Plastilina Mosh - Millionaire

en las cosas que no llegan cuando esperas demás This song which I first came across on internet radio invariably reminds me of the Latino community in the United States. To be sure, I can’t claim to be very familiar with it, given that I have never been to the United States and I have only ever met a handful of U.S. Latinos. But many years ago when I started my short-lived exploration of rock music internet forums, I was a member of a page called rockero.com, where I left comments on other forum members’ pages, added friends and even chatted sometimes, without many lasting impressions, given that I could hardly understand the mostly Mexican chat slang, so I spent my time trying to decipher answers like “sip”, “k peds” and “haber”. At this point I have met many Latinos and many Americans and I feel there is something tragic about the Latino community in the U.S. Sure, many of them may have a better life there economically, but if you have ever been to a Latin American country, you will know the sense of community and support structures that can be found in many of them and which are simply absent in the barren landscapes of the big "Western" cities. If you can empathize with both sides, you can understand how many Americans may misunderstand the Latino community and how many Latinos may feel unwanted in America which certainly amounts to a tragedy if you know anything about how Latinos are. This song reflects some of that, namely an indistinct hope for a better future, a day that never comes, becoming a millionaire one day. Going through some bleak times myself these days, living in one of the most expensive European metropolises somewhat against my will, for an indefinite time and with little enough money to exclude me from much that I used to take for granted during times in less absurdly expensive places, I understand exactly how it feels. What I like about this song is its light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek character; the rapping sounds off-the-cuff, close to normal speech, and the rhythm of the rapping blends well with the beat. In a way, it sounds like a Friday afternoon song, like a song for people who have a dull routine and need something to keep up their spirits, who are working towards a better future. But there are two weak points to this song: First, the video is pretty stupid. While I was transcribing this song, I must have watched it a hundred times and I still find it pretty stupid… they could have made more out of that. But far worse, it is never ever acceptable to rhyme “millionaire” with “Tony Blair”. Not only because the song rapidly loses actuality, but because the last thing I want to be reminded of when listening to light-hearted and fun Latino rock/rap is the memory of this American lapdog and terrible war-monger who is personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, and has single-handedly ruined a country, leaving it in the state in which I am forced to cope with it today. Who would not want to be a millionaire? Probably no one you or I know, but probably everyone would be better off not becoming one, that is even a statistical fact. Research shows that people who do not lack the means for basic subsistence live happier lives than those who don’t, so up to a certain point, yes, you can say that people’s happiness increases proportionally to their wealth. But once you get past a point of being wealthy enough as not to have to worry about your subsistence, additional wealth does not equate to increased happiness, and I am absolutely certain that being a millionaire is already way past the point of meeting your basic needs. My problems and those of most people I know cannot really be solved with money. Surveys indicate that most people who describe themselves as happy point out that their happiness is owed to things such as family, friends, sex and sports, yet still most people have the erroneous belief that it will be money which ultimately affords them happiness. Living where I do nowadays, I occasionally catch myself increasingly subscribing to this view which is a surefire sign that I should get out of here as soon as I can.