Kery James
Racailles English translation
Thugs!
We should clean you up by high pressure cleaner
The day the people will wake up you will pay for your actions
(Thugs!)
We feel like voting
Is merely choosing by whom we want to be cheated
(Thugs!)
Republican or Socialist Party
Put your promises back in your Hermès bags
(Thugs!)
You never knew insecurity
You live far away from our reality
(Thugs!)
The street thinks it, I put it into music
And for those that still don’t know, I make it public
I don’t support any political party, I don’t fall for your lies anymore
You electoral programs are nothing but fairytales
(Thugs!)
The same are chosen to start over again
The same promises, the same lies
The same people stuff their pockets, the same people will take a hit
The same people live in misery, the same people eat
(Thugs!)
The same liars tamper with the same accounts
The same clerks at the service of the same pundits
The same deprived kids are incarcerated
The same rich kids are prepared to reign
Until a man of the people emerges
It’s rare to find an elected politician with a clean record
My hatred of the system is still intact
Who of you can throw the first stone to Cahuzac?
(Thugs!)
Claude Guéant (Thugs!), Balkany (Thugs!), Jean-François Copé (Thugs!)
Philippe Herman (Thugs!), Harlem Désir (Thugs!), Alain Juppé (Thugs!)
All those I cited have been condemned
And it’s the people of the projects that they treated like the damned
(Thugs!)
You were shocked by the group tandem
You do the dame thing to France, but until she bleeds
Until she sinks like Greece or Italy
You have battered the country to the point of agony
(Thugs!)
Dual mandates, how far will you go?
Are you just in it to increase your salary?
(Thugs!)
Like all those at the bottom of French society I no longer believe in politicians
I keep on fighting, I believe in a civil awakening
(Thugs!)
In order to change things you have to want it
Power is your only cause
(Thugs!)
You make politics without principle
Sometimes even to avoid going to prison
(Thugs!)
The real scoundrels are wearing a suit
You don’t believe in anything, and no one still believes in you
(Thugs!)
Just take a look at the abstention rate
Don’t take us for fools too much, be careful
(Thugs!)
The tide is turning
Only the riot police stands between you and the streets
(Thugs!)
Out of breath, your system is in a dead-end
Struggling like a cripple
(Thugs!)
You were elected for a reason
You don’t do what you’re supposed to do
You do the opposite
It doesn’t even bother you
(Thugs!)
And for when the people decide to rebel
You have an army well-trained, zealous cops
(Thugs!)
The social dialogue is long gone
The cops shoot with flash-balls, it may cost you an eye
(Thugs!)
They want to increase the anti-police sentiment
Use the police like a private army
“The politician, wether man or woman, currently, though tomorrow I may
Change my mind, is useless; nothing but a service provider. These damned debts
That piss everybody off, that put peoples to their knees, that we can’t eliminate, like you
Politicians: you are unable to eliminate those damn debts… Because the banks are stronger than you!”

(Thugs!)
Everybody knows it, it is obvious
You are completely ruled by the finance sector
(Thugs!)
Voting for the laws ordered by the rich
After article 49.3 nothing surprises me anymore
(Thugs!)
We work more but earn less
We are waiting for the European Spring
We contribute to pensions we may never see
All the money we make, you take it back
(Thugs!)
Every end of the month we are in debt
We feel like the slaves of the banking system
(Thugs!)
Even the rich know the game, enjoy the tax loopholes
Small SMEs are drowning in social charges
(Thugs!)
Speed camera, we pay!
Toll road, we pay!
Pollution, we pay!
(Thugs!)
Oh, and what do you do with all this dough?
And why the hell did you broadcast Eric Zemmour on public television?
(Thugs!)
Paying to spread the hate
Sowing seeds harvested by the Front National
You even treat Marine le Pen as respectable company
Whoever fights the Islam is welcome at your table
(Thugs!)
Incapable of governing, you divide
(Thugs!)
Incapable of uniting, you stigmatize
(Thugs!)
Blinded by power your hearts are veiled
Much more so than the face of this woman wearing the veil
(Thugs!)
All your would-be principles of laicity
Do not concern this Saudi woman on the Champs Elysées
For you, all is negotiable, a matter of cash
You’d even be prepared to deport the projects to Qatar
(Thugs!)
Your game is shady
(Thugs!)
Your speech is double-tongued
(Thugs!)
In the so-called country of Human Rights
(Thugs!)
The state of emergency has become the norm
And you claim to lecture the entire world
Imposing democracy with mortar bombardments
You killed Gaddafi without pity
In what state is Libya left in today?
Because we know it, I put it into music
Your media silents it, I make it public
I stand up to you like a guy from the Minguettes hood
Will this text cause my to get on your national security threat list?
I’m standing my ground
I’ll never give up
I keep my head up, with integrity
I make hip-hop
You call it n***a music
I’m now independent
You’ll never see me again at Skyrock
(Never, never)
They don’t like what I am, what I stand for, what I wear
The feeling’s mutual
They corrupted R-A-P
I’m part of the escapees
They praised mediocrity
They made hip-hop into middle of the road music
They used the beef to divide us
As long as it sells, they let us diss each other
When a rapper gets whacked
They’ll organise a peace concert
Yeah!
I make music to protest
You sell advertising space
(Thugs!)
I sacrificed myself for my little brothers
You play games that send them to their graves
(Thugs!)
Money and violence in your playlists
You dumb down my people, the Elite is pleased
(Thugs!)
You used me, I used you
In order to make my message heard by as many as possible
Now I can do without you
I have a fanbase that supports me
I did things, the people remember
The streets are sick of you, I let it be known
Nothing has changed since Lettre à la République