(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