Memento [English translation]

I lose the heart of the story in trying to follow the tempo

Suddenly the picture fades: I'm in a scene from

Amnesiac writing, I lose myself in a few beats

I rap a couple of lines, and I forget it all immediately.

[verse 1]

This evening, I'm speaking to you about show-biz because perhaps it's seized my attention

I ate at the soup kitchen now I'm hanging out with the celebs who do a benefit gig to support it 1.

But I need to bring the stage crew, I'll be introduced for these losers

Ill dance the Ndombolo 2 for Dancing with the Stars 3

We dance with sharks, so we need to impose ourselves

I'm too ghetto for show-biz, but too rich to hang out in the corridors of housing blocks.

What's my role, tell me. I'm twenty....

Ah, wait, what was I just rapping about?

[verse 2]

Yeah, there's too many series. I sleep more at night, so according to my bio, I no longer have a social life. Even when I sleep, I dream in HBO 4

I hang out with Tywin Lannister, the lieutenant Cavanaugh

Stringer Bell, Avon Barksdale and Tony Soprano

Pollos Hermanos, Olivia Pope, Jimmy Darmody

Frank Underwood, Maria LaGuerta and Nicholas Brody

Gustavo Fring, McManus, Ari Gold

... Ah what was I just talking about?

[verse 3]

Yeah, now, there's more trouble, one day you're rapping with a brother

The next day, the world turns back on itself, and he becomes a fucking traitor

To stop yourself making assumptions, stop inventing things

Despite the lies told about me, I'll tell the truth about you

I'm not even angry, we've nothing to prove to ourselves

but good

Quit your babbling, when in reality we can find ourselves

With your life on your side, brief...

I don't even know any more what I wanted to say to him

Because death doesn't give a warning, I've become hardcore

And greedy, seeing that today is the first day of the rest of my life

I rely on nothing but my songs and my... 5

Ah, no, I've already rapped about that.

[verse 4]

(nonsense syllables)

We don't remember more of the theme, we've just given our verse in nonsense syllables.

Mongol Rap, I'm Ghengis Khan, I'm in my yurt

Why did your mother pretend not to see me on facebook when I added her?

Completely torn, I've got the brain of an oil-soaked sparrow

I'm so soaked that I'm waiting till August to dry out

And but.... But what album are we rapping on

Ah I don't know... I don't remember ... me neither

[verse 5]

Yeah, there are questions that leave me incredulous

If you can read the Qu'ran, why do you read the Qu'ran for dummies?

Why does Africa squander itself?

Why are geeks and white rappers obsessed by multisyllabic rhymes?

Does this piece have a goal? Is it just a freestyle?

Do dead rich people go to a tax haven as paradise?

Do I remember the theme of this text?

No, fucking hell, I'm completely lost

[outro]

But when did you decide to...

1. Resto du Coeur soup kitchen set up by a celebrity and performers who do an annual performance to raise funds for it 2. traditional dance from Democratic Republic of Congo 3. TV show similar to strictly come dancing 4. TV network 5. this is part of a line from one of his previous songs Les apparences nous mentent

• Artist:Youssoupha