Get all 27 MC Lars releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of 999, Redemption, Blockchain Planet, 23 Concepts (But a Hit Apparently Both Obviously and Clearly Still Ain't One), The Parody EP, The Bible Mixtape, The Friendalorians, Humble Bundle, and 19 more.
1. |
||||
Lars: You like books, Mega Ran?
Mega: Indeed I do. (What, what, what, what?)
FaceOmeter: This, is the Dewey Decibel System.
Mega: Let's get it started.
VERSE 1:
M: Yo, they call him MC Lars!
L: And this is Mega Ran, I vow to tell the truth
M: Just like when you take the Stand.
L: Still Shining in the mic.
M: Stephen King, with no Misery.
L: Nat Philbrick with the realness.
M: So you'd better know your history.
L: So while they're sleeping on us...
M: ... like Washington Irving. Great Expectations. Kept their fires burning.
L: This Confederacy of Dunces will never secede!
M: So as Lars Buroughs deep...
L: Ran Howls on the beat!
M: Call me Samuel Becket, because...
L: You may not expect it.
M: We tour well, like Orwell.
L: Plus we've been known to wreck it, rocking, classic forms, like...
M: Five - seven - five. So...
L: ... do me a favor!
M: Get your hands high....
L: Cool!
M: Charles Dickens with the raw rhythms. Feel the Sound and the Fury...
L: ... with the bars that we give 'em!
M: Got beats!
L: Plus...
M: Books!
L: Plus...
M: Buddies for the win!
L: On the road once again.
L&M: Now we're gone with the wind!
M: Peace!
FaceOmeter: This, is the Dewey Decibel System. (Modulated and flipped).
M: Hey, hey, hey, hey... just read everyday.
|
||||
2. |
1984 (feat. B. Dolan)
03:25
|
|||
VERSE 1: (LARS)
Way, down in Oceana they rewrite the past
They erase the facts and the middle class
They say 2+2 is 5 anyway, it's doublethink forever
And ignorance is strength
But I'm in the corner hiding, they can't see what I'm writing
The telescreen is watching, in my journal I'm confiding
We gave up all our liberties when we forgot to vote
but Julia is brave, and she sends me secret notes
kissing through the ski masks, we’re creeping through the snow
Big Brother would be jealous so we keep it on the low
When I met this dude O’Brien - he's got to be
honest when he says we can stop the thought police!
Now we've got the knack, to attack
Or fate is safe like Equifax!
And we won't stop writing 'til our work is done,
Wait, O'Brien - what's this sign? Room 101?
VERSE 2: (MEGA RAN)
Yo! One day we meet up at my flat
They swear their allegiance just like that
Then I send Winston my favorite book
Goldstein‘s manifesto and they got hooked
Listen, they thought I was another brother
Had no clue that I was under cover
Tortured Winston with electroshock made it gets so hot that he
Rolled over on Julia even though he loved her
I know they thought that I betrayed them
But in the mayhem I was trying to save them
Re-education, my specialization
Sting operation, the art of persuasion
101 the last step done,
still type stunned at the person I’ve become
Doublethink got me sharp as a knife
I’m just doing my job, Inner Party for life!
CHORUS:
1984! The number! Another summer
This year Big Brother's going under!
(They lay down laws from state to state
with Doublethink, they perpetrate)
VERSE 3: (B DOLAN)
From classics to CliffsNotes to memory holes
In the trap (set to kill hope) the penalty's known
Give me access to glitch codes in every phone
Keep you tapped in to snitch mode and never alone.
The owners mastered the impulse to shelter at home.
You'd rather strap in than match wits with predator drones.
Promote distractions to captives so petty and passive,
picking sides to monopolize dwindling rations
I Divide! Colonize! Claim innocent factions
Sanitize time's passage, smash the false idols,
Even re-design rivals when truth becomes libel,
Produce the drums! Shoot the guns on my arrival!
What comes after Fake News? Fake words.
Language disassembled while them devils take turns.
Thats why rappers gotta mumble, they're afraid to be heard...
We know the time!
CHORUS:
1984! The number! Another summer
This year Big Brother's going under!
(They lay down laws from state to state
with Doublethink, they perpetrate)
|
||||
3. |
Ode on a Grecian Urn
02:14
|
|||
CHORUS:
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
And that Grecian urn?
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
Sit back and learn!
VERSE 1:
Mega: What you know about Keats?
Lars: I think he was a poet?
Mega: Exactly - what’s his story?
Lars: Was hoping you might know it?
Mega: A famous British dude, who so prolific
He died at 25, and his odes were sick
Lars: By ode you mean a shout out?
Mega: Basically, like props
To nightingales and urns, the dude he wrote a lot
Lars: Was he famous in his time? Raheem: No, kind of like Poe
Or Melville, history would prove he was dope
Lars: Go back, Mega Ran, he gave props to an urn?
Mega: A vase for ashes, take notes and learn
Imagine this urn just sitting in a closet
A metaphor chilling by itself, like a prophet
this vase told a story with pictures in the clay
Lars: Pottery meets poetry? yo what did it say?
CHORUS:
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
And that Grecian urn?
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
Sit back and learn!
VERSE 2:
Mega: Let me paraphrase the poetry of one who wrote it well
Life and death co exist
Lars: Like heaven does with hell?
Mega: See, Keats wrote a poem about art on the vase
of Greek lovers dancing in a bucolic place
ancient lives eternal, both women and men
Lars: Players in pursuit, bumping Biggie in the Benz?
Mega: Wait slow down Lars, 'cause they didn’t have cars
We’re talking ancient Greece
Lars: Sorry Mega, spit those bars
Mega: A cold pastoral, frozen in time,
forever on that vase!
Lars: Transcribed through a rhyme ?
Mega: The fleeting scene, had the poet inspired
Lars: To write on his page with iambic fire?
Mega: See, beauty and truth, they were one and the same
Synonymous together through a Keatsian frame
Lars: While cities they all crumble that urn had advice?
Mega: His words will last forever, that MC was nice!
CHORUS:
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
And that Grecian urn?
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
What you know about Keats
Sit back and learn!
LARS AND MEGA RAN TOGETHER:
Because truth is beauty and beauty is truth
truth is beauty and beauty is truth
Because truth is beauty and beauty is truth
LARS: Peace!
MEGA RAN: Yeah!
LARS: Yeah fools!
MEGA RAN: What! Keats!
|
||||
4. |
||||
VERSE 1: [MC LARS]
I'm alive man, (yeah!) but don't know where the heck I am (what?)
washed up on shore, now I can barely move my hands
creatures crawling on my chest - the crowds began to swarm
and when I tried to sit up well and they shot me in the arm!
Ow! With a thousand tiny arrows, guess I’d been captured,
by these bite sized Lilliputians - and they’re hella enraptured
‘cause their tiny jaws dropped, like they’d just seen a dragon
when I took a giant dump, they brought a hundred the wagons!
They had customs, and things that they were used to
like way they broke their eggs, unlike the heathens of Blefuscu
Small side first, they had they me steal their ships
they told me to take 'em out, and that’s when I quit
I said, "Genocide is bad!", then the castle caught on fire
I peed and put it out, which quite inflamed their ire
labeled as a traitor, they tried to pluck my eyes
a journey almost as bad as my last United flight (oh!)
CHORUS: [JILL SOBULE]
Shipwrecked, shipwrecked
How did I wind up in this mess, this mess?
High above the king and all his subjects
Like a monster in a foreign land, now
don't understand how, I'm
Shipwrecked, shipwrecked
Washed ashore, they tied my arms and my legs
Everything is cool, but everything changes
Yeah, yeah, had some big plans to travel
But my plans unraveled when I'm shipwrecked!
VERSE 2: [MEGA RAN]
My crew and me used to be tight like a corset
Till everything became distorted
A mutiny they took my resources
I awaken in a land that was gorgeous...
Full of anthropomorphic horses?
Unsullied, like the Grey Worm, what they learn
Is devoid of dissonance, every citizen totally innocent
Im digging this, I even had to explain
The set of laws the govern the land from whence I came
Such as, in my home we get to choose who will lead us
The person with the least votes is defeated
Unless of course he's got enough influence to beat it
So I guess the rules can be adjusted as needed
"But what's a rule?" ahh, an instruction,
because without them there'd be chaos
"We don't have those!", maybe our values are way off?
No one's lying, police sirens and no crime scenes
Can't wait to get back and tell the homies what I've seen
CHORUS: [JILL SOBULE]
Shipwrecked, shipwrecked
How did I wind up in this mess, this mess?
From Equestria I made my exit
Like a monster in a foreign land, now
don't understand how, I'm
Shipwrecked, shipwrecked
Washed ashore, they tied my arms and my legs
Everything is cool, but everything changes
Yeah, yeah, had some big plans to travel
But my plans unraveled when I'm shipwrecked!
VERSE 3: [STORYVILLE]
Gulliver, one hell of a traveler
I would love to take a moment, open his travelogue
Been near and far, Kokomo to Zanzibar
A prodigy out to sea on odyssey, obviously!
Seems strange sightings, it's exciting as lighting!
(Ha - it is lighting!) How'd he find the time to write this thing?
Encountering everyone from giants, to little mini people
Science-minded business people, mortals grown-up old and feeble
Savage creatures with human features, brutish and brutal
The he found a Yahoo without even using Google
And even after what his mutinous crew would do to him
He discovered an island of horses named Houyhnhnm
It comes to understand that these chivalrous kings
And glistening rings are all truly frivolous things
Their humanity's been caught in trivialities and fallacies
and class and caste to built up these walls, castles and palaces
CHORUS: [JILL SOBULE]
Shipwrecked, shipwrecked
How did I wind up in this mess, this mess?
The smallest guy in town, it's got me upset
Like a monster in a foreign land, now
don't understand how, I'm
Shipwrecked, shipwrecked
Washed ashore, they tied my arms and my legs
Everything is cool, but everything changes
Yeah, yeah, had some big plans to travel
But my plans unraveled when I'm shipwrecked!
|
||||
5. |
||||
GPS: In point .666 miles, turn left at Sleepy Holly Drive, Tarrytown, New York
MEGA RAN: Where are we?
MC LARS: The GPS says this is the venue, but, it doesn't look like a venue, does it?
MEGA RAN: I don't get it
MC LARS: I'll go try to find the promoter
MEGA RAN: Where are we, man?
MC LARS: I think it's the venue, but it's a freaking graveyard! What the heck!
VERSE 1:
LARS: It was a cold dark night in Sleepy Hollow
When we rolled up for sound check - in my mom's Volvo
I said Mega Ran, are you sure this is the place?
With the tombstones, cobwebs, and speakers on the graves?
MEGA RAN: This is it, I say that with no hesitation
The skulls and stuff are simply decorations!
The contract says Headless Horseman Productions
Flag down the promoter let's have a discussion
LARS: We met the promoter, pumpkin for a head
We said "We hope it’s live ‘cause the crowd looks dead"
He showed us the green room back behind the church
He said, "sound check quick, ‘cause you guys are on first”
MEGA RAN: Now I'm done some checks in some real strange surroundings
But when skeletons are asking how it's sounding
It got me kinda shook, virtually insane
The headlining DJ was Ichabod crane
CHORUS:
It was, Sleepy Hollow! Halloween eve!
Candy and treats and tricks up our sleeves!
Ghosts and zombies, they waited in line
But I think the promoter done lost his mind
VERE 2:
LARS: DJ Ichabod Crane was backstage pacing
Skinny as a rail there was no mistaking
that something was awry, face was white as snow
We said it's nice to meet you, we’re the opening show
MEGA: In a creepy green room lots of posters on the wall
And strangely Mr. Crane was headlining them all
This isn't doing much to assuage my fears
He's been playing this place for the last hundred years
LARS: We said, "How’s the presale? It can’t be that bad
‘Cause we dropped $50 bucks on the Facebook ad"
He said "it’s not the typical audience you know
with ghosts and zombies in first three rows"
MEGA: So they're a rowdy bunch cool nothing I haven't seen
Then Ichabod tells me there's a sweet guarantee
But the contract has one huge Surprise
We play this show for the rest of our lives
CHORUS:
It was, Sleepy Hollow! Halloween eve!
Candy and treats and tricks up our sleeves!
Ghosts and zombies, they waited in line
But I think the promoter done lost his mind
|
||||
6. |
Jabberwocky
02:20
|
|||
VERSE 1:
LARS: It was just after 4 in the afternoon
when the badgers in the hills began to snooze
as the mome raths cried and the borogoves dreamed
silently they slept as the Jabberwocky screamed
Wow! Sounds like something was awry
burbling it beckoned, I was straight up petrified
In uffish thought I waited, tossing turning in my sleep
with my vorpal sword in hand I heard the jabberwocky creep!
MEGA RAN: Snicker snack went the blade as he gimbled in the wabe
Whiffing through the weird wood they misunderstand my ways
Yes my mouth is agape, I let out such a yell
But the reason for this melching was a branch that had fell
And it caught me on my noggin in a slithy kinda way
Made me frumious today so they choose to run away
If they just give me a chance, look beneath my bruh exterior
We could have a frabjous day, instead things are getting eerier
CHORUS:
Beware the jabberwock
(Beware the Jabberwocky)
Beware the jabberwock
(Beware the Jabberwocky)
With jaws that bite, and claws that catch! (ooh!)
VERSE 2:
LARS: Beware the Jabberwocky, he’s known to catch a body
With jaws that bite and chew you up - if you've been acting naughty
Galumphing through the forest snicker snacking with his crew
‘cause the Jubjub bird is fuming and the bandersnatch is too
By the Tumtum tree, um, Jabberwock appeared
With 47 teeth, black antennas for his ears
Eyes aflame he howled at me I struck him with my blade
Beamishly I chortled, MC Lars had saved the day
MEGA: They call me Manxome, far from handsome and a foe of all that’s perfect
But I mind my mimsy business it’s a rap I’m undeserving of
the Tilley woods i call my home has consated my heart
But there’s a threat at every corner so you learn to move smart
I spot a boy he drew is weapon guess my looks have got him threatened
I burbled to him a simple question, don't you think you need protection?
Cause it’s dangerous to go alone galumphing to an exit, and
And in less than a second…. my head was disconnected
CHORUS:
Beware the jabberwock
(Beware the Jabberwocky)
Beware the jabberwock
(Beware the Jabberwocky)
With jaws that bite, and claws that catch! (ooh!)
|
||||
7. |
||||
LARS: Still stabbin'. Slice. Rome. 44 BC!
VERSE 1: (MC LARS)
Friends, Romans, countrymen
Lend me your ears; and I’ll speak to them
I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him
Lying bloody on the steps ‘cause could we not save him
See the evil men do lives after them
Good interred in their bones so I’m asking when
The poor cried, why did Caesar weep?
And refuse the crown - how many times? Three?
He was my friend, faithful and just
Brutus - thought you knew this, now you’re losing my trust
Romulus and Remus think they’re spinning in their graves
'cause the noblest Roman has misbehaved
Woe to the hands that shed this blood (blood!)
Fierce civil strife - and I’ve really had enough
Et tu Brute? Uou’d better say farewell
You’d better say your prayers, 'cause I’m sending you to hell!
CHORUS:
We got blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
VERSE 2: (MEGA RAN)
Those that will hear me speak, take a breather
You may hate me, call me a creature
Julius, he's been a great leader
But behold, we had to sleigh Caesar!
We agreed, may cry today
But he would have brought drama and tidal waves
And if I offend you, speak right away
Would you rather live free or die a slave?
I foresee the future, wars and confusion, and us in a stupor
Make no mistake, I don't have my ruler
I just love Rome more, we can't lose her
So I need you to be patient
Not like Mark Antony, over there hatin'
My heart is breakin', too, don't be mistaken
But civilization has got to awaken
CHORUS:
We got blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
VERSE 3:
MC LARS: Best Beware the ides of March and April too
Claudius and Brutus we are coming for you
With Caesar's ghost so thirsty for revenge
You'll be, beginning for mercy when we finally meet again
MEGA RAN: Yo, I did it not for me, but for my government
I feel like I belong up in a rubbish bin
I made a covenant, he was my brother man
I'm haunted by it, that's my punishment
MC LARS: We got zero forgiveness, your business was sickness
You killed the greatest leader, Rome ever witnessed
O, pardon me, did you see the bloody sheet?
That’s why I can’t be gentle, why I can’t be meek
MEGA RAN: And it stained my mental! I'm so regretful!
Made a deal with my devil and my soul I wrestled
I killed not thee with half so good a will
Goodbye my servant, Caesar now be still
CHORUS:
We got blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
VERSE 3: (DAN BULL)
Ay, I'm Cassius, not quite as loyal as Lassie is
Rome's in need of a bit of liberation
Don't you see? Let me give a demonstration
Me and my men had been conspiring to violence
A while and tonight was the night that we finally
Decided the time had arrived to provide it
The Ides of March marks the demise of a tyrant
Met Caesar on the steps of the senate
About to free his neck from the liquid within it
We crowded round him and then just in a minute
We were thrusting them in him, lost in a bloodlust
Uninhibited, until he couldn't resist
And laid limp in a lump, wouldn't summon the physician
'cause he's finished, no longer in the position
To dismiss our petition, he would have lived if he'd listened
CHORUS:
We got blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
Blood, guts, a body on the floor
Julius Caesar your reign is no more
OUTRO:
Cry "Havoc!", let slip the dogs of war
Cry "Havoc!", let slip the dogs of war
Cry "Havoc!", let slip the dogs of war
Cry "Havoc!", let slip the dogs of war
|
||||
8. |
Books Are Tight
00:51
|
|||
LARS: Hey Mega Ran! I've been making beats!
MEGA RAN: Wait, for real?
LARS: Here, let me play you one. This is one of my favorites
MEGA RAN: Cool, let it run
LARS: Maybe we can put it on the record
LARS:
Uh. That's cool right?
Books are tight! Books are tight, I read a lot
Books are tight (that's tight, right?) I read a lot
Yo, I'm MC Lars and I read lots of books
(Mega Ran: Wait...)
I rap about 'em too, and I leave rappers shook
I read a Poe poem and I did a Poe thing
And then I also did some ska music where I had the guy sing
From the Aquabats! Now what you think of that?
Now typically about video games, Mega Ran raps
But now we rap about books, yeah!
Because reading is forgotten in this culture of screens
(Mega Ran: Wait, Lars)
And humanity aren't value in the schools, in the schools
MEGA RAN: Stop... stop!! So let's, let's send that to the maybe pile.
Wait, don't we have a ska track on here?
|
||||
9. |
||||
INTRO: Bartleby! Herman Melville! What a winning combo. Chyeah!
VERSE 1: (LARS)
One day I placed an ad for a systems engineer
He showed up in a Toasters shirt, with AirPods in his ears
He was fluent in Java, Python, PHP,
I told him he was hired, his name Bartleby
His workflow was incredible, 10 sessions on his screen
Fingers flying I was crying ‘cause I’d built the perfect team
Only wish I’d met him earlier, it’s really not that funny
How an office space in Sunnyvale can burn that VC
I said Bartleby, will you do this simple task?
Update your iOS and see if it will run our app? And he said!
CHORUS:
No! I'd prefer not to.
No! I'd prefer not to.
No! I'd prefer not to.
No! I'd prefer not to.
VERSE 2: (Mega Ran)
In the morning Mr. Turkey’s steady coding like a pro
Pumping data, without failure, but starts to slow down later
And Nipper’s got a tummy ache from last night’s dinner
And starts to get distracted, won’t put down the fidget spinner
So questions arising over cryptic algorithms
To solve the dispute, they seek Bartleby’s opinion
We’re setting up ecommerce please input the database
But the office astonished when they heard Bartleby say…
CHORUS:
No! I'd prefer not to.
No! I'd prefer not to.
No! I'd prefer not to.
No! I'd prefer not to.
LARS: Hey Turkey! I know you're named after a flightless bird, but I heard you've been working on your scales.
(Trombone solo)
Can someone please explain why...
VERSE 3:
LARS: Bartleby won’t leave his office, staring at the brick wall
Twenty-seven empty Red Bulls on his desk, but that’s not all
MEGA RAN: If he doesn’t leave, we’ll probably have to relocate
He just won’t obey, so he’s got no case
LARS: So the cops took him to prison,
and San Quentin's where he sat
In a cell in San Rafael, I guess he should of ran that app
MEGA RAN: A scuffle breaks out in the yard,
Guards telling him you got to
Return to your cell — but he preferred not to
CHORUS:
No! I'd prefer not to.
No! I'd prefer not to.
No! I'd prefer not to.
No! I'd prefer not to.
|
||||
10. |
Ozymandias
03:41
|
|||
INTRO:
LARS: For years, they will remember me... and tremble.
CHORUS:
Ozymandias (doing my thing)
Ozymandias (bow to the king)
Ozymandias (you best get the message)
The biggest, the best and you gotta respect it
Ozymandias (doing my thing)
Ozymandias (bow to the king)
Ozymandias (you best get the message)
Ramses II you best get the message (whoo!)
VERSE 1:
MEGA RAN: I met a traveler from an antique land
Described a statue of a royal man
With a constant frown as if always down
Take a look around at the wreck we found
Two vast and trunkless legs made of stone
Wrinkled lips a commander so cold
Sculpted with care from the darkness he led
We dig up the rest to get all of the facts
Many of the words have worn off with time
Making it difficult for one to transcribe
Sharper than stone, harder than steel
Perhaps he can show me the art of the deal
I grabbed his shaky hand, my homies called him a crazy man
Maybe man or he could’ve been the one to
Make Egypt great again, what's the deal?
MC LARS: My name is Ozymandias, the King of Kings,
I throw the biggest rallies that Cairo has ever seen
Even though I'm emperor, I trip on things the people say
Fake news, they use, it's true, discrediting my reign? Insane!
So sad, my name is everywhere with cold command, they love me so
I'm in denial like the river where I set my throne
280 characters, worldwide, these hieroglyphics speak
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! Obey your king!
CHORUS:
Ozymandias (doing my thing)
Ozymandias (bow to the king)
Ozymandias (you best get the message)
The biggest, the best and you gotta respect it
Ozymandias (doing my thing)
Ozymandias (bow to the king)
Ozymandias (you best get the message)
Ramses II you best get the message (whoo!)
VERSE 2:
MEGA RAN: We cast our votes and now he gloats
Killing hope among the very folks
That he'd claimed he'd help out the most
Looks like this bloke is one big joke
In the desert looked his people in the eye
Took away protection and left them to die
Nothing remains, around decay
No one can stop him get out of the way
Even the info you think you receive
He calls it false and you have to believe
The air you breathe the marks you set
The hand that mocked them, the heart that fed
King of Kings, boundless and bare
Look on his works - and run in despair
Upon more digging we just come up short
Turns out this guy isn't quite what we thought
MC LARS: Gigantic structures in the sand, my legacy remains
They carve my face in stone as I survey my vast domain
From here to Athens, out to Syria, I've built my stage
Across the Baltic I've got allies but they'll never say
And I will live forever, voice immortalized, see I'm
The greatest leader that the hoi polloi could ever find
I say whatever's on my mind so best get on your knees
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! Obey your king!
CHORUS:
Ozymandias (doing my thing)
Ozymandias (bow to the king)
Ozymandias (you best get the message)
The biggest, the best and you gotta respect it
Ozymandias (doing my thing)
Ozymandias (bow to the king)
Ozymandias (you best get the message)
Ramses II you best get the message (whoo!)
|
||||
11. |
||||
VERSE 1: (MC LARS)
Propsero is the name and it’s a quite a shame
The way the planet is such a mess today
‘cause everyone is mad, now imagine that
Got to find a way get the world on track
They're inventing evil ways to infiltrate
Shooting up a crowd of 58
I don't agree with their politics
How can I stop the apocalypse
Plus anytime I try to get to some sleep
My depression gets the best of me
I can’t get any rest, it’s true
Playing Mario Kart in my vestibule
Wait, maybe I could throw a party, dude?
Ask Drake to come play and a song or two
Did I mention I was a millionaire?
The world is dying slow, but I don't care!
They're lowering my income tax
My CPA saved a lots from that
Now I may as well go and blow these racks
On caviar and Cadillacs
Get my best friends put ‘em on the list
Have you ever seen a party quite like this?
Got Bacardi, Hennessy and apple juice
Lock the doors and keep the sickness out my dude... we are!
CHORUS:
Gonna throw the greatest bash
Bring a friend and bring a mask
(Cause you never know what's going to
Happen when you get it popping like a Fat Joe track)
Sipping Moet while we laugh (ha ha!)
Locking down the castle hatch
Making sure we're Instagramming every moment
‘cause we’re young forever - how about that?
VERSE 2: (MEGA RAN)
Heard about a party in the Hamptons
In a huge seven room mansion
Funny how with so much death around
People still can manage drinking and dancing
But I keep refreshing my Facebook
For an invite, but no dice
In my face these dudes are so nice
But behind my back call me a low life
Saw a conversation on the Discord
Bout a balcony on the 5th floor
Spot atop a mountain with a chocolate fountain
And a tennis court if you get bored
Got seven rooms, all different themes
Kinda wishing I was in the scene
But I’m part nerd and I’m part jock
And there isn’t room for the in-betweens
Mike Mizanin clicked maybe
And you know he brings out the A-List
Call my homie to tell him the latest
And he tells me I hate to say this...
"But I got my invite yesterday,"
Kinda took my freakin breath away
No effin’ way… I've been betrayed
But it's all good, I hope it's great (ha)
CHORUS:
Gonna throw the greatest bash
Bring a friend and bring a mask
(Cause you never know what's going to
Happen when you get it popping like a Fat Joe track)
Sipping Moet while we laugh (ha ha!)
Locking down the castle hatch
Making sure we're Instagramming every moment
‘cause we’re young forever - how about that?
VERSE 3:
MC LARS: It’s the soire of the century
Every room is painted very differently
It’s the safest place you'll ever be
So, put away your negativity
Keep the haters and the riff raff out
Even RiFF RAFF - yeah we made him bounce
Got Steve Aoki playing tracks
Doing hella dabs, homie, pass the wax
Now who’s this special guest with the mic
With a giant hoodie, who could be inside?
As he storms the stage all the people scream
He was unannounced - what’s he going to sing?
MEGA RAN: I pick up the mic - give it a couple taps
Then go, "One, two!", they in love with that
Beat drops and they rocking right to left, and now
Now it's time to make it hot to death
Pull my hoodie off let the plague out
Since they barred the doors there’s no way out
Got blood spilling like a river flow
Now, I’mma how you kill a show
Bet you didn’t know or expect it
You can neglect it, and reject it
But its destined... you guessed it
Red Death is now on the guest list
CHORUS:
Gonna throw the greatest bash
Bring a friend and bring a mask
(Cause you never know what's going to
Happen when you get it popping like a Fat Joe track)
Sipping Moet while we laugh (ha ha!)
Locking down the castle hatch
Making sure we're Instagramming every moment
‘cause we’re young forever - how about that?
|
||||
12. |
Walden
04:54
|
|||
LARS: Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To get away from everything, everyone
Would you do it? Or just let it slip? Yo
VERSE 1: [MEGA RAN]
Now Walden might not have been a Times Best Seller
But we learned plenty from it's lessons, lemme tell ya
It's impact on the culture would be felt
But not 'til twenty years after it hit a shelf
See, most people live their lives half asleep
Doing what they're told, functioning like sheep
But Henry David Thoreau was determined to be different
So one day he made a life altering decision
He would live two years in a cabin
In the woods, far from anything that was happening
No phone, no one could contact him
No interactions, meant no distractions
He could focus on the beauty of nature
Strengthening his spirit, becoming complete
Eating to live, instead of living to eat
Why live in a mental prison, when you can be free?
This experiment he teach him true existence
Reading, farming, learning and fishing
No talking, just listening (uh!)
Nothing brings focus, quite like distance
The time would prove to be influential
He'd find deep meaning in the seemingly simple
And like magic waved from a wand
Everything changed on Walden Pond
CHORUS:
When the world gets you down, there's a place you can go
Back to Walden Pond, like Henry David Thoreau
Living in the woods with no internet or phone
Two years, two months, to days all alone
When the world disappoints you, there's a place you can go
Marching to a different drummer, Henry David Thoreau
Living in the woods with no radio or phone
Two years, two months, to days all alone
VERSE 2: [LARS]
Cabin life is peaceful, nature over people
Nobody's deceitful everything is equal
No food, he wasn't making a scene
He just planted and tended two acres of beans
He develops two distinct personas
Hermit and poet, no strangers to drama
They would argue about what he was there for
Rearranged everything he thought he had cared for
The poet would conjure up visions
Of past residents of the cabin that he lived in
Poor tradesmen, runaway slaves
In their company is where he spent most days
He preferred solitude, just being alone
Not gazing or staring at a phone
With his environment, he'd formed a strong bond
As seasons passed on Walden Pond
CHORUS:
When the world gets you down, there's a place you can go
Back to Walden Pond, like Henry David Thoreau
Living in the woods with no internet or phone
Two years, two months, to days all alone
When the world disappoints you, there's a place you can go
Marching to a different drummer, Henry David Thoreau
Living in the woods with no radio or phone
Two years, two months, to days all alone
VERSE 3:
(MEGA RAN)
Now Walden might not have been a Times Best Seller
But we learned plenty from it's lessons, lemme tell ya
See, most people live their lives half asleep
Doing what they're told, functioning like sheep
But henry david thoreau was determined to be different
So one day he made a life altering decision
(MC LARS)
When the winter months close in
And the lake outside is frozen
He takes a stick and pokes holes in
Just to see how deep the lake goes
100 feet, but as it starts to get late though
Irish workers cut cubes and take those
To sell, first he's upset at all them
But everyone will now get a piece of walden
(MEGA RAN)
A crack and a roar, and the ice starts thawing
Leaves turn green and birds start calling
Summertime is coming I suppose
And the walden experiment is coming to a close
A whole 2 years, of intense self discovery
Probably needed another year of recovery
But he left us with lessons
Meet your life head on, be aware of your blessings
(MC LARS)
So much potential untapped
Once its over you can't come back
Any sort of fear or resentment will diminish
When you find your fulfillment in life, don't chase riches
Find truth, live life to the full extent
Got to give it 110%
'Cause you only get one, when it's gone it's gone
One of many lessons learned on Walden Pond
CHORUS:
When the world gets you down, there's a place you can go
Back to Walden Pond, like Henry David Thoreau
Living in the woods with no internet or phone
Two years, two months, to days all alone
When the world disappoints you, there's a place you can go
Marching to a different drummer, Henry David Thoreau
Living in the woods with no radio or phone
Two years, two months, to days all alone
|
||||
13. |
||||
MEGA RAN: Uh. Uh huh. Who watch, who watch, who watch?
VERSE 1:
(MEGA RAN)
Yo, they passed the Keane Act without my feedback
Structure we lack, it’s all ‘bout green backs
Time to beat back the wolves, but keep back
Cause times are changing – it’s off the meat rack
I’m on lockdown, but Doc’s on the case
Situation spotty like these dots on my face
Mask is back on, I tend to mine
'Cause if we don’t step up, the end is nigh
(MC FRONTALOT)
Technically I’m Nite Owl II, don’t mix me up with the first one
Right on cue, observe a crime and alert some
Figures of authority, cause I’ve gone quits on the "cape game"
Midsection’s gone thick to my great shame!
And my gadgets are all dusty
But my conscience still nags pretty bad, you can trust me
To get fussy, also to get freaky
While we’re flying up on high in Archimedes!
CHORUS:
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (Man, I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
But police in this town move way too slow
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (Man, I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
But something's going on and the people want to know
VERE 2:
(MISS EAVES)
Hollywood wanna test me and make me 2D
Latex legacy my ex tastes of batteries
Ya! Women are from Venus, I'm on mars
Learning the comedian is my father
So guess crime fighting is in my blood
My mom pushed me to this family business
Jailbreak queen, Rorshach out of sing sing
My existence makes Jon save everything
(MC LARS)
Blood running down my face like the button in the street
A problematic hero? Many would would agree
Y'all ain’t ready for Eddie, have you heard what I did?
I went to Vietnam and I murdered some kids (what!)
See I’m part Thomas Hobbes sometimes a comedian
I was tossed out the window, landed on the median
Vigilante justice, hunting hippies with a smile
We protect them from themselves and we do it with style
CHORUS:
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (Man, I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
But police in this town move way too slow
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (Man, I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
But something's going on and the people want to know
VERSE 3:
(SCHÄFFER THE DARKLORD)
It is 1945, father is a watchmaker
It is '59, molecular incinerator
Jon is gone, in three months I am there again
Doc's a god, they'll say the superman's American
I am in the past, future, I am on Mars
I am 99 syllables in eight bars
The world's smartest man, wealthy by birthright
Is no more of a threat to me than is its smartest termite
(QUELLE CHRIS)
The smartest man cold as winter
World turned me bitter
I been overstimulating before Facebook and Twitter
With a wall full of screens
Account full of green and
Built a hideout where it's white out
For the plotting and the scheming
Got a lyger named Bubastis
I silenced and retired my peers
To cover the dark matter in my conscience
With time it won't get better
The dawn is turning redder
Show the world to its demise so it can get itself together
CHORUS:
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (Man, I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
But police in this town move way too slow
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (Man, I don't know)
Who watches the Watchmen? (I don't know)
But something's going on and the people want to know
MEGA RAN: Who watches the Watchmen?
|
||||
14. |
Between the World and Me
03:24
|
|||
LARS: You're listening to the Bookworm Podcast. This week, we have Ta-Nehisi Coates whose book "Between the World and Me" is a look at institutionalized racism in America today.
LARS: Thanks for being here, I hope it's not that awkward
to talk about these topics - but you’re like my favorite author
I heard that you’re a father? This book is for your son?
is it okay if i like it? And I tell everyone?
MEGA RAN: Tell everyone that you meet but be sure to understand
That I wrote this for my son, 'cause he's about to be a man
And I needed him to know
that the world that he's coming up in is a ruse
And everyone's a threat, even you...
LARS: Hold up, I’m not racist, you can ask my mama
I saw the 2Pac movie and I voted for Obama
twice, plus I think the alt-right is disgusting
Let's melt those status down, it's not even worth discussing
MEGA RAN: No one is racist, if you let them tell it
It's like denying you see color's the new epidemic
White supremacy's embedded, and there ain't no getting rid of it
But You don't have the privilege to remain ignorant
MC LARS: Police violence, how do we prevent it?
harassing young black men and siphoning their essence like
Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott,
Freddie Gray, Prince Jones? Honestly it’s got to stop
MEGA RAN: "Coincidentally" those were Eric Garner’s words
Right before the moment he was choked out on the curb
I ain't got all the answers, but a very small part
Is replacing the fear with knowledge, that’s a start
MC LARS: You talk about your father in "the Beautiful Struggle"
Vietnam and privilege and piercing the bubble
is that connected to the Richard Wright poem that you quote?
in the title of your book? People want to know!
MEGA RAN: Didn't fit in in the schools, wouldn't fit in in the streets
Black folks still ain't free, yet a Black life is cheap and
Some Police officers in fact have found joy
In Instilling fear in the heart of black and brown boys
MC LARS: Let’s talk appropriation? Where’s the line?
It’s been like 40 years, shouldn’t rap be color blind?
How about Woah Vicky? A modern Al Jolson?
Remember Slim Jesus? He's finished, I'm hoping.
MEGA RAN: Well, hip-hop will be and forever has been
The news network of the streets, the ghetto CNN
It's just that I prefer a rapper that speaking with clarity
And not blurring the line between artistic and parody
MC LARS: One final thing that I need to confess
The 9/11 part confused me, and I have to address
how you felt so disconnected from the firemen who died
In the buildings on that Tuesday - they sacrificed their lives!
MEGA RAN: Man, I gamble with my life when I walk down the block
Every day wondering if it's the day I get shot
From the Mecca to the homeland; it’s impossible to understand
Living every day feeling like a wanted man
MC LARS: You write about plunder, you write about knives
subjugation and fear, that you’ve seen your whole life
National landmarks, still casting a shadow
Black Lives do matter, just ask Rachel Maddow
MEGA RAN: Well it's easy for you to say when we never owned y'all
For every Rachel Maddow there's a Rachel Dolezal
I know it's sounds bleak, but we all play a part
In protecting black bodies and furthering the art
MC LARS: I’ve got friends in Atlanta, Oakland and Inglewood
I’m just trying to stay conscious, use my platform for good
Look I’m sorry if I sound misinformed rhymes
your book it really moved me and it opened up my eyes
MEGA RAN: That's really good to hear, so here’s what you need to do
Buy a couple copies and gift them to your crew
And don't forget the names, don't forget the faces
Infiltrate spaces of fascists and racists
And tell them the truth... tell them the truth. Go on.
|
Streaming and Download help
If you like The Dewey Decibel System, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp