[Verse 1: Nigerian-accented Afro-rap male MC, punchy and proud over the agogo bell] Landed with two suitcases, a cousin's couch, a list And a coat from the church drive with a hole in the wrist Night shift on the loadin' dock, a forklift and a scan gun First week, the supervisor laughed and asked me where I'm from 'Cause I counted all the pallets out loud, "One, two, tree" And the whole dock fell out laughin', pointin' straight at me They said "Tree? Like a tree?" and they pointed at the yard And for nine years they called me Tree, they wrote it on my card I said nothin', I just smiled and stacked the pallets, stacked 'em hard Every dollar in an envelope inside a coffee jar [Hook: Nigerian-accented MC, chanted, the highlife guitar answering] Say it like me, say it like me You laughed every time I counted "One, two, tree" Now your whole crew countin' "tree" on the dock with me Go 'head, say it like me [Verse 2: harder, the snare snapping on every bar] Year three, I took a class at night and learned the books and law Year five, I bought a box truck with my last name on the door Year seven, I had four trucks and a yard behind a fence Year nine, fourteen drivers, trained by me in every sense So every pallet on my dock gets counted how I count "One, two, tree," from Ohio boys with no Lagos in their mouth My dispatcher out of Dayton says "Abeg" when she is vexed And my biggest client signs his invoices "No wahala" at the end You can laugh at how I say it, I been laughin' all the way To a yard with my name painted twenty feet across the gate [Hook] Say it like me, say it like me You laughed every time I counted "One, two, tree" Now your whole crew countin' "tree" on the dock with me Go 'head, say it like me [Verse 3: the full band, then the code switch, his accent at full strength for the last four bars] Then the old warehouse closed in March, they cut the whole night crew And who walks into my office in a shirt that's ironed new? Same supervisor, same mustache, but the mustache gone to gray Hands me his application, says "Boss, I'm ready, start today" So I ask him, "How long you been runnin' forklift on the floor?" He says "Twenty-tree years," and he don't hear it anymore Nine years he laughed at how I talk, now he can't talk no other way So I hire him on the spot, and then I tell him what to say Dem laugh me before, now dem dey talk like me Na so life be, my brother, everybody go see I no dey shame my mouth, I no go bend my tongue Say am like me, my guy, say am loud and say am strong [Hook] Say it like me, say it like me You laughed every time I counted "One, two, tree" Now your whole crew countin' "tree" on the dock with me Go 'head, say it like me [End]
