Negro Drama Lyrics in English Racionais MC's

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Below, I translated the lyrics of the song Negro Drama by Racionais MC's from Portuguese to English.

Black drama

Verse 1

Between success and the mud

Money, problems, envy, luxury, fame

Black drama

Verse 1

Kinky hair and dark skin

The wound, the sore, searching for a cure

Black drama

Verse 1

You try to see and see nothing

Except for a star

Far away, kind of dim

Verse 1

Feel the drama

The price, the charge

Verse 1

In love, in hate, insane revenge

Black drama

Verse 1

I know who's scheming and who's with me

The trauma I carry

So I won't be just another black

Verse 1

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

You must be thinking

What do you have to do with it?

Verse 1

From the start, for gold and silver

Look who's dying, then

See who it is that kills

Verse 1

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

Verse 1

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

Verse 1

Between the trigger and the storm

Always proving

That I'm a man, not a coward

Verse 1

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

Black drama

(Crime, soccer, music

I couldn't dodge that either

I'm one more

Forrest Gump's everywhere

I prefer to tell a real story

I'll tell mine)

Verse 2

It could be a movie

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

Verse 2

I'm a bit behind, yeah, I think

But the thing is

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

Thanks mom, black drama

Back in the time of the wooden shacks in Pedreira

Where were you?

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 live the black drama

I am the black drama

I'm the fruit of the black drama

Hey Mrs. Ana, speechless

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

Born vagabond!

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SONG MEANING

"Negro Drama" is an explosive rap chronicle in which Racionais MC’s pull back the curtain on life as a Black Brazilian in the outskirts of São Paulo. With rapid–fire verses, the group contrasts glittering images of money, fame and designer labels with harsh scenes of sirens, funerals and cramped alleyways. The repeated phrase nego drama (Black drama) becomes a mantra that sums up a constant tug-of-war: pride in one’s roots versus the daily weight of prejudice, police violence and social neglect. By mixing street slang, poetic metaphors and vivid storytelling, the song invites listeners to step into a world where a child’s “notebook turns into a rifle,” where success can feel like “riding between glory and mud,” and where survival itself is an act of rebellion.

Far more than a complaint, the track is a powerful declaration of resilience. Mano Brown reminds us that “money can take a man out of the favela, but it cannot take the favela out of the man,” celebrating the unbreakable spirit, humor and creativity born in the margins. The lyrics salute hip-hop as both lifeline and loudspeaker, transforming personal scars into collective strength. As the beat rolls on, "Negro Drama" urges its audience to question who truly writes history, to recognize the beauty in Black identity, and to keep their heads high—ready to “rise from the ashes, firm and strong, a natural-born warrior of faith.”

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Racionais MC's Negro Drama Lyrics