ORGAN GRINDER [Intro] [Spoken Word] [Female Voice] Hey, Party... do you hear that? [Male Voice] Nah. I mean, I hear my music, but if it's too loud, I'll turn it down. [Female Voice] Nah, no, it' not that. It's something like I've never heard before. It's like this... sad, depressing sound. I don't know. [Male Voice] (sighs, beat drops slow) Oh. That's just the sound of me grinding slow... but grinding still. Turning the wheels of everything in my life into loose change. hey bones we gotta another hit [Music Fade In / Transition to Verse] [Male Voice] I am The great Party Hustle from the internationally known Villain Squad. Henchmen hit it [Chorus] I'm the organ grinder, turn the crank Whole life spent tryna fill the bank They throw peanuts like I'm trained to dance But I built this cage and I broke the hands Round and round till the gears go red Still got dreams they ain't buried yet If the circus wants a show, I'ma bring the fire Fuck being the monkey, I'm the organ grinder [Verse 1] Started with nothing but a mouth full of thunder Fourteen and Federal, learned to sleep with the hunger They said sixteen, you probably won't see Then eighteen came, still wouldn't bury me Twenty-one, twenty-five, twenty-seven Every deadline they gave me turned into a blessing First-gen blood, Jamaican mama, Cuban father Built from two worlds they said would never prosper Went from blocks where the sirens sang harmony To Park Meadows, still carrying scars on me Whole life grinding, knuckles on the handle Making something out the ashes they handed me They want a piece every time that I make it Throw me peanuts then wonder why I hate it I ain't been lucky, I been relentless Turned every “never” into another sentence [Chorus] I'm the organ grinder, turn the crank Whole life spent tryna fill the bank They throw peanuts like I'm trained to dance But I built this cage and I broke the hands Round and round till the gears go red Still got dreams they ain't buried yet If the circus wants a show, I'ma bring the fire Fuck being the monkey, I'm the organ grinder [Verse 2] Grandma gone, Dad gone, Auntie, cousin too Funny how the graveyard never told me what to do They called me half insane, maybe they were right Half of me died, other half learned to fight I've been turning this crank since I learned how to hustle Every scar on the wheel still lives inside the muscle Forty-something songs, still I'm nowhere near finished Twelve years deep and the engine still spinning They want watered-down music, I give 'em gasoline Want a manufactured artist, I'm allergic to the machine I don't need their approval, I need room for my vision I made a career out of making bad predictions Every “you can't” became fuel in the furnace Every closed door made me question who the circus was serving If I'm working my whole life just to die with a pension I'd rather die on my feet with my name in the credits So keep throwing peanuts, I ain't begging for bread I'm building something that'll outlive the dead [Bridge] How many turns till the wheel stops spinning? How many years till you call it a living? How much of your soul does a paycheck cost? How many dreams can you lose before they're lost? I hear the crowd but I don't hear applause Just coins hitting metal while I'm paying the cost So if this is a circus, let the curtain go higher I'm done turning the crank— I'm setting it on fire [Outro] Organ grinder... Still turning Still earning Still learning But I ain't playing for peanuts anymore They wanted a monkey Got a monster They wanted a worker Got an artist They wanted the show I became the circus And when the music stops Remember these hands that turned the crank.
