This is my first time writing a review to post via https://scrobble.life/

Although I'm quite eclectic when it comes to movies, series, music, and audiovisual titles, I've never considered myself very good at writing reviews, but what I enjoy most is expressing my feelings about a particular title, what it evokes in me, whether it's a song or something visual.

So, I decided to do it my ninja way and, to debut this, talk about a song that I've carried with me for a long time and that is basically my mantra for life. Basically, I write its name everywhere on my social media. In the BIO category, I usually just write it:

Life is a Challenge

From the group Racionais MC's, and for me that's it: life is a challenge, a great and insane challenge, and since I was a teenager I've carried this phrase with me, because my life is a challenge, just like many other people's.

For those who don't know it, here it is via YouTube:

It has strong rhymes and conveys a message of just that, that life is a great challenge to be overcome, but that perhaps you won't always win. But just because something can't be conquered doesn't mean you can't try, that you can't fight to achieve what you want.

I want to present to you some parts of the song and my perspective on what I feel when listening to it and reflecting on what the music is trying to convey. Of course, it may be that nothing I say is what the song truly intends to convey, but the interpretation of life and everything is unique to each person; each feeling is unique and special.

Technical Information:

Composers: Adivaldo Pereira Alves (Edi Rock) (UBC), Cristian de Souza Augusto (Afro-X) (SOCINPRO)

Publishers: Cosa Nostra (UBC), Warner (UBC)

Administration: Altafonte Brasil (UBC)

Release Date: October 27, 2002.

Cover of Album

Album: The track is part of the group's fifth studio album, titled "Nada como um Dia após o Outro Dia."

Source: Wikipedia

Its beginning is impactful:

It's always necessary to believe that the dream is possible
That the sky is the limit and you, my friend, are unbeatable
That the bad times will pass, it's just a phase
And suffering fuels your courage even more

Because that's what has to happen: it's necessary to believe that everything is possible, that the dream is achievable; after all, if you don't believe, who will? Almost no one helps or supports you, so you yourself have to believe that the sky is the limit, that every bad phase will pass, just as the good phases also pass.

Suffering is what fuels our courage. Difficulties must be used as fuel and not as tears; we must make challenges the stepping stones on our ladder to success or to achieving what we desire.

Next comes:

That your family needs you
Side by side, to support you if you win
I'm talking about the love between a man, son, and woman
The only universal truth that sustains faith

In this part, when you are a child or teenager, you don't even feel the weight of it, but after you become a father/mother, you understand that one of the main challenges of life is precisely this: to live and do for your family, because they need you, that you be strong, incredible, invincible, even when crumbling inside or crying in the shower.

Although at that time people still talked a lot about the traditional family, the love between a man, son, and wife, we know that today all forms of love are valid. However, regardless of the genders of those involved, building and maintaining a family is not easy, especially in a third-world country with a corrupt government.

And the only universal truth that sustains faith is love. I believe that love is the only universal language that everyone can understand. Although difficult in practice, love is the most powerful force we all possess.

Look at the children, who are the future and the hope
Who don't yet know, don't feel what hatred and greed are
I see the rich who fear losing their fortune
While the unemployed, addicted brother sinks deeper

As a father, this part touches me deeply, because children are always considered our future and our hope for a better world. Although this doesn't always happen, after all, generations have passed and, in fact, it seems that everything gets worse. Children are empty vessels that receive content and information; they are still learning, they are pure, therefore they don't know hatred and greed.

The final part shows the opposite of what the financial life of many people is like. The rich are always fearing losing all their fortune, as if the only thing that matters is money, while the other friend, the brother, unemployed, penniless, addicted to drugs, just sinks deeper.

I believe it's a parallel between the idea that rich people can help the poor, but they are too concerned only with keeping their fortunes safe. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Grupo Racionais MC's

This chorus always makes me question life:

I speak of the sick brother, I speak of the healthy one then,
I speak of the street that for this crazy world
That the path to healing may be The Illness
That the path to forgiveness is sometimes the sentence

Focus on the verse that speaks about paths. Can you understand how the path to healing can be the illness? How something that is harmful can, in fact, be the cure? How the path to forgiveness is, in fact, the sentence? This blows my mind, because you need to understand that, at certain times, it is necessary to do what we don't like, what we don't want, to follow the path that is not what we imagined, but that is necessary at that moment to reach healing!

When you love a girl in adolescence who doesn't love you, but you want to keep trying to win her over, and you, deep down, already know that she doesn't love you, but you insist, insist and suffer with it all the time. Then your cure is simply to walk away. Even if you wish, from the bottom of your heart, not to walk away, it is what you don't want that will heal you, will free you from this madness. This is an example that anyone can take and understand in their life.

The sentence, in this case, refers to a sentence from the justice system, imprisonment, deprivation of liberty, so that you may pay for your sins and finally obtain forgiveness from life, your friends, and family. This sentence can also be anything else. You sentence yourself to something in order to forgive yourself; you accept life's sentence in an attempt to show others that you have changed, that now they can forgive you.

Brutal.

Speeding things up a bit, we arrive at this part:

That's it, you can't stop
Waiting for bad times to embrace you
Believing that dreaming is always necessary
It's what keeps the brothers alive

Here is the famous concept that you can't stand still. It's no use stopping and crying, it's no use waiting for good times to come, because they will never come, it will never be the right moment, it will never be the right time; you have to create that moment, you have to make it happen. If bad times come to embrace you, you have to run from it, not accept it, and chase your dreams.

Dreaming is essential, because it's what keeps our brothers and sisters alive. Dreaming is nourishment, one of the many fuels for our lives, ensuring we never stop, never give up on life.

Grupo Racionais Mc's

In the big city it's like this
You expect good times and what comes is only bad times
In sports, in boxing or football
Someone dreaming of a medal, their place in the sun

Many people always talk about leaving the big city and going to the countryside. Why is that? Simple: we always expect the good times, the good times of abundance, but in the end, it never comes. Cities accumulate people, stress, hatred, greed, thieves, and ill-intentioned individuals. Not that life in the countryside is 100% peaceful, but the city accumulates everything: millions of tired, overwhelmed people who at any moment could throw their lives away and do something terribly wrong.

The other part speaks to how we all want to win, to conquer the gold medal and our place in the sun—that is, to fulfill our dreams and desires, which we know is not always so easy.

I've known paradise and I know hell
I saw Jesus in beige pants and the devil dressed in a suit
In the modern world, people don't talk to each other
On the contrary, they are silent, they step on each other, they betray each other and kill each other
I shuffle the cards of envy and betrayal
Cups, diamonds and a sword in hand
What is good for oneself and what is left over belongs to the other
Like the sun that warms, but also rots the sewer

In this part, again talking about the present day (and look, this song is from 2002), it talks about how people are, people don't talk and, if you stop to think about it, nowadays we don't talk anymore, cell phones are on the tables, our children don't talk to us, people only see each other virtually, no hugs or kisses, feelings are kept inside, disappointments and qualities, everything is kept to oneself and we never have the courage to tell the other what we feel, what they did wrong and what they can improve.

Another point is that, since we often keep everything for ourselves, the good and the best for ourselves, but for others, only crumbs. How many times are we selfish? How many times do we take the best for ourselves, even when we don't need it, and leave the leftovers for other people? This is something our human nature does; we all have these moments that, unfortunately, take over and we act without even thinking about other people.

This part also makes me reflect a lot on how an old song is still so relevant, simply because of a single verse!

It's crazy to look at people
The attitude of evil influences the good minority
Dying for nothing and what else, killing for nothing and what else
Going to jail for nothing, dreaming of a good life
Life flies by and the future catches up
Those who stood firm, I say
Those who didn't win, the game gives up

The attitude of evil influences the good minority. My God, this is what happens most in these days. Good people are few and far between; they often hide themselves to protect their safety, but even they can be broken and influenced by evil. Often, bad people commit cruelties, things we can't even imagine, and unfortunately, good people end up being forced to follow that path as well, out of fear, pressure, or any reason that makes them question their values ​​at that moment.

I always try to follow the right path, but it's not always possible. Sometimes, to protect your family, your children, you have to act wrongly, in a bad way, because, in the end, everyone does it too. So this part is even more relevant today, how the good minority suffers from the large number of fools and selfish people.

Another super-realistic part, which happens to all of us often:

Finally, I want to win without cheating anyone
I want money without stepping on anyone's head
Right is right in war or peace
If it's a dream, never wake me up again
Russian roulette, how much does it cost to pull the trigger?
I'll pay double for you to believe in me

My desire is to make money, yes, even knowing that money isn't everything. I want to give my family a good life, but is it worth doing everything and stepping over everyone for it? There are people who think it's right to cheat, betray, and pull the rug out from under someone to get ahead in life, but is that really what we want? Is that really what's necessary for the good of your family?

Man, I find that sinister, because that's what I always try to do: climb the ladder of success using the right path, the hardest path, without shortcuts and, obviously, without stepping on anyone's head. Only cowards feel great stepping on ants, and I don't want to be like that; I don't want my children to be like that.

Oh, but are you going to live a miner's life? Are you going to stop making money because you're good? Are you going to stay in financial stagnation instead of taking down a colleague? My answer, without thinking, is: YES. I'm going to live all that because I don't want to grow by stepping on anyone, screwing anyone over. I'm going to work, follow my path, and I know that, eventually, things will work out. My focused work will be rewarded.

Mano Brown

We've reached the end. It's impossible to pick just one part, because all of this makes sense in relation to our thoughts on life:

Usually when problems arise
We're unprepared, right?
Wrong.
It's you who lost control of the situation.
Lost the ability to control the challenges.
Especially when we run away from the lessons
That life puts in front of us, you know?
You always think you're incapable of solving problems. You cower, man.
Thought is the creative force.
Tomorrow is illusory.
Because it doesn't exist yet.
Today is real.
It's the reality you can interfere with.
The opportunities for change
Are in the present. Don't wait for the future to change your life.
Because the future will be the consequence of the present. Parasite today. A wretch tomorrow. Race today. Victory tomorrow.
Never forget that, brother.

This part in the song is more like a speech, a singular conversation. We always think that problems will come and that we're never prepared for them, but in reality, we lose control of everything well before. I believe it says here that many things can be avoided if we truly prepare ourselves. For example, it comes to mind to have a reserve fund for financial problems or to carefully analyze situations that we know could go wrong, but we stubbornly insist on getting involved in them.

A phrase that changed my perspective on life is: “Tomorrow is an illusion, because it doesn't exist yet; today is real, it's the reality you can influence.” And well, how many times do we let time pass, life pass, and we don't pursue what we want or what really matters?

We wait for the future to arrive thinking it will be better, but in reality, the future is a consequence of the present; what we do today is what decides what tomorrow will be like. So, this changed my way of seeing and thinking. Just waiting for the future to come won't change anything; that's the illusion: believing that tomorrow will change by chance or luck.

In truth, everything is a consequence of our actions today, in the present, and that's what weighs most heavily in the end. That's why I say we are always building our future; the bricks are our actions in the present, and that's incredibly powerful. When you reflect on it, you understand that it's the purest truth.

The future is a consequence of the present.

Well, that's it; that's my feeling about the song "Life is a Challenge" by the group Racionais MC's. I hope you enjoyed it! Anything you want to discuss about it, please leave in the comments!