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= Pam-Pa-Nam =

"Pam-Pa-Nam" is a song by French recording artist Oxmo Puccino featured on his sixth studio album Roi Sans Carosse which has received various positive reviews both online and on mainstream media as it brought together rap music and poetry, satisfying all types and ages of audiences. This song is probably the most appreciated of the album, as it gives an inspiring and accurate view of the city of Paris, called "Paname" in slang (hence the title: Pa-Nam). This song brought some critics to compare Oxmo Puccino to French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, or engaged artist Léo Ferré. Oxmo Puccino recently got decorated by the city of Paris for his work, and especially this song. Every line of these lyrics contains at least one reference or metaphor that can be broken down and studied. In fact, many high school teachers use it to catch students' attention and bring them to study poetry.

Critique
The purely Parisian nature of this song created an obvious link between Oxmo Puccino and Guillaume Apollinaire's poetry, reminding critics of the poem Le Pont Mirabeau, for example.

The poetic aspect of this rap song and the metaphorical wealth that these lyrics display also surprised a huge number of critics and journalists, who often considered rap as a sub-culture revolving around egotistic artists and violent lyrics. Some people consider that Oxmo Puccino teased this new ability to attract audience traditionally not appealed by rap music at the end of the aulbum L'amour est mort, in a song called "Balance la sauce" surrounded by other famous rappers. Indeed, his verse starts with "C'est p'tet la dernière fois que tu m'aimes" meaning "It might be the last time you like me". This song being at the end of the album L'amour est Mort that was followed by more poetic lyrics could very well have announced a will to evolve into a different kind of rap

French version
[Verse 1] J'ai grandi sur une île sans mer, aux vagues sèches et grises Sur les hauteurs, je flottais en visant les autres rives Des globules métissés circulent dans les artères bouchées Du cannibale, aux mille pattes métallique roulant dans ses bouches Qui à l'aube crachent des gens qui baillent, et les mangent aux heures de pointe Les titis n'ont pas le temps de leur ville, les passants viennent de loin Nous, dès qu'on veut profiter d'elle un peu la vie se complique Courir sans la forme olympique, vous trace le regard oblique À force de pression constante, la tension va s'estomper Par imprudence des gens qui s'aiment, sans gare, se laissent tomber Je démontre un escargot à la coquille dure à pénétrer Mais le monstre est beau, à chaque retour, vous reconnaîtrez

[Chorus] Pam Pam Pa Nam Pam Pam Nam Pam Pa Nam ...

[Verse 2] Une créature de bitume, sa voix ferrée te crie dessus Chuchote au marteau piqueur, les petits coeurs sont des fissures Le temps se divise par quatre dans son oesophage C'est lui la bête mais c'est nous qui sommes en cage Sans changer de taille il grossit au risque De serrer sa ceinture jusqu'à déchirer le périphérique À part sur l'avenue tu feras pas dix mètres sans toucher le mur Ou, sans qu'on te bouscule face aux fourmis, tu te sens ridicule Après tout, que serait Batman sans Gotham ? Quand le monstre s'assombrit, que les sourires diminuent C'est à cause des gratte-ciels que les nuages éternuent Alors l'orage gronde et la foudre précède un...

[Chorus]

[Verse 3] Même dans ses rares passages, le soleil sait se faire beau La chaleur accueillie, telle un joli fardeau Magistrale au mois de mai, la joie devient capitale À demi nues sur les terrasses, les fraîcheurs sont admirables Les quais sont florissants, inondés de coulées vertes Chaque rencontre se change en amicale découverte Agrippés aux ailes des bateaux mouches Dans les parcs on pique-nique en chantant...

[Chorus]

English translation
I grew up on an island with no sea, only dry and grey waves On the heights, I floated aiming at the other banks Mixed-race cells move along the blocked arteries Of this cannibal with metal centipedes running in its mouths Who spits yawning people at dawn and eats them at peak time Parisians don't have time for their city, passers-by come from far away Us, as soon as we want to take advantage of life it gets complicated Running without olympic form, slanting eyes follow you By dint of constant pressure, tension will shade off By recklessness people in love, without care, flop down I demonstrate a snail with a hard shell hard to penetrate But this monster is beautiful, at every trip back, you'll recognize...

[Chorus] Pam Pam Pa Nam Pam Pam Nam Pam Pa Nam

[Verse 2] An asphalt creature, its railway line yells at you Whispers with jackhammers, little hearts are fissures Time is divided by four in its oesophagus It is the beast, but it's us who are caged Without changing size it swells to the risk Of squeezing until tearing up the belt highway Except on the avenue you won't walk ten meters without hitting a wall Or, without getting jostled, facing ants, you feel ridiculously small After all, what would Batman be without Gotham? When the monster gets darker, and smiles weaken It's because of skyscrapers that clouds sneeze So when thunder rolls and lightning precede a...

[Chorus]

[Verse 3] Even in its rare appearances, sun knows how to dress itself up Heat is welcomed as nice burden Remarkable in May, happiness become capital Half-naked on terraces, coolnesses are admirable Quay are flourishing, flooded by green slides Each encounter turns into a friendly discovery Grabbed onto the wings of river boats In parks people picnic singing...

[Chorus]

Analysis
As said above, every line of this song contains at least one reference or metaphor that can be broken down and studied, and it starts with the very first one. The rapper plays with the fact that Paris' region is also called "île de France" - "French Island" - although it is not surrounded by sea at all. He then proceeds to giving it the image of a cannibal monster, dangerous and scary. The underground entrances are its mouths, as it eats people at peak time, but it somehow spits them out when they're work is done, so that they can go home and do the same thing the next day. He also uses the very french dish that are snails to describe a city that, when broken down into "arrondissement" - or districts - looks like very much like a snail, with a shell hard to penetrate. Indeed, for him, and anybody leaving outside the city, in the suburbs or even further, getting in the city center is difficult, as it is expensive, long, and sometimes exhausting because of the difference of lifestyle. He thus draws people's attention to the huge "distance" that exist between Paris and its suburbs, even though both are very close geographically. Moreover, floating on the heights - the appartment blocks in the suburbs - he looks at the other banks of the Seine, probably dreaming of reaching them, reaching the beautiful side of the city.]

In the second verse, he switches from a very descriptive approach of the city to an almost sublime effect, as everything starts being distorted, starting with time. Indeed, once in the center of the city, in the monster's oesophagus, he notices that time goes much faster, as people arround him are all in a hurry, as in every big city. The monster is the beast but humans are somehow trapped in it, caged, and forced to come back everyday. The city keeps getting bigger, so big that its belt is about to explode, so big that humans feel smaller than ever, smaller than ants. However, even if this monster seems dangerous, Oxmo Puccino wonders what would Batman be without the criminals-filled city he lives in, and sees a bright side among his fears. The city becomes so big that it threatens nature, making clouds sneeze, deciding when it rains.

Finally, the third verse gets calm again, as it depicts a beautiful Spring day, where heat brings happiness to Parisians, and in an umpteenth pun, the rapper uses Parisian river boat's nickname, bateaux-mouches - fly boats, as in the insect - to show us people grabbed onto the boats to discover the city, and picnic while singing the name of the city.