A couple of weeks ago I bought Diam’s latest album S.O.S., released on November 13th this year.
I have only one other Diam’s album, the 2006 Dans ma bulle and essentially S.O.S. is pretty much more of the same, that’s to say, very solid hip hop with the occasional track that stands out.
In fairness, I think there are a few more stand out songs on this album than on Dans ma Bulle and I think Coeur De Bombe is one of those tracks.
Interestingly it is the only track that I put in my “favourite french songs” playlist while I was listening to the album for the first time although I certainly don’t think it is the strongest track on the album.
In any case, it’s the song I am going to translate in this post!
There is a usage of the verb tomber “to fall” which means “to bump into”, as in Je suis tombé sur mon ami. I’ve left the translation of tombé sur une bombe in the chorus as “fell on a bomb” as I think the image is preferable to any other translation.
The last translation was one of my favourites – it’s rare to find mainstream pop music with lyrics as interesting to translate as those found in Bénabar’s songs.
This next translation is just as interesting and is a result of my growing enjoyment of French hip hop.
Sinik is one of the heavy weights (poids lourds) of the French Hip-Hop scene. His forthcoming album, Ballon d’or to be released in December will be his last before he dedicates himself to a career as a producer.
Sorry that it’s been two days since my last post but I wanted to get this right and I hope I’ve done it justice.
The song Je réalise is from his 2007 album Le toit du monde (the roof of the world). It features British singer James Blunt – an unlikely pairing certainly seeings as James Blunt is not considered one of the most “street” of British pop acts. Sinik raps in French while James Blunt sings extracts from his song “I’ll take everything” in English.
It’s always rewarding to translate Hip Hop tracks – it’s not always so much fun to listen to James Blunt but he sounds fine here.
Before I get to the business of translating some lyrics I wanted to introduce you to another of my favourite albums.
IAM is a long-established hip-hop band. IAM stands for, most of the time, Invasion Arrivée de Mars meaning something like “Invasion from Marseille”.
My English-language Hip-Hop exposure is limited to the mainstream such as Dr. Dre, Eminem, etc… so I’m not in a great position to review this album in the context of the wider world of Gangster Rap, but what I can tell you without fear of contradiction is that I love this album.
A few months ago I started to translate one of the songs for the site but I wasn’t sure whether it was wise to try to translate the colourful language. I will take another shot shortly now that I’m not overly concerned about keeping this site as white as snow.
It only occurred to me to mention this album again when I was struggling with a deadline for a client in the early hours of last night. I put on my bins and fired up this album and work seemed less of a chore…
