The System

I wake up fightin’ shadows that the daylight don’t show,

Demons in my head feed the lies I know.

They say “trust the system,” but the system’s the cell,

Where the rich get heaven, and the rest get hell.

Ain’t a doc in the world that wanna see you healed,

They prescribe your pain, keep your pockets peeled.

Every pill’s a chain, every session’s a fee,

Ain’t no cure in the cure when the sickness is me.

They poison the food, then sell you the fix,

While the news runs loops with political tricks.

Flashin’ dead men just to numb your mind,

Then feed you fake hope to keep you in line.

They say, “Smile, pay your bills, stay calm, play along.”

But you can’t fix a country that profits when it’s wrong.

Got a system in my head, tryna break my soul,

Feed me lies ‘til I choke on control.

They want me numb, quiet, broke, and tamed,

But I rise from the dirt, still remember my name.

System in my head, but I fight that bitch,

Every scar I got is proof I lived.

They can cage my body, they can tax my breath,

But I’ll die on my feet before I beg for less.

They say hustle’s a crime, but corruption’s a suit,

While they legislate lies in Italian leather boots.

I grind for my kids, they grind for their greed,

They rob in the daylight and call it a deed.

You flip a few bucks, they call you a thug,

They bail out a bank, they call it love.

We fight for a dollar while they print the game,

They buy the law, we pay the blame.

Poverty’s a business, addiction’s a plan,

Keep the man on meds, keep his feet in sand.

You climb too high, they pull that rope,

Make you thank your chains and call it hope.

See they don’t want men to think too deep,

‘Cause awake ones don’t go back to sleep.

They want noise, screens, fear, and trends,

So you forget who profits when it all ends.

Yeah, I seen good hearts lose to the grind,

Seen peace get taxed, seen truth go blind.

They told me I’m angry, damn right I am,

I’m tired of playin’ pawn to a crooked hand.

I ain’t holy, I ain’t clean,

But I’d rather die real than bow to a machine.

They turn man to data, dream to debt,

Sellin’ freedom in a chain-link net.

Still I stand, still I fight,

Still I grind through sleepless nights.

I’m the father, the worker, the soul they forgot,

The man who remembers what they hope you do not.

Got a system in my head, tryna break my soul,

Feed me lies ‘til I choke on control.

They want me numb, quiet, broke, and tamed,

But I rise from the dirt, still remember my name.

System in my head, but I fight that bitch,

Every scar I got is proof I lived.

They can cage my body, they can tax my breath,

But I’ll die on my feet before I beg for less.