicit

But I roam the streets because I love it ever since I left it

I thought I'd forget it, yeah, like an easy lay

I meet up with it to smoke some pot

You know what I love, what looks like us

Because sorrow and hatred gather us

I want to taste the wind, suffocated by time

Nothing is as it was anymore, a bit like people

But I kept smiling, not ready to accept the worst

My heart is losing its color, my love for love is dying out

If I must share my pain, I'll do it with my demons

They understand my dark side

I was stoned in life, all the way from Spain10

For the best prices, to go faster than the grams

They all long for featurings

But with Tarik we said "nah, nah"11

Fuck them, we're quits12

In few 500 euros bills

Balaclava education13

Even if I get out of here, it's tattoeed

Misunderstood in the crowd

I'll abandon the truth

In the dark corners, I took the bait

In the light, I recited the lesson

Now that I know you better, I don't hold it against you that you're a turd

I need to leave earth, pirate wants to go to sea

But oceans went away

Like the G.A.G ovens14

Like the tower buildings of my ZT

"A l'ammonia'"15 was our daily life

We know where we come from without knowing where we go

But we'll twist these rats' souls

No question for mankind, without answers I'm looking for money

I'm making millions of hatred, I want less people, more of those I love

[Chorus: Ademo, N.O.S]

Hey, that's life, life, honey (oh)

Wow, this poor man is so ugly, I find him attractive (attractive)

Misery is so beautiful anyway (beautiful)

Khey (khey)

Hey, all year long I love them (love)

I dream of a fortunate future for them (them)

For in the end, the smile suits us so marvelously (marvelously)

Misery is so beautiful (zoo)

Misery is so beautiful (homie)

Misery is so beautiful (don't you know ?)

Misery is so beautiful (C building)

Misery is so beautiful (D5)

Misery is so beautiful (D416)

Misery is so beautiful (RER D)

Misery is so beautiful (RER C17)

Misery is so beautiful (Ivry)

Misery is so beautiful (Corbeil)

Misery is so beautiful (Paname18)

Misery is so beautiful (Yeah, C building)

Misery is so beautiful (Nabil19)

Misery is so beautiful (Karim20)

Misery is so beautiful (Goku21)

Misery is so beautiful (Milwaukee)

Misery is so beautiful (my cockroaches22)

Misery is so beautiful (my basement)

Misery is so beautiful (my hallway)

Misery is so beautiful (my sad roof23)

Misery is so beautiful (Baba24)

Misery is so beautiful (Habiba25)

Misery is so beautiful

Misery is so beautiful (to my life)

1.

Slang for the Spanish term "amigo" which can either mean "friend" or "brother".2. In colloquial French (just like in English), when someone betrays you, it's very common to say that they "fucked" (or other varieties of the term) with the meaning of "fucking over", hence the reference to gang bangs3. A student having an empty pencil case often is a sign that he has no interest in school and is about to drop out. That was the case for Ademo, who, before success, used to sell drugs for a living.4. Tarik is Ademo's real name5. PNL is probably the most popular rap act right now in the French speaking world. While their fanbase more or less ranges from teenagers to young adults, it is undeniable that their music transcends social classes. However, the two brothers themselves are from a working-class background, they lived all their lives in projects and with the lifestyle that it implies (poverty, criminality, lack of opportunities, exposure to drugs/addiction...). They want to make it clear that they're aware that a substantial portion of their listeners can only pretend to relate to what they're rapping about.6. It's not the first time Ademo refers to himself as ugly, in DA, he famously rapped "Avant j'étais moche dans la tess/Aujourd'hui j'plais à Eva Mendes" ("Before [fame], I was ugly in the ghetto/Today, I appeal to Eva Mendes"). With this line, he illustrates the fact that the ugliness of poverty (in this case, himself) has a tendency to draw in privileged people who'll find beauty in it (most of the time in a patronizing way).7. Bro in darja (North-African dialectal Arabic)8. The two brothers were born in the ghetto of Les Tarterêts (in the Corbeil-Essonnes commune of the Essonne department, roughly 29km southeast of Paris) which is known for being particularly violent, thus earning the nickname of "Zoo" by its inhabitants.9. Probably the denomination of the building they lived in before success10. A significant portion of the drugs distributed in France is brought from Spain.11. PNL are famous for refusing featurings with rappers they have no blood affiliation with. The previous album, Dans La Légende, featured no collaboration. This one is no exception.12. No famous French rapper gave Ademo the time of day when he debuted as a solo rapper so it only makes sense that they'd do the same by refusing them featurings now that they're popular13. Their father was a known figure in the local organized criminality community of Corbeil-Essonne. In 2011, the mayor of Corbeil-Essonne, Serge Dassault, ordered for him to be shot following an old dispute. While their father survived, the highly controversial political figure (whose family happens to be the 5th richest in the nation) since died of heart failure in May 2018. In Dans La Légende, N.O.S famously rapped "Igo on veut la ville, boire le sang du maire"/"Igo, we want the city, drink the mayor's blood" which may be a direct reference to that event.14. In the French drug jargon, an "oven" refers to a point of sale (for e.g, a stairwell or the hallway of a building). As for G.A.G, it refers to the ghetto of Gagarine in the Ivry-Sur-Seine commune of the Val-De-Marne department (south of Paris), which is a place they used to frequent when younger. It has now been scheduled to be demolished.15. Reference to the "A l'ammoniaque" music video where the monotony of a life selling drugs is symbolically portrayed16. Those may be models of cars but I'm not sure.17. Those are two of the RER (Regional Express Network) lines respectively serving Corbeil-Essonnes and Ivry-Sur-Seine. The RER connects suburbs to Paris.18. Informal name for Paris19. Real name of N.O.S20. Probably the name of one of their closest friends21. One of the many (many) references of Japanese animes spread all over their lyrics. In this case, it's Dragon Ball Z's Sangoku's character which is celebrated.22. That's how they usually refer to people living in ghettos, themselves included.23. Maybe understand "household" or "the roof I live under" in this context24. "Dad" in Darja Arabic25. Roughly translatable to "sweetheart" in Darja Arabic