Les Bâtisseurs de France - Toma

Les Bâtisseurs de France
Reviewed/Translated by John Elkhoury
Like all my music reviews, I start with a French to English translation then critique the lyrics and style.
COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM


Y'a du reggae dans mon blues
There is some raggae in my blues
De la gagne dans ma loose
Some win in my rotten luck
Du rhum dans ma bossa
Some rum in my drink
Et c'est très bien comme ça
And it's excellent like that
Mon kiné est chinois
My physical therapist is Chinese
Mon dentiste renoi
My dentist is black
Mon chirurgien malien
My surgeon is Malian
Crois moi, ça change rien
Believe me, that changes nothing

Le Verlan - French Slang

Attention, il y a des "keufs" dans la banlieue..

Le verlan (pronounced ver-lan) is a form of French argot (slang). Verlan first became used in the poor communities around Paris following the 2nd World War. Since then, it's popularity rose due to its presence in the music and film culture. Nowadays French youth and various genres of music utilize verlan, enhancing musical style and depicting certain cultural/social backgrounds. This article will discuss how verlan is created and provide examples to it's modern day usage.

Creation and Usage of Verlan:
Verlan is created by the inversion of syllables within a word. It's funny because the word verlan is actually an example of this process, being the inversion of the French word for "reverse", l'envers (pronounced lan-ver).

Being an oral language, the spelling of verlan depends upon the pronunciation, not the direct inversion of letters. There are four distinct steps to creating a word in verlan: