Herrasmiesliiga - 112

"Herrasmiesliiga" = "Gentlemen's League"

Members of the League are rappers Cheek, TS and Brädi.

112 is the emergency phone number in Finland, like 911 is in the US.

This song is riddled with references, I've explained them all under the translation. Even the non-Finnish ones.

Original Finnish lyrics

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Ku Liiga on alueel soita 112

Herrasmiesliiga

"Puhutaanko kyläkauppiaast?"

Ääh, siitähän sä kuulitkin jo

Nyt Liiga on naisten huulil niinku huulikiilto

Tää vuosi on näiden kolmen sonnin show

Tullaan läpi kielikuvil niinku Rolling Stones

Tää ei oo ikuisuusprojekti ku Rhyme Collective,

mut ei paljasteta kaikkee ku Aitolehti

Suunnitellaan siirrot huolel ikään ku shakkii kytätes

Palataan koppiin sylkeen niinku Matti Nykänen

Liiga pelaa aina kovaa niinku Jere Karalahti

Vaik ois edes paha matsi, silti jatkuu sama tahti

Tää on meiän vuosi, ja siksi tää on paras vuos

Hoidetaan diilit kunnol niinku Jari Sarasvuo

Te haippaatte levyy, joka ei oo kovin hääppönen,

ja esitätte pahaa poikaa niinku Jasper Pääkkönen

Luulit, että pystyt lähtee meille noin vaan ilkkumaan

Mä sanon vikan sanan "ei", niinku Maija Vilkkumaa

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks.

Ku Liiga on alueel soita 112

Herrasmiesliiga

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks.

Ku Liiga on alueel soita 112

Herrasmiesliiga

Liiga on mestarein areenal ku Hector ja Kirka

Niin luonnostaan, et pidät räppii helppona virkan

Pyrit idoliks, mut sä tiput niinku Roni Tran

Pitää duunaa tosissaan, ei riitä sivukomiikka

Sori vaan, mut oot peliin alimittanen

Mä potkin Lahtee kartalle niinku Jari Litmanen

MC: t on urpoi niinku Martikainen

mut Liiga pysyy härskin niinku Hartikainen

Meil on pelkkii jokereita hanskas niinku Hjallis Harkimol,

joten tässä pelissä sä jäät ku knalli kalliol

Ja vaikka oisit onnekkain ku Hannu Hanhi on,

meit vastaan kaipaat äitii rinnalles ku Wallu Valpio

Ja mutsiskin on huumassa niinku Nina Herala

Nyt on '06, ei tarvii enää Liigaa venata

Pysyn ite pystys vaik oon melkonen kaataa

En oo ollu tiltis niinku Pelkosen Jaana

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Ku Liiga on alueel soita 112

Herrasmiesliiga

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Ku Liiga on alueel soita 112

Herrasmiesliiga

Isojen poikien laulu niinku Junnu Vainio

Tytöt sanoo kusipäiks, mut myös se tuntuu mainiolt

Brädi hoitaa mallei niinku Laila Snellman

Niit on kainalois, kaulas ja paidan helmas

Käsittelen kannui niinku Jussi69,

mut en saa seurusteluu kestää huhtikuun yli

Koska oon soppamies niinku Syrjäsen Harri

Kierrän kesät hoppareille sylkäseen malliks

Liigal on mimmit näpeis niinku leffas King Kong

Ei tarvita ees väkivaltaa, niinku Stefan Lindfors

Mut jos et lämpee, en varmaan meinaa anella,

tai ahdistella viesteil niinku Vanhanen tai Kanerva

Mä teen nyt just sitä mitä aina halusin,

ja pysyn ikinuoren niinku Aira Samulin

Asuttiin studios, en käyny ees himas,

ja nyt on pallo hallus niinku Väyrysen Mikal

Liiga!

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Ku Liiga on alueel soita 112

Herrasmiesliiga

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Astu yks kaks, yks yks kaks

Ku Liiga on alueel soita 112

Herrasmiesliiga

English translation

Step one two, one one two

Step one two, one one two

When the League is in the area call 112

Gentlemen's League

"Are we talking about the village shopkeeper?"

Aah, you already heard about it

Now the League is on women's lips like lipgloss

This year is the show of these three studs

And we come through with figures of speech/tongues like Rolling Stones [*1]

This ain't an endless project like Rhyme Collective [*2]

But we won't reveal everything like Aitolehti [*3]

Plannin our moves carefully like we stalkin chess

Goin back into the booth to spit like Matti Nykänen [*4]

League's always playin hard like Jere Karalahti [*5]

Even if there was a tough game ahead, we keep goin at the same pace

This is our year and that makes it the best one

We seal the deal properly like Jari Sarasvuo [*6]

You hype an album that ain't all that

And act like a bad boy like Jasper Pääkkönen [*7]

You thought you could scoff at us just like that

I have the last word, "No", like Maija Vilkkumaa [*8]

Step one two, one one two

Step one two, one one two

When the League is in the area call 112

Gentlemen's League

Step one two, one one two

Step one two, one one two

When the League is in the area call 112

Gentlemen's League

The League are masters on the arena like Hector and Kirka [*9]

So natural you think rap is an easy job

You run to become an idol but drop like Roni Tran [*10]

Gotta work for real, side comedy ain't enough

Sorry, but you're too short for the game

I kick Lahti on the map like Jari Litmanen [*11]

MCs are morons like Martikainen [*12]

But the League stays raunchy like Hartikainen [*13]

Only got jokers in our hands like Hjallis Harkimo [*14]

So in this game you're left like a dog on the shore [*15]

And even if you were the luckiest like Gladstone Gander [*16]

Against us you want your mommy by your side like Wallu Valpio [*17]

And even your mom is ecstatic like Niina Herala [*18]

It's '06 now, no need to wait for League anymore

I'll stay up even though I'm pretty good at getting laid

I haven't tilted like Jaana Pelkonen [*19]

Step one two, one one two

Step one two, one one two

When the League is in the area call 112

Gentlemen's League

Step one two, one one two

Step one two, one one two

When the League is in the area call 112

Gentlemen's League

A big boys' song like Junnu Vainio [*20]

Girls call us assholes but it feels superb

Brädi does models like Laila Snellman [*21]

Got 'em under his arm, fallen on his neck and tugging his shirt

I handle the cans like Jussi69 [*22]

But cannot make a relationship last through April

Because I'm a soup man like Harri Syrjänen [*23]

I tour every summer, spittin an example for the rappers

League got handfuls of girls like King Kong [*24]

Don't even need violence, like Stefan Lindfors [*25]

But if you don't warm up, I'm not gonna beg

Or harass with messages like Vanhanen or Kanerva [*26]

I'm doing right now what I always wanted

And stay forever young like Aira Samulin [*27]

We lived in the studio, I didn't even stop by the flat

And now I got control of the ball like Mika Väyrynen [*28]

League!

Step one two, one one two

Step one two, one one two

When the League is in the area call 112

Gentlemen's League

Step one two, one one two

Step one two, one one two

When the League is in the area call 112

Gentlemen's League

_____

Doubles and cultural references

[*1] "Kielikuva" = "figure of speech", but literally it translates to "a picture of a tongue". The Rolling Stones logo is a set of lips and a tongue sticking out between them.

[*2] It's hard to find information about this online, but I managed to gather something: 5th Element is/was this collective of hiphop heads from Lahti, Finland, who basically started the Lahti hiphop scene in the 1990s. All members of Herrasmiesliiga are from Lahti and at least Cheek and Brädi were active members of 5th Element. Rhyme Collective is the longest living hiphop group in 5th Element.

[*3] Martina Aitolehti is a Finnish celebrity. She started her career with modeling and competing in beauty pageants, later she's worked various tv related jobs like hostess and small-ish acting roles. She's in her 40s now and a personal trainer. In the mid-2000s, when this song came out, she posed nude or semi-nude a lot, and did a lot of interviews for shitty tabloids. Hence the double of her "revealing everything": being naked, or to tell all your secrets to a tabloid.

[*4] Matti Nykänen was one of the best ski jumpers of all time. (It's a winter sport, google it if you don't know what it is.) He died in 2019. I'm not sure if this is a double, though, since there are no booths in ski jumping. It could be interpreted figuratively, though, like he was "benched" as they say in English, or, in Finnish ice hockey slang, "put in the booth", not allowed to work, since he had problems with alcohol and anger management that lead him into legal trouble multiple times. He was in prison as well, so that could be "the booth". Or it could not be a double and just refers to his singing career. Yes, singing career. All his songs are about ski jumping and drinking alcohol. 

[*5] Jere Karalahti is a Finnish ice hockey player.

[*6] Jari Sarasvuo is a Finnish businessman. Diili ("The Deal") is a 2005 Finnish version of the American reality tv show The Apprentice. In Diili, competitors competed for a spot in Jari Sarasvuo's company Trainers' House.

[*7] Jasper Pääkkönen is a Finnish actor. In 2003 he starred in a movie called Pahat pojat ("Bad Boys").

[*8] Maija Vilkkumaa is a Finnish pop rock singer. Her best known song is called Ei, where a mom character says the sentence "Mä sanon viimeisen sanan ja se on 'Ei'" = "I have the last word and that word is 'No'".

[*9] Heikki Veikko "Hector" Harma is a Finnish rock and folk singer whose career started in the 60s and is still going on. Kirill "Kirka" Babitzin was another Finnish singer who started his career in the 60s, but he died in 2007. With two other singers with long-spanning careers, Pave Maijanen and Pepe Willberg, they formed a group called Mestarit ("Masters") and did a live tour and recording of that tour, called Mestarit Areenalla ("Masters on the Arena"). 

[*10] Roni Tran was a competitor on the 2nd season of Idols, in 2005. He came 7th. He's been doing music ever since as his job, but never made it big.

[*11] Jari Litmanen is a Finnish soccer player from Lahti, like the rappers of Herrasmiesliiga. The bar utilizes the expression "put something on the map".

[*12] Urpo Martikainen was a newsanchor for several decades before retiring in 2010. "Urpo" also means "a moron" or "an idiot". 

[*13] Härski Hartikainen was an important side character in a Finnish comedy movie series Uuno Turhapuro. Uuno is the main character. Härski is not a real first name, it's clearly a nickname, and it means "raunchy" or "vulgar". He was played by the screenwriter/director of the series, Spede Pasanen. RIP. 

[*14] Jokers as in the playing cards' jokers, which are the strongest cards in many card games. Have "an ace up one's sleeve" is an expression. Also Jokerit = "Jokers" are also a hockey team in Helsinki. They're owned by the businessman/politician Hjallis Harkimo.

[*15] This is a common saying in the Finnish language, but the origins are unknown. It means someone is being left behind and they're very sad about that. One theory of the origin is that the dogs in question belonged to fishermen and would whine when being left on the shore when the owners went to work.

[*16] The Disney character Gladstone Gander is exceptionally lucky.

[*17] Wallu Valpio is a Finnish media personality. He has a tattoo across his chest that has a bunch of names, and it also says "ÄITI" = "MOTHER" in huge letters right in the middle.

[*18] Niina Backman, neé Herala, is a Finnish model and tv presenter. One of the shows she's worked on was Huuma, in 2005-2009. The name of the show translates to "ecstacy" - not the drug, just the feeling. The bar could also be translated to "and even your mom is on Ecstacy like Niina Herala", but I used "ecstatic" because I didn't want the accidental drug double in there. "Huuma" and "ekstaasi" are two different words in Finnish.

She married her co-host of Huuma, Lorenz Backman, later and they're still together. He flirted with her in almost every show (which were broadcasted live) and people watching the show, including me, thought the flirting was scripted. It was not.

[*19] Tilt, like a computer or a human brain, when they stop functioning. Tilt is a Finnish tv show that talks about videogames and gaming news. Jaana Pelkonen was the first host of the show, in 1997-2005. Again, because of how the Finnish grammar works, the bar literally says "I haven't been on Tilt like Jaana Pelkonen".

[*20] Juha "Junnu" Vainio was a Finnish musician and songwriter who wrote over 2000 songs in his ~30 years long career before passing in 1990 of a heart attack. RIP. He wrote lots of different kinds of songs, including "porn songs" in the 1970s, which were these humorous songs about sex. In 1992, they were published as a compilation album called "Bad boys' songs". "Isojen poikien lauluja", "Big boys' songs" is another album with a similar concept, from 1971, but Junnu Vainio was not on that album, it was mainly Veikko Lavi's songs.

[*21] Brädi "does" models, aka has sex with them. Laila Snellman, on the other hand, owns the oldest modeling agency in Finland, called Paparazzi (1983-), so she "does models" as her job. Bar can also be translated "takes care of models".

[*22] "Kannut" means "cans" or "jugs", but it's also a slang word for both breasts AND drums. If "jugs" could mean drums, I would have used that one. Jussi69 is the drummer of the rock band The 69 Eyes.

[*23] Harri Syrjänen is a Finnish celebrity chef and he used to have a tv show called Soppamies ("Soup Man"). He's still often called Soppamies Syrjänen. In the figurative sense, "soppa" can also mean "a mess". Also, "keitto", which also means "soup", is a slang word for alcoholic beveriges. 

[*24] They get a lot of girls, figuratively got "a handful" of them. Where as the movie character King Kong, the giant gorilla, literally often has a "damsel in distress" kinda female character in his fist and the male protagonist saves her.

[*25] Stefan Lindfors is a Finnish designer, sculptor and film-maker. In NRJ Fashion Awards 2005 he had too much to drink and tried to hit a woman.

[*26] Ilkka Kanerva was a politician, he died in 2022. Matti Vanhanen still is a politician. In the mid-2000s they were both in their 50s. In 2005-2008 Kanerva sent sexually charged text messages to multiple female celebrities - including Marika Fingerroos who was known as the mistress of businessman Vesa Keskinen, a nude model Anne-Mari Berg and an exotic dancer Johanna Tukiainen. You get the idea - women known for their sex appeal, who nevertheless did not indicate to him in any way that they'd be into him specifically. All the women were in their 20s at the time. He lost his position as Minister for Foreign Affairs because of his behavior. In 2006, Vanhanen was the prime minister and allegedly sent sexually charged emails from his work email to a younger woman. Turned out, he had met this woman in an election they were both candidates at, and among his work-related emails to her he had made a joke about his candidate number in said election, 69. Because the very real scandal of Vanhanen sending hundreds of messages to women in their 20s was happening around the same time, people (and especially tabloids) treated these two cases like it was a pattern, like what these two men did was comparable. I remember seeing their faces side by side on tabloids week after week.

[*27] Aira Samulin was a Finnish dance teacher and entrepreneur. In 2006 when this song came out, she was in her 70s and still very much working as a dance teacher and rocking her signature long, bright red hair. She was always very youthful and energetic for her age, mentally and physically. She died in October 2023, at the age of 96.

[*28] Mika Väyrynen is a former professional soccer player, current head coach of FC Honka. In the mid-2000s, he was one of the best professional soccer players in the country. Pallo hallussa ("Control of the ball") was also a tv show in the early 2000s, but it focused on the environment ("the ball" being Earth) and had nothing to do with soccer or Mika Väyrynen.