Je viens de là [English translation]

You could not really say you choose your place of birth,

what the five senses will discover little by little

As for me, one day my parents settled down, and so

these particular sidewalks witnessed my first steps.

I'm from the place where guys hang out in packs to stave off boredom

I'm from the place where down below they play soccer in the middle of the night

I'm from the place where they pay attention to the brand of their clothing

Even if you get them from the local market, style is no laughing matter

I'm from the place where the language evolves constantly

Verlan1, Arabic, argot, considerable creative process

Around here, scientists and linguists are taking appointments

We don't always use the same dictionnary, but we have more words than you

I'm from the place where youngsters all have a degree in jokes

A masters in leg pulling, comebacks that never break down

Cleverness of the street, of working out or of the daily grind

Call it whatever you like, but good luck if you're trying to cross us

We swear on our mother's head since when whe're 9

Insults come to us easily, but with a novel vocabulary

I'm from the place where they breakdance from the first parties on

I'm from the place where the first dates are in front of a hot dog2 stand

I'm from the place where they love rap, this music that sweats

that smells of authenticity, that hands down, that testifies, that breathes

I'm from the place where there is loud sound and quite a lot of bitter rhymes

I'm from the place where noone is schocked by a band named "screw your mom"3

{chorus x2}

That's where I'm from, and I like it, whathever they might think

To each his territory, to each his France

I pay an homage to this place, with every breath I take

Since it's from here that comes my inspiration4

I'm from the place where temptation winks from the age of 12

to meddle in shady business and countless schemes

I'm from the place where taking the wrong way is all too easy

and to pick your way you'll have to brush quite a few doubts aside

I'm from the place where violence is a quite familiar neighbour

A guy bleeding in the schoolyard is a daily sight

I'm from the place where too often a lot of naughty kids

find their spending money by snatching handbags

I'm from the place where they become sportsmen, artists, singers

but also lawyers, civil servants or senior executives

Don't you get me wrong, I still have a lot of jobs on my list

Avoid prejudices and newsreels clichés

I'm from the place where people talk, where people mix

As for me it's the lack of smell and noise that bothers me5

I'm from the place where a rainbow has not 6 but 18 colours

I'm from the place where France is a cosmopolitan country

I'm from the place where, more than everywhere else, there's a real energy

I really feel that, this is no demagogy

We have no monopoly on merit nor eagerness

Still the place where I'm from is a good school of hard knocks

I'm from the place where they are a bit mistrustful and too often paranoid

We often think they don't like us, now there might be some truth in that

Just see how televison talks about the place I'm from

If I did not know better, I would not even walk my dog there

{chorus x2}

I'm from the place where, like everywhere, people sleep and dream

I'm from the place where people are born, people love and die like dogs6

See, the place I'm from is just like any place on Earth

It's just a hell of a place with quite a personality

I'm from a place where they are proud to say where they're from

I don't know why, but that's a fact: we are all a bit chauvinistic

I could have had a different life somewhere else, that's too bad or for the better

This is where I grew up and shaped my personality

I'm from the suburbs...

1. basic French slang widespread since the 80's, where words are split in two and put back backwards2. "greek sandwiches" (grilled meat with onions, tomatoes, lettuce and a vast choice of highly carboyhdrated sauces) are a very popular junk food in France3. lNTM93 (Nique ta mère [from the] 93) is an iconic band from the 90's. 93 is the zip code from the Paris suburban department of Seine-Saint-Denis, (in)famous for rampant poverty and social issues4. sorry, I could not render the pun on inhale/exhale, but it's there in French :)5. Alusion to a very famous faux-pas of former prime minister and president Jacques Chirac (he was only mayor of Paris and leader of a conservative political party at the time, in 1991), who explained that the immigrants from Arabic and "black" origins were concievably hard to stand (what with their plethoric families, including an unknown number of wives allowing them to earn 3 times the income of a hardworking "French" couple just from social wellfare), and that their noise and smell seeping through thin walls of cheap proletarian appartment buildings were the straw that could break your poor and hardworking Frenchman's back. This prompted the band Zebda to write a song named "le bruit et l'odeur" in 1995, and this "noise and smell" became a symbol of rampant racism in French society.6. "crever" is basically used for animals or in various derogatory expressions (va crever -> drop dead, etc). I never could find a proper equivalent in English

• Artist:Grand Corps Malade