11 AM (CHECKOUT)

(Sound of a hotel key card swiping. Beep. Green light. Heavy reverb on the vocals.)

Yeah.

Sunday morning.

The sun hits the ice, but it don’t melt nothing.

Battle Creek.

Ghost.

Eleven AM, gotta clear out the room

Sweeping the dust with a spiritual broom

She dropped seventy just to keep me from the tomb

Now I’m eating Alfredo inside of the gloom.

I got a shift at two.

I got a shift at two.

They told me "No" at the door, but I’m breaking on through.

I got a shift at two.

Woke up in sheets that don’t smell like my home

Lauren the angel, she threw me a bone

Seventy dollars, I’m paying the loan

I’m working the closing, I’m in the zone.

Auntie and Uncle said "Not in this house"

Looked at me like I was trapping a mouse

I ain't a pest, I’m a king in a blouse

Of a worker, a fighter, I’m keeping my vows.

Mirror is cracked but the Oni is real

I’m eating the pasta, I’m sealing the deal.

(Beat drops out. Just a low bass synth.)

Cedric think I’m playing games.

Judge think I’m just a name.

Fifty-two days to the flame.

But today...

I’m just trying to clock in.

Pack up the bag, put the mic in the trunk

Avoid all the drama, avoid all the funk

I’m walking to work like a Shaolin monk

Drunk off the pressure, I ain't never sunk.

Watch me flip this check.

Watch me earn respect.

Put the chain of command around my own neck.

I don't need a handout, I just need a sec.

To breathe.

(Fading out, sound of snow crunching under boots.)

Make the money back.

Keep the head up.

Don't let the dark veil win.

Explosive.

Gone.