Plus vite que les balles [English translation]

(Stomy Bugsy)

At the Moss1 in this party with my homies

At the Moss, there is nothing but fake,

stale, whitering pussies scratching themselves

Now this time I won't hit on your skank

Around 4 AM

I beat it on foot

Headed for PLC2 with the gang

Who broke the shop windows?

That's him, that's me, that's you

Attila-style outcome

Where we go,the grass does not grow back

Ding dong3, here come the pigs

Law enforcement authorities order us to freeze

My gang stands still, we all froze

Guns target us, this will all end very badly

The white-wine loaded blue guys have seen red4

The motherfuckers get us moving

Got it, don't stop running

Fueled with malt 5

Slalom, Stom6 runs like hell

But Uncle Dom-Tom7 lets it all out

Now I get ahead of them

Even by a large margin

Screw them, I wear top notch Nikes8, by Lucifer.

The natives jump over the fences

White men can't jump9

Who told me this lie? I was Kunta Kinte10

They wanted to shackle me, are these warning shots

Or my firing squad? Ready for ejection11

Faster than Carl12, faster than the mistral13

Faster than Wolverine14, faster than a shoal of fleeing sharks

Zigzagging, in spiral15

I'm running faster than bu-bu-bu-bullets

(chorus x2:)

Run faster than bullets

That's the maximum sentence or a gravestone for you

(Passi)

Where are my homies? Where is Stomy?

You know it, niggah, it's every man for himself

Should we get separated, we know where to meet

All roads lead to HQ

This time no custody out of racial profiling

I wont go from being strip-searched to being bum-searched

His highness double S16 runs for it

Byebye, I won't end like Ceaucescu

First, then second gear, Speedy Gonzales style

Gunshots burst forth in the scenery

I catch a glimpse of the Gare du Nord17

As they hunt for me dead or alive

I jump over a wall

Stumble over some spray cans18

Two of them run at full speed up my ass on the railroad track

Hey! Here goes a train

A dodge in their face

I widen the gap again, I leave them in my wake

Though I'm not in such a great shape19

Obviously the situation is getting out of their hands

I'm panting like a dog, still I'm as clever as ever

And I hear the train whistle20

Doors are closing, I glimpse a hand

I jump just in time in a car, the pigs are mad as dogs

Hah, I screwed you! My shoes have changed color

I still remember how they sparkled this morning

I get off the train in Pierrefite-Stains21

3.000 pounds22 of undercover cops, I'm locked again

but only in a run23

My sneakers will take another beating

I'm running faster than bullets

(chorus x2)

(Stomy Bugsy)

Did I kill someone?

Am I a murderer?

I leave the ABS24

to the guys who enjoy relaxing in custody

Breezing through the Myrha street25

I make my way to Max Dormoy26

Nobody tames Stomy27

Tell me, Bugsy, what happened to my buddies?

You know it, niggah, it's every man for himself

Let them look for me

I fly like an arrow

The neighbourhood is sealed

My description has been released

Denims, snickers, fly jacket

They're after my scalp

Do you get it? I jump 30 feet high

Mike Powell has found his master

I would gladly slaughter them

Terminator 1 style

And I only run at 20%, the pigs shift to overdrive

overconfident according to the Corsican guidelines28

Basically back to the basics29

I'm up to it, an Abdulaï jedi30

The Force is with me

I'm fleeing on all rooves31

but the ennemy is at home here

I know where I stand: Paris is cop city32

I have no right to surrender

No right to get caught

by your average clueless pig33

I am the bionic niggah

My freedom is at stake, my life is at stake

Farewell gentlemen of the police

I've done it, I've done it

Long live the block

I'm really happy to meet my niggahs

Pump up the volume in the car

Double S[AP]34

is not there to give me five

Just like me, he's running faster than bullets

(Passi)

Mama mia, aï Caramba35 they're still after me

You can't forget the face of a member of the MÄ36

Passi here, Passi there37, damn, I will have no rest

These pigs want to get me. Allright

Here we go. In my capital city I'm playing tricks, dashing forward, sneaking through and hearing

bang! bang!

But so close to my home they'll never get me! me!38

I'm spent! I'm moving on again

I won't give up until I'm dead

Like my so proud buddy Armand said

I'm going back to a block I know by heart

I hung out there, I picked girls up there39

I had a scheme in the neighbourhood, I laid low in a cellar

They couldn't find me

And 30 minutes later I showed up at the HQ.

Some homies thought I was in custody40

Passi whatevered41? Never again!

(chorus x8)

1. I assume it refers to some trendy 90's disco in Paris2. "Place de La Chapelle", a relatively poor neighbourhood in the north of Paris3. "dindon" is used as an onomatopoeia for police siren but also means "turkey", and cops are called "chickens" in basic French slang4. French police uniforms are blue. Common wisdom has it that coppers would rather drink red wine, but that would leave one French flag color out...5. might be beer or scotch, I'm no circa 1990 suburban binge habits expert6. the singer's war name7. Arguably a lot of low rank policemen come from French oversea territories like Martinique or Réunion. "Dom-Tom" is the usual name of these territories, hence the Uncle Tom variant to designate the cop8. He makes up an über variant of Nike Air shoes9. He uses the French title of the movie10. main character of the novel "Roots" (a fugitive slave)11. sounds like an Astronaut or fighter pilot talking12. Lewis13. A strong wind blowing in southeastern France14. the X-man has a differnt name in French15. the word is split in two mainly for show, though "râle" evokes breathlessness16. Passi's self bestowed nickname17. whence commuter trains lead to the gang's home turf. Place de la Chapelle is one subway station away from Gare du Nord, so the epic chase must have stretched over about half a mile.18. An unexpectedly elaborated methonymic figure meaning bombers19. I give up on this one. Literally it means "I don't even come close to the 'healthy one' " (or maybe 'saint' with an extra 't'), but I have no clue about what is meant by that20. the sentence is the name of a famous cheesy song of the 60's by Richard Anthony. Commuter trains in Paris don't whistle (at least in the station) btw. There is just a brief beep before departure, just like in the subway21. a northern suburb of Paris, in the (in)famous Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest department in the region22. I suppose the 1.4 metric tons imply more than one plainclothes officer - or maybe a single very fat one?23. Erf... I'm getting a bit tired here. The idead is something like "I am trapped in an unwanted situation again, but it's not being caught by the cops, just being forced to run". That sounds pretty convoluted in French to begin with, and I cannot think of an equivalent right now24. Anti blocking system, a metaphor for brakes, I suppose25. Arguably one of the worst streets in Paris, as far as criminality (drugs, prostitution, squatts) is concerned. A few hundred meters north of the Barbès subway sation, one station to the west of Gare du Nord26. Yet another subway sation in front of the 18th district city hall. By my reckoning, Mr Bugsy has covered a bit more than a mile so far27. capitalized and written backwards, for some reason yet to be discovered28. Oookay... the "overxxx" thingies are an attempt to echo the pun on "bombe/bomber". "bomber le torse" means "to act tough". The "Corsican" is the (in)famous Charles Pasqua, who happened to pass away only a few days ago. He was in charge of state police in the late 80's and early 90's, and a strong backer of the "zero tolerance" policy. He issued directives that are widly believed to have lead to debatable acts of police brutality, notably the death of the 22 years old student Malik Oussekine during a peaceful protest against a school reform in 1986 and what some consider to be the summary execution of the islamist terrorist Khaled Kelkal in 1995 (though that occured about one year after this song was written)29. yet another pun on "en gros et en détail" meaning "whichever way you consider this question". "en gros, pas de détail" would mean something like "as a general rule, don't be subtle/gentle"30. the band allegiedly had ties with the semi-mythical "Abdulaï sect", a mafia supposedly controling the drug business north of Paris. The band had officially denied any connection with organised crime in 1993. My bet is, they're just throwing the name around to fuel the phantasies of their pre-teen audience :D31. this sounds (a bit) like "je crie sur tous les toits", an idiom meaning "saying something very loudly" (trying hard to make something known). Except for the phonetics, this is just another stale pun32. Look ma! Another metonymy!33. "raclo" is just suburban slang for "guy", and "Pinot simple flic" is a (supposedly) funny movie about a clueless cop dreaming of surpassing Dirty Harry34. yet another Passi nickname. No idea what the additional AP means35. that's what Speedy Gonzales likes to say, at least in the French version36. first, MA stands for the band's name (Ministère AMER). Second, the "sector Ä" was a rap collective including the band. Given the time it took me to dig these fascinating facts from the recesses of the Internet, I would say all this seems eminently forgettable, on the contrary37. "passi" sounds a bit like "par ici" (this way [and that])38. ok, this is supposed to rhyme, but French handguns hardly go "pah!" in the first place (they go "pan!" if you must know), so that one doesn't really count39. not quite sure of what "flanquer" is supposed to mean there, this is hardly more than a blind guess40. GAV stands for "garde à vue", the legal term for French style custody41. blast and buggeration! I stumble on a particularily cryptic vocable on the very last verse. Behold my helplessness, ye English amateur of vintage French rap, and despair