A song composed by Yassine Tadlaoui et Samuel Légitimus

english translation:

I am born in Harlem
In 1924
My colour is the same
That the one of Kit Kat
Elder of nine Children
I didn't fool around
As I was the older
For them I worried
Harlem it's violent
It's the great mess
I felt powerless
And I hated my father
He was not my real father
But a adoptive one
You know in Harlem
We live as captives
My father paid a lot
For the colour of his skin
And in his job
He was poorly paid
To keep from living
The pain and the torture
I have early discovered
A writing skill!

Everybody say my name
Ji...Ji...Ji...Ji...Ji...Jimmy
Everybody knows my name
I was called James Baldwin (bis)

I lived among books
My life it was words
I was not a lout
I escaped from the ghetto
My father to say the least
Was never supportive
My mother, on the other hand
She always believed in me
I quickly beat my father
On his own field
(fourteen years old)
I became a preacher
I know it was insane
(Fifteen years old)
I reached one age
Where in Harlem it's the worst
(Sixteen years old)
All my buddies around me
Sacrified their future

(Seventeen years old)
It's the age where religion
Gone out of my view
It's also at the same age
That I decide to go away
Becoming a writer
It was my destiny
I had to be a witness
From where I was born
But to do it well
Means i leave from Harlem
One ticket to Paris
Was my lucky card!

Everybody say my name
Ji...Ji...Ji...Ji...Ji...Jimmy
Everybody knows my name
I was called James Baldwin (bis)