I Am Somebody [English translation]

I spent 28 years of my life looking for equilibrium

Even though I was free in my guts, I always felt empty

Prisoner of my torments, I would have done anything to be freed1

My teenage years were fatherless, it was my mom who filled the fridge

Identity crisis, I didn't feel French

I didn't really care about WWII, La Marseillaise2 and Louis XVI

I'm not from here, it's written on my passport

I wanna be a MC, I'll never hold a degree

Always on the fringe while chicks wore skirts and hair clips

My baggy pants were large, I was a fighter! Man! Nothing can stop me!

Thirsty for what's forbidden, I was a rebel without knowing it

Peace and aging softened me so I found something to drink3

My stomach was full, rage was seething deep in my guts

And I wear my heart on my sleeve, I think I've been generous ever since I was little

I don't wanna brag, it's simply the way I am

Even though I played hard, deep inside I was but a feather

I am somebody...

1.68 meter tall, 40 cm wide

I definitely wasn't a motor for young men in heat

And so, in need of attention because my friends were pretty popular,

I put one foot into hope and the other into hip-hop

My ambition: to rap better than all those little rappers

Telling me: wow, you really don't look the part

A first album slammed in too many reviews

I was failure incarnate, hard times, I was indebted

Little broken white girl, black-haired, hard stare

I lost my dignity, sequestered in the wilderness

You know all about my suffering, it made me a cruder woman4

I didn't like how I looked anymore, so I shaved my head

A Pink side, a punk side, either way I wasn't in

And if girls like Kate Moss sniff coke well, I'm ugly!

A girly side, a thug side, a 'vote the style' side

If rap is money, then I'm the queen!

I am somebody...

I made my comeback in 2003, Diam's makes the camping dance

The crazy things I do upset the rap game, but I make the Antilles islands wanna dance

In Africa, I enjoy myself from Gabon to Senegal

Suburban woman wearing Nike sneakers, I walk in the jungle in Guiana

Throughout the French territory, I cumulate the small scenes

I rap, I run, the crowd shouts, I was made for this!

I love people too much, they give me the love I had been missing on

Then I meet my idols, Joey Starr5 and Kool Shen6

In the tunisian desert, in Moroco, I play my songs

And in lieu of dessert, I feel like I'm in Cyprus when I'm in Algeria

First big paycheck, I buy an apartment for my mother

The villa with view on the sea is still too expensive, but it'll come

People watch me, when I bask in the sun you still take my picture

That's why I hit paparazzis and destroy everything on 'Voici'

Those bastards won't get me during a year under the sun

I disappear from under the spotlights and get back into my bubble7

I am somebody...

It's 2006, I'm on stage before the album comes out

When the media knock me down, the public is my atoll

I feel better amongst them, to them I'm BIG

So I try my best not to become a drugged out VIP

Boosted by DJ Dimé8, everywhere, even in stadiums

Belgium and Switzerland stand gaping before the Diam's-Marc fight9

When people attack me I simply unholster my calculator

So they remember how much money 'La boulette' made10

I rap with my heart, I'm having a blast with the crowd

On the first page of every magazine, I get kind of frightened

But when I'm in Cameroun, I realize that France is just like Alaska

Internet made a star out of me, even down in Madagascar

The heat of Ivory Coast, the colors of Tahiti

Nouméa, wise Kanaks talking to me about the rain

I fly over Réunion, over the sea in an helicopter

It's only later I'll understand what the most beautiful sight on Earth is

I am somebody...

And it's now the end of 2007, I end up alone in my apartment

My head is a puzzle, I'm a millionaire

I feel guilty, it is much too heavy for my frail shoulders

Is God really so great? Did I really fulfill my part?

So I'm looking for answers to my doubts, to my scars

Little star, I'm done for, I get out in a jumble

From a psychiatric clinic, the meds are getting to my head

At the Victoire de la musique11, my glory brings me to tears

So I run away, I travel, Mauritius and Bali

I dream about the Maldives, and of walking in Mali, too

My friends support, motivate and watch me

And my mother hides her sorrow under billions of 'I love you's

I'm short on strength when people point at me on the street

I like the love people bestow on me, but not being overestimated

All those looks make me uncomfortable, those girls who burst into tears when they see me

The media's glory is too much for me, so now I look it up and down from afar

I am somebody...

For the time being, I write this song the heart filled with journeys

On my BlackBerry, 'cause Barack made me love merit

November 4th 2008, I'm on a flight for America

I'm living an historical moment in the streets of NYC

Tourists, visas, the face of America is changing

We don't stare each other down anymore, we're proud of where we come from!

The politics of hope fill me with fight

I, too, want to believe it; I, too, am from Kenya!

I, too, want to fight and help the penniless

In the world if I can, and in my desunified country

Far from the Bastille, May 6th, scarves and tear gas

I see myself shouting "Sarkozy, fascist, the people will do you in!"

The tax department knows I wrote a million Euro check to the State

But if God wants it to, it'll be useful for schools, for the ill

I see myself at the accountant and the tax collector's office

I understand that I went up the social ladder and that I'm in a comfortable place

I am somebody...

2009, I know that being on stage isn't my only strength

It also resides in Amnesty and the Secours populaire12

Thanks to radio stations and tv channels for having been my springboard

To the written press and Internet, even though they're full with puppets

May those who love me follow me now, media create those they want to see

It's up to you whether you play my songs or not, I don't give a damn about singles

What really matters to me is what my music brings me

A human touch, far from the fights of my hip hop

I don't want to be stared at anymore, I just want to be accepted

I want my lyrics to be more important than the color of my sweatpants

I don't wanna have anything to do with your shitty late night television debates

It's a motherly fight I'm leading know, it's a sword fight

So I don't care about your forum, the only one I really liked was my own

And the Skyrock13 teams following my every move

To all the letters I received but never replied to,

I gotta admit it was tense, thousands of them for a single pen

And thanks to God I understood that success is only ephemeral

That the magazines and the tv shows can only be used to make peace

To all the paparazzis who enjoyed taking pictures of my cellulite

Gentlemen, you should go and film what is being hidden from us in Africa

And to all those who are dear to me: I feel better in the dark

So I'll be giving out concerts quite often, if you'd like to see me

Light up your lighter in the venue, it'll light up Africa

I'm here to bring home the Best Money-Maker award

When rappers puff out their chests to make young girls fall for them14

I tell myself that maybe the rap is dead, that maybe I should bring it back to life...

But luckily there are always a few new songs on Boosta-p15

In 13 years, I've seen so many people touching and feeling themselves

Between a Féfé, a Mercedes, they wanted to pretend to be american16

Today they're all high, they can't afford living in Paris

I'll explain, I got moles on every team, oh

To all the hypocrites, here's my chick flow

Those who get some honor are scarce, but here is my sympathy

To the Marseillais with a lot of heart, to the Mafia K-1 Fry17

I'll explain, the future of French rap is in the heart of a girl

Ever since MCs put out videos with their ass well-molded in their jeans

I am somebody...

1. 'J'aurai tout fait' sounds weird to me, so I assumed 'j'aurais tout fait' was the intended meaning.2. France's national anthem.3. Or 'I started to drink', I guess. The French sentence isn't all that clear.4. 'Brut de femme' is the title of one of Diam's' previous albums.5. Joey Starr.6. Kool Shen.7. 'Dans ma bulle' is yet another Diam's album.8. One of her nicknames.9. Marc-Olivier Fogiel.10. 'La boulette', Diam's single.11. Victoires de la musique, French gala.12. Secours populaire français, as a Quebecois I honestly couldn't explain what it is.13. Skyrock.14. Not sure about the first part of this line.15. Boost-pa, French rap site.16. I'm not sure what a 'féfé' may be, and I assumed 'merco' meant Mercedes, but I could be wrong.17. Mafia K-1 Fry.