The Itchy Onion (Chao’s Intro)

[Intro] (Vinyl crackle, smooth upright bassline, boom bap drum loop) (Female R&B Vocals - smooth and soulful) Mmm... dreaming of the Golden Mountain... Imagine that... yeah. [Verse 1] (Male Rap - clear, rhythmic, poetic flow) Crossed the salt water in the belly of the beast Looking for a golden dawn, ended at the devil's feast Cobblestones soaked in the shadows of the bay Where dragons gotta scrape just to see the light of day We traded emperors for alleyways, kings for the tongs Singing silent hymns to a land where we belong Got a hatchet in the jacket, silk hiding the scars Building up their country while we locked behind the bars Opium smoke in the lungs, salt in the wind In a city built on virtue but financed by the sin. [Chorus] (Female R&B Vocals - soaring, melodic, Lauryn Hill style) If we ruled these streets... There’d be no blood on the gold, no chains on the soul Imagine that, yeah, imagine that From the docks to the hills, we'd take back control No more hiding in the shadows of the smoke and the coal... Imagine that. [Verse 2] (Male Rap - slightly more aggressive, Kendrick-style introspection) Look, survival is a dialect, trauma is the mother tongue Catching heavy stares from the moment that we sprung Out the harbor, rival mobs swinging heavy with the lead Another itchy onion barking while my brothers bleed Turf wars painted in a crimson red hue Hop Wei to the Long Zii, tell me who is playing who? We dying for a block that we don’t even own Kings of the gutter, sitting on a wooden throne I see the pendulum swinging, the exclusion in the ink They want us building up the bridge just to push us off the brink But the dragon got teeth, and the roots run deep A warrior’s promise is the only thing we keep. [Chorus] (Female R&B Vocals - rich harmonies) If we ruled these streets... There’d be no blood on the gold, no chains on the soul Imagine that, yeah, imagine that From the docks to the hills, we'd take back control No more hiding in the shadows of the smoke and the coal... Imagine that. [Outro] (Male Rap - spoken word, fading out) Yeah. From the Pearl River to the Barbary Coast. Still standing. Still fighting. (Female R&B Vocals - vocal riffs fading) Imagine that... (Beat fades out)