from Nada como um dia após o outro dia (Cosa Nostra, 2002)
Original lyrics:
Negro drama
Entre o sucesso e a lama
Dinheiro, problemas
Inveja, luxo, fama
Negro drama
Cabelo crespo
E a pele escura
A ferida, a chaga
À procura da cura
Negro drama
Tenta ver
E não vê nada
A não ser uma estrela
Longe, meio ofuscada
Sente o drama
O preço, a cobrança
No amor, no ódio
A insana vingança
Negro drama
Eu sei quem trama
E quem tá comigo
O trauma que eu carrego
Pra não ser mais um preto fodido
O drama da cadeia e favela
Túmulo, sangue
Sirene, choros e vela
Passageiro do Brasil
São Paulo
Agonia que sobrevivem
Em meia às honras e covardias
Periferias, vielas e cortiços
Você deve tá pensando
O que você tem a ver com isso
Desde o início
Por ouro e prata
Olha quem morre
Então veja você quem mata
Recebe o mérito, a farda
Que pratica o mal
Me ver
Pobre, preso ou morto
Já é cultural
Histórias, registros
Escritos
Não é conto
Nem fábula
Lenda ou mito
Não foi sempre dito
Que preto não tem vez
Então olha o castelo e não
Foi você quem fez cuzão
Eu sou irmão
Dos meus trutas de batalha
Eu era a carne
Agora sou a própria navalha
Tin, tin
Um brinde pra mim
Sou exemplo de vitórias
Trajetos e glórias
O dinheiro tira um homem da miséria
Mas não pode arrancar
De dentro dele
A favela
São poucos
Que entram em campo pra vencer
A alma guarda
O que a mente tenta esquecer
Olho pra trás
Vejo a estrada que eu trilhei
Mó cota
Quem teve lado a lado
E quem só fico na bota
Entre as frases
Fases e várias etapas
Do quem é quem
Dos mano e das mina fraca
Negro drama de estilo
Pra ser
E se for
Tem que ser
Se temer é milho
Entre o gatilho e a tempestade
Sempre a provar
Que sou homem e não covarde
Que Deus me guarde
Pois eu sei
Que ele não é neutro
Vigia os rico
Mas ama os que vem do gueto
Eu visto preto
Por dentro e por fora
Guerreiro
Poeta entre o tempo e a memória
Hora
Nessa história
Vejo o dólar
E vários quilates
Falo pro mano
Que não morra, e também não mate
O tic-tac
Não espera veja o ponteiro
Essa estrada é venenosa
E cheia de morteiro
Pesadelo
Hum
É um elogio
Pra quem vive na guerra
A paz nunca existiu
Num clima quente
A minha gente sua frio
Vi um pretinho
Seu caderno era um fuzil
Um fuzil
Negro drama
Crime, futebol, música, caraio
Eu também não consegui fugir disso aí
Eu só mais um
Forrest Gump é mato
Eu prefiro conta uma história real
Vô conta a minha
Daria um filme
Uma negra
E uma criança nos braços
Solitária na floresta
De concreto e aço
Veja
Olha outra vez
O rosto na multidão
A multidão é um monstro
Sem rosto e coração
Ei,
São Paulo
Terra de arranha-céu
A garoa rasga a carne
É a torre de babel
Família brasileira
Dois contra o mundo
Mãe solteira
De um promissor
Vagabundo
Luz
Câmera e ação
Gravando a cena vai
Um bastardo
Mais um filho pardo
Sem pai
Ei,
Senhor de engenho
Eu sei
Bem quem você é
Sozinho, cê num guenta
Sozinho
Cê num entra a pé
Cê disse que era bom
E as favela ouviu, lá
Também tem
Whisky, Red Bull
Tênis Nike e fuzil
Admito
Seus carro é bonito
É
Eu não sei fazê
Internet, videocassete
Os carro loco
Atrasado
Eu tô um pouco sim
Tô
Eu acho
Só que tem que
Seu jogo é sujo
E eu não me encaixo
Eu sô problema de montão
De carnaval a carnaval
Eu vim da selva
Sou leão
Sou demais pro seu quintal
Problema com escola
Eu tenho mil
Mil fita
Inacreditável, mas seu filho me imita
No meio de vocês
Ele é o mais esperto
Ginga e fala gíria
Gíria não, dialeto
Esse não é mais seu
Ó,
Subiu
Entrei pelo seu rádio
Tomei
Cê nem viu
Nós é isso ou aquilo
O quê?
Cê não dizia?
Seu filho quer ser preto
Rááá….
Que ironia
Cola o pôster do 2Pac aí
Que tal?
Que cê diz?
Sente o negro drama
Vai
Tenta ser feliz
Ei bacana
Quem te fez tão bom assim?
O que cê deu,
O que cê faz,
O que cê fez por mim?
Eu recebi seu tic
Quer dizer kit
De esgoto a céu aberto
E parede madeirite
De vergonha eu não morri
To firmão
Eis-me aqui
Você, não
Cê não passa
Quando o mar vermelho abrir
Eu sou o mano
Homem duro
Do gueto, Brown
Obá
Aquele louco
Que não pode errar
Aquele que você odeia
Amar nesse instante
Pele parda
Ouço funk
E de onde vem
Os diamantes
Da lama
Valeu mãe
Negro drama
Drama, drama, drama…
Aê, na época dos barracos de pau lá na Pedreira, onde vocês tavam?
O que vocês deram por mim?
O que vocês fizeram por mim?
Agora tá de olho no dinheiro que eu ganho
Agora tá de olho no carro que eu dirijo
Demorou, eu quero é mais
Eu quero até sua alma
Aí, o rap fez eu ser o que sou
Ice Blue, Edy Rock e Kl Jay e toda a família
E toda geração que faz o rap
A geração que revolucionou
A geração que vai revolucionar
Anos 90, século 21
É desse jeito
Aê, você sai do gueto, mas o gueto nunca sai de você, morou irmão?
Você tá dirigindo um carro
O mundo todo tá de olho em você, morou?
Sabe por quê?
Pela sua origem, morou irmão?
É desse jeito que você vive
É o negro drama
Eu não li, eu não assisti
Eu vivo o negro drama, eu sou o negro drama
Eu sou o fruto do negro drama
Aí dona Ana, sem palavras, a senhora é uma rainha, rainha
Mas aê, se tiver que voltar pra favela
Eu vou voltar de cabeça erguida
Porque assim é que é
Renascendo das cinzas
Firme e forte, guerreiro de fé
Vagabundo nato!
Translated lyrics:
Black drama
Between the mud and the stalwart
Money, issues
Greed, Luxury, fame
Black drama
Bad hair
Dark skin
The injury, the sore
Looking for a cure
Black drama
He tries to see
But he sees nothing
Besides a far away and
Shadowy star
He feels the drama
The price, the demands,
In love, in hate
The insane and constant vengeance
Black drama
I know who plays againt me
And who’s with me
The pain that always walks with me
So that I won’t end up just another fucked up black guy
Prison and favela
Graves, blood
Sirens, tears and candles
A stowaway in Brazil
São Paulo
The pain of those who survive
Amidst the kudos and the frowns
Suburbs, narrow ways and slums
You must’ve been thinking
What the hell do I have to do with it
Since the beginning
Looking only for gold and riches
Look who dies
So look at who do you kill
The one that makes evil receives
The merit, the uniforms
To look at myself
As poor, in chains or dead
Has already become a second nature
Stories, documents
It isn’t a myth, a tale, a legend or a fable
Hasn’t been always said that
A black guy has no stand?
So look at the castle and you know
It wasn’t you who made it, you asshole
I’m a brother of my fellow comrades
I was flesh, now I’m the razor
Cheers, cheers to you
I’m an sideshow of victories
Paths and glories
Money can bring misery out of someone
But can’t take favela from inside him
There are only few
Who present themselves ready to win
The soul keeps
What the mind tries to forget
I look back
I see the path I’ve chosen
[Mó cota]
Who stood together
And those that got behind
Between sentences
Trials and many stages
Of who’s who
Of who stands and who falls
A stylish black drama
Just to be and if it does become
It has to be
It can’t tremble
Between the trigger and the storm
Always having to prove
That I’m a man and not a coward
May God bless me
Because I know
That He’s taking sides
He watches for the rich ones
But loves those from the ghettoes
I wear black
Inside out
I’m a warrior
A poet stood against time and memory
Well, in this story
I see big money and precious stones
I talk to him
So that I don’t die, and also that I don’t kill
The clock runs
It doesn’t waits
In this vicious road
And full of stones
A nightmare
Hm
It’s a compiment
For those who live in war
Peace has never existed
Even in warm weather
My people sweats cold
I saw a little black guy
He had a rifle for a schoolbook
A rifle
Black drama
Crime, football, music, the shit
I wasn’t able to escape it all too
I’m just another one
Forrest Gump, that’s bullshit
I’d rather tell another story
I’m gonna tell me
It would be a movie, a good movie
A black woman
A child in her arms
Alone in the middle of the jungle
Of steel and concret
Look
Look another time
The face in the crowd
The crowd is a monster
Without simpathy
And a heart of stone
Hey, São Paulo
Skyscraper town
Raindrops tear the skin apart
Exposes the flesh
It’s Babylonia once again
Brazilian family
Two against the world
Single mother of a
Prosperous crook
Light and action
Recording, go
A bastard
Another mulato son
Who never knew his father
Hey, slave owner
I know who you are
I’m very aware that
When you’re alone
You can’t stand it
You walk into a place
You heard there was good too
And the favela has listened
In the favelas there is also
Whiskey, Red Bull
Nike shoes and rifles
I admit
You have a fancy car
Yeah
I don’t know how to do it
Internet, VHS, the cars, man
Yes, I’m a little late
I guess
I only think that
Yours is a treacherous game
And I don’t fit it
I’m a lot of trouble
From year to year
I came from the jungle
I’m a lion
I’m too much for your precious backyard
Problems at school
I have those to sell
You can’t believe it
But your son wants to be like me
When he’s with you
He’s the clever one
He dances and talk slang
Slang, no! Dialect
This one here is not yours anymore
Here, look, I got up from the radio
We’re here and you haven’t even seen it
We are here and there
What?
Didn’t you said it?
Your son wants to be black?
What an irony
Put the 2Pac poster on the wall
What do you say?
Feel the black drama
Go on
Try to be happy
Hey, you
What made you be so good like that?
What did you give,
What did you do,
What has you made for me?
I got your message
I mean, your survival kit
Composed of open sewages
And plywood walls
I will not be ashamed to death
I’m stil here, proud and strong
Here I am
You, don’t
You will not pass
When the sea opens
I’m here, I’m strong
I’m from the ghetto, Brown
That crazy guy
That cannot fail
That one you love to hate
And you adore right now
Dark skin
Listens to funk
And from where does the diamonds come?
From the mud
Black drama,
Black drama, drama, drama
Oh really, when we lived in the wood tents at Pedreira,
Where were you at?
Did you stand to help me?
Did you lift a finger for me?
Now you’re paying attention to how much I earn
Now you care about the car I drive
You’re late, now I want more
I want your soul
It’s there, it’s rap who made me what I am
Ice Blue, Edy Rock, KL Jay and all my crew
And every generation that makes rap be what it is
The people who stood against
And who will stand from now on
Who will make a revolution
Nineties, the twentieth century
It is this way
You come out from the ghetto, but the ghetto doesn’t come outside of you,
Understood?
You’re driving your car and the whole world is watching you,
Got it?
You know why?
Because of your origins, bro
That’s the way you live
That’s the black drama
I didn’t need to read it, to watch it on TV
I’m black, I’m the drama, I’m the black drama
I’m black drama’s son
Here, Dona Ana, you make me without words,
You’re a queen, a queen
But if I have to go back to the favela
I’ll come back proudly
Because that’s how it is
To be born once again from the ashes
Strong and brave, righteous warrior
A born shit!
This took me a while to translated…
Racionais MC’s are one of the most well-known Brazilian rap outfits. Actually, they were present at the very beginning of the genre in Brazil. Rising from Capão Redondo, a large favela in south São Paulo, in the mid-eighties, they’ve recorded only four albums and this one is their last one with new material. Boy, it’s been twelve years already.
Racionais rose to proeminence amongst public opinion in Brazil in 1997 when they released their album Sobrevivendo no Inferno (translating, “Surviving in Hell”). They were accused of patronizing violence, as one of their songs, “Diário de um detento” (“Journal of a prisoner”) was based on a letter writter by an inmate. Conditions in Brazilian prisons are specially gruesome. Earlier this year the state of Maranhão passed through a crisis on its security system, and almost twenty years later the conditions hasn’t improved since Racionais released that song.
“Negro drama”, however, was released five years later and its subject is more relevant than ever. As I’ve said before, Brazil experienced “rolezinhos” in most of its biggest cities and capitals. The rolezinhos were only meant as a kind of fun by those who did it, mostly black young people who now have money but live too far away to enjoy the cities they live. The rolezinhos are deeply connected to funk ostentação, a new kind of genre in Brazilian music in which the connection to drug traffic from classic funk brasileiro are switched to songs talking about buying stuff, spending money, driving fancy cars, drinking liquor and walking around with beautiful women. Later I’ll do a post about it.
What I find interesting in this song and on other Racionais songs is that they took that really as an aim at which young black people look for. How can one refuse it when all the signs of success are associated with having money and spending it around? On this, one can understand all about gangsta rap. But Mano Brown, Racionais leader lyrics and singer, always emphasizes that those are not the main things that will make people happy, that those are illusory goals, in some way. Even so, why not try it…? Especially when the fate of so many young blacks is to die shortly after their twenties? Live fast, die young. Or, as they say, vida loka.
I was thinking about doing a Racionais post for quite some time. Their sound is very reminiscent of gangsta rap. Not all Brazilian rap is like that, as there are those, like Marcelo D2 (a big name on the Brazilian pop scene), who mix rap with MPB and more “Brazilian” sounds. I kinda like it, but musically Racionais have more pleasant songs (like this one, from their second album, in which they sample Curtis Mayfield).
Near the end they mention their own names, KL Jay, Edy Rock, Ice Blue. KL Jay is the DJ, and the others plus Mano Brown are the MC’s. It may seem strange to say, but although he is sometimes too much overtly polemical, Mano Brown is one of the finest Brazilian public intellectuals from the last two decades.
Racionais have a live DVD which is very interesting, as it also has a documentary on Brazilian black music from the seventies until their own time. You can find a live version of this song here and the whole double studio album from where it came down below:
Brazil 70 Translation Project 