Between success and the mud
Money, problems, envy, luxury, fame
Kinky hair and dark skin
The wound, the sore, searching for a cure
You try to see and see nothing
In love, in hate, insane revenge
I know who's scheming and who's with me
So I won't be just another black
The drama of jail and favela
Tomb, blood, siren, crying and candles
Passenger of Brazil, São Paulo, agony
Who survive among honors and cowardice
Outskirts, alleys, tenements
What do you have to do with it?
From the start, for gold and silver
The uniform that does evil gets the credit
Seeing me poor, locked up or dead is already cultural
Stories, records and writings
It's not a tale or fable, legend or myth
Hasn't it always been said blacks get no chance?
Then look at the castle and
It wasn't you who built it
I'm brother to my battle homies
I was the flesh, now I'm the blade itself
Clink-clink, a toast to me
I'm an example of wins, routes and glories
Money pulls a man out of misery
But it can't rip the favela out of him
Only a few step on the field to win
The soul keeps what the mind tries to forget
I look back, see the road I walked, long time
Who stood side by side and who just clung to the boot
Between phrases, phases and several stages
Of who's who, of the bros and the weak chicks
Hm, black drama in style
To be, if you are you gotta be
If you're scared, you're corn
Between the trigger and the storm
That I'm a man, not a coward
May God watch me, 'cause I know he's not neutral
He eyes the rich but loves those from the ghetto
I wear black inside and out
Warrior, poet, between time and memory
Well, in this story I see dollars and many carats
I tell the brother don't die and also don't kill
The tick-tock doesn't wait, watch the hand
This road's poisonous and full of mortars
Nightmare, hmm, is a compliment
For those living in war, peace never existed
In the hot climate, my people sweat cold
I saw a little black boy, his notebook was a rifle, rifle
I couldn't dodge that either
Forrest Gump's everywhere
I prefer to tell a real story
A black woman with a kid in her arms
Alone in the forest of concrete and steel
Look, check that face again in the crowd
The crowd is a faceless, heartless monster
Hey, São Paulo, land of skyscrapers
The drizzle cuts the flesh, it's the Tower of Babel
Brazilian family, two against the world
Single mom to a promising vagabond
Lights, camera, action, rolling the scene
A bastard, another brown kid without a dad
Hey, plantation master, I know exactly who you are
Alone you can't handle it, alone you can't walk in
You said you were good and the favelas heard
There they've got whiskey, Red Bull, Nike shoes and rifles too
I admit, your cars are nice, yeah, and I can't make them
Internet, VCR, those crazy cars
I'm a bit behind, yeah, I think
Your game is dirty and I don't fit
I'm a huge problem, from Carnival to Carnival
I came from the jungle, I'm a lion, too much for your yard
I've got a thousand school issues, a thousand stories
Unbelievable, but your son copies me
Among you he's the smartest
He swings and speaks slang; not slang, dialect
He's not yours anymore, he rose
I came through your radio, took over, you didn't even notice
'We' are this or that, what? Didn't you say so?
Your son wants to be black, how ironic
Put up the 2Pac poster, what about it? What do you say?
Feel the black drama, go on, try to be happy
Hey big shot, who made you so good like that?
What did you give, what do you do, what have you done for me?
I got your ticket, I mean kit
Of open sewer and plywood wall
I didn't die of shame, I'm solid, here I am
But you, you won't cross when the Red Sea opens
I'm the brother, tough man, from the ghetto, Brown, oh yeah
That crazy one who can't fail
The one you hate to love right now
Brown skin and I listen to funk
And where do diamonds come from? The mud
Back in the time of the wooden shacks in Pedreira
What did you do for me?
What have you done for me?
Now you're eyeing the money I make?
Now you're eyeing the car I drive?
Too late, I want more, I even want your soul
Yeah, rap made me who I am
Ice Blue, Edy Rock and KL Jay
And the whole family, every generation that makes rap
The generation that revolutionized, the one that'll revolutionize
Nineties, twenty-first century, that's how it is
Yeah, you leave the ghetto
But the ghetto never leaves you, got it brother?
You're driving a car
The whole world is watching you, understand?
Know why? Because of your origin, brother
That's how you live, it's the black drama
I didn't read it, I didn't watch it
I'm the fruit of the black drama
You are a queen, queen
But if I have to go back to the favela
I'll go back with my head high
Because that's how it is, rising from the ashes
Steady and strong, warrior of faith