I try to cover different styles so that you discover a lot of aspects of French music. So here’s a more recent track. In 2017, it is with this video (that’s quite impressing technically), and with this song, that the very famous rapper Orelsan announced that a new album was coming. This first single was very successful and his album got commercial success and was critically acclaimed.
[More about Orelsan]
- Ok
- J’vais sortir un nouvel album
- Mais avant
- Faut qu’on r’voie les bases
- J’vais faire une vidéo simple
- Où j’vais dire des trucs simples
- Parce que vous êtes trop cons
- Simple, basique
- Ok
- Les gens les plus intelligents sont pas toujours ceux qui parlent le mieux (simple)
- Les hommes politiques doivent mentir sinon tu voterais pas pour eux (basique)
- Si tu dis souvent qu’t’as pas d’problème avec l’alcool c’est qu’t’en as un (simple)
- Faut pas faire un enfant avec les personnes que tu connais pas bien (basique)
- Les mecs du FN ont la même tête que les méchants dans les films (simple)
- Entre avoir des principes et être un sale con la ligne est très fine (basique)
- Hugo Boss habillait les nazis, le style a son importance (simple)
- Les dauphins sont des violeurs, ouais, méfie-toi des apparences (basique)
[Refrain :]
- Basique, simple, simple, basique
- Basique, simple, simple, basique
- Vous n’avez pas les bases, vous n’avez pas les bases
- Vous n’avez pas les bases, vous n’avez pas les bases
- Si c’est marqué sur Internet, c’est p’t’être faux mais c’est p’t’être vrai (simple)
- Illuminati ou pas, qu’est-ce que ça change, tu t’fais baiser (basique)
- À l’étranger t’es un étranger, ça sert à rien d’être raciste (simple)
- Les mecs les plus fous sont souvent les mecs les plus tristes (basique)
- Cent personnes possèdent la moitié des richesses du globe (simple)
- T s’ras toujours à un ou deux numéros d’avoir le quinté dans l’ordre (basique)
- Si t’es souvent seul avec tes problèmes, c’est parce que souvent l’problème c’est toi (simple)
- Toutes les générations disent que celle d’après fait n’importe quoi (cliché)
[Refrain, plusieurs fois]
- Okay
- I’m gonna drop a new album
- But before
- We gotta review the basics
- I’m gonna do a simple video
- Where I’ll say simple things
- Because you’re so fucking stupid
- Simple, basic
- Okay
- The most intelligent people aren’t always the ones who talk the best (simple)
- Politicians have to lie, otherwise you would’nt be voting for them (basic)
- If you often say that you don’t have a problem with alcool, it means you have one (simple)
- Do not have a kid with people that you don’t know well (basic)
- The dudes in the FN have the same face as the villains in movies 1 (simple)
- Between having princips and being a big asshole the line is very thin (basic)
- Hugo Boss used to dress the Nazis, style has its importance (simple)
- Dolphins are rapists, yeah, beware of appearances 2 (basic)
[Chorus :]
- Basic, simple, simple, basic
- Basic, simple, simple, basic
- You ain’t got the basics, you ain’t got the basics
- You ain’t got the basics, you ain’t got the basics
- If it’s written on the Internet, it might be wrong but it might be right (simple)
- Illuminati or not, what does it change, you’re fucked (basic)
- Abroad you’re a stranger, it’s useless to be racist (simple)
- The craziest dudes are often the saddest ones (basic)
- A hundred people posses half of the world’s wealth (simple)
- You’ll always be one or two numbers close to having the quinté in the right order 3 (basic)
- If you’re often alone with your problems, it’s because often the problem is you (simple)
- All generations say that the next one is going nuts (cliché)
[Chorus, several times]
Notes :
- The FN (Front National) is a French alt-right political party, created in the 1970’s. In their beginning, under Jean-Marie Le Pen, it was a very radical party, sometimes very racist, antisemitic, homophobic and so on… Since the 1980’s and the 1990’s, their score in the elections are rising, which worries a big part of French society. They became even more “attractive” when Le Pen was replaced by his daughter Marine, who clearly tried to “dediabolize” the party by polishing its political line and by excluding the people who made too much scandal. They arrived twice in the second round of the presidential elections (in 2002 and in 2017) and every year their score seems to be higher. They are considered the main political party nowadays (since all the other crumble at some point) and they have never been closer to winning the power. More generally, they have managed to make their ideas (especially the one about immigration) acceptable, and some of them expanded beyond this party, being now shared by a big part of the right and even by a part of the center. Their image is generally very bad in French music. Here Orelsan seems to hint at a quite popular meme that compared Marine Le Pen’s smile with Voldemort’s smile (the villain in Harry Potter for those who ain’t got the basics !).
- These two statements are true, as strange as they seem… And Hugo Boss are really not the only big group that compromised himself with the Nazis, a lot of big groups are in this case, and not only German ones… See this list for example.
- The “Quinté +” is a very popular horse racing bet in France, often played in some special bars. You have to chose who will win, but you must chose 5 numbers and rank them in the right order.