Get To Know Me ✧ Favourite Music Videos [8/10]
↳ Stranger in the North 漂向北方 - Namewee ft. Wang Leehom 黃明志 ft. 王力宏 (2016)
“Stranger in the North” is a hip hop/ rap collaboration that describes the struggles and disillusionment of beipiao, or Beijing drifters - migrant workers who hope for a better life “up north” only to find that dreams can sometimes lead to disappointment. They are the people who make up the capital’s increasingly diverse “floating population” - the millions of migrants who leave their hometowns and even families behind in search of opportunity but lack the Beijing residence permit (hukou), barring them from obtaining basic services like education and health insurance. The term beipiao is a catchall for anyone working in Beijing without the Beijing hukou, from rural laborers to white-collar workers and even the scrappy musician that Namewee portrays in the music video. The dichotomy between dreams and despair, hope and hopelessness is reflected in the haunting melody sung by Wang, which floats above the gritty tongue-twister rap that Namewee churns out below it.
[Source: singchinesesongsinenglish/wordpress, radiichina]
忍着泪 (不听也不想不敢回头望的遗憾) holding back tears (not listening, not thinking, not daring to turn back to face my regrets)
掩着伤 (扛下了梦想要毅然决然去流浪) covering up wounds (shouldering my dreams, resolutely wandering)
抬头看 (卸下了自尊光环过去多风光) looking up (letting go of my pride, my halo, my brilliant past)
着斜阳 (就算再不堪败仗也不能投降) at the setting sun (never surrendering no matter how bitter the failure)
亲爱的 (再见了南方眺望最美丽的家乡) my loved ones (farewell to the south, gazing at my most beautiful hometown)
在远方 (椰子树摇晃梦境倒映着的幻象) are faraway (the coconut trees are swaying in the illusions from my dreams)
这城市 (雾霾太猖狂不散都看不清前方) this city (the haze is unrelenting, unfading, I can’t see the path ahead)
太迷惘 is too confusing
