C'est du lourd [English translation]

I remember, mama who raised us single-handedly, woke us up for school when we were kids. She listened to the radio as she made our butter spreads, and then she would go to work in the cold, at night. That's the real deal.

Or Majid's dad who worked all these years with his hands, outside, come rain, shine or wind, without ever complaining. That's the real deal.

And there are all these people who came to France to pursue a dream and even if the life they got seems to be a nightmare, they've kept their honor intact, they've never given themselves over to resentment. That's the real deal; that's what's up.

And there are also others who wake up at will, late at night, making money, in more ways than one, those whose point of reference is cash, who go like "the end justifies the means" and those who make reference to girls, with whom they try to have their way. That's not the real deal.

The dudes who act all tough on the blocks, dealing a little in coke, sometimes in crack, and say "I've lived life, man!", when they know nothing. That's not the real deal.

I think of those who will go to all lengths to do what's right, who got their woman pregnant, and say to her, "I love you, I'm going to accept it, it's no big deal, it's okay", who go to grind, sometimes for a derisory salary, but the rent to be paid, the food to be brought home, brother, it will be with honest money, with clean money. That's the real deal.

I think of all these girls we despised because they came from the ghetto, who showed that with sheer tenacity, force, intelligence, and independence, they could do something with their lives, that they could achieve something in life. That's the real deal.

But then there's your middle-class person too, kind of phony - but attention, I'm not making a sweeping statement, I'm not saying that all these middle-class people here are condescending, paternalistic or totally full of themselves, no, because that's not the real deal - all I'm saying is that some people have missed the point by thinking that being French is a religion, a skin color, or the thickness of a crocodile-skin purse. That's stupid, that's not the real deal, that's...

France, she's beautiful, you know that's the truth, France, we love her, you only need to go back to the hoods, France is beautiful, look at all these pretty faces getting intertwined. That's the real deal.

And when you insult this nation, when you insult your country, in fact you're insulting yourself, we need to rise up, we need to fight together, let's not pay attention to those guys who say, "you're a part of it" or "you're dreaming", these hateful people who say "you'll soon come back to your senses", because if we've been able, if we've been able to come face to face with our differences, under a single banner, as one people, as one man, what will they all say? Well, that's the real deal, the real deal, that's sick...

• Artist:Abd al Malik