Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Anthem of the Mixed

Her name is T. aka Tasha Reid(Yoon Mi Rae). Mom is Korean and father is African-American. Wife to famous Korean hip-hop/rap artist Drunken Tiger. Multi-awarded but seemingly underrated. This song is called Black Happiness, relating about her experiences growing up colored in a very discriminating Korean society. Words to this music are too profound in the English translation. I hope it had the same effect in Korean. See full English translation below.

Black Happiness (감은행복) by: T
My skin was dark from my past
People used to point at me
Even at my mom
Even at my dad who was black, and in the army
People whisper behind my back
Said this and said that
I always had tears in my eyes
Although I was young
I saw my mother's sadness

Everything
seemed like it was my fault
Because of my guilt
I washed my face everytime during the day
With my tears I melt the white soap
I always hated my dark skin
why O why
Does the world judge me
When I hate the world
I close my eyes

I put my soul into the music my father gave me
I feel the volume
And fly higher and higher
Far away
la musique

(When I hate the world)
(Music soothes me)
(you gotta hold on)
(and love yourself)
(When I hate the world)
(Music raises me up)
(so you gotta be strong)
(you gotta hold on)
(and love yourself)

Time passed and I was thirteen
My skin was dark brown
Music doesn't judge color
They give me light
I lead my music
We lean on eachother
I don't feel lonely
Then one day
I was given a chance
I held on to my microphone

And suddenly I was on stage
I say goodbye to music and ask it to come back
Then I became nineteen
I have to lie
I put white makeup over my face
They told me to wear a mask
They said my mom's race was okay
But not my dad's
Every year my age was nineteen
During times when time stopped

I felt like I was in jail
And I leaned on myself
I spent endless, painful days
I ignored their warnings
And because I missed music
I tried to escape
But no, I got caught
I prayed all night
And now I'm free
credits to: rainieyang09

4 comments:

Cher@SurvivingKorea said...

her husband has a reality/docu currently being shown on tv....but i forgot the channel...kkk

:::April::: said...

oh i love Drunken Tiger! love the progressive Korean hiphop scene here. kahit di ko naiintindihan dinadownload ko pa rin minsan! :) do u listen to kpop too?

bittersweet said...

Hi, saw your link at betchay's today.

This is the first time I've heard of Drunken Tiger (what a tacky name for a very pretty and talented girl as she).

I like the song so much that I'm putting it on repeat mode!

:::April::: said...

@ mybittersweetkoreanlife

Her name is actually Tasha or T. Drunken Tiger is her husband. They're like hiphop royalty here I think. Her husband is more popular though. check out youtube or in Mnet. He has a new album coming out.