The Scale Is Crooked [Intro — lone slide dobro, slow and cold, courthouse organ drone barely there] [dobro slide x4 slow] [courthouse organ drone low bar 2] [acoustic guitar enters bar 4] [808 kick soft bar 6] [Verse 1 — cold southern drawl, stacking receipts clean] Jason Van Dyke Chicago officer Laquan McDonald Seventeen years old Walking down the middle of the street Knife at his side Already moving away Van Dyke got out of his car And fired sixteen times Sixteen McDonald was down after the first shot He fired fifteen more Into a body on the ground Murder conviction Second degree Six years Nine months Six years nine months For sixteen shots Into a kid already falling Now write that number down Six years nine months We coming back to it [Pre-Chorus — fiddle enters, 808 doubles, trap hi-hats tighten] Now Francis Livoti New York City officer Anthony Baez Bronx 1994 Football hit Livoti's car He put Baez in a chokehold Baez died State court acquitted him Federal court Civil rights violation Seven and a half years Seven and a half For choking a man to death over a football Hold that number [Chorus — 808 drops hard, banjo chop stabs, fiddle over trap, flat and cold] ERIC BRANDT GOT TWELVE YEARS FOR WORDS VAN DYKE GOT SIX FOR SIXTEEN SHOTS LIVOTI GOT SEVEN FOR A CHOKEHOLD KILLING THE SCALE IS CROOKED THE SCALE HAS ALWAYS BEEN CROOKED WORDS THAT CHALLENGE THE ROBE COST MORE THAN BODIES IN THE STREET THE SCALE IS CROOKED SOMEBODY STRAIGHTEN THE SCALE [Drop 1 — 808 hard, banjo stabs, dobro riff, courthouse drone rises cold] [808 drop hard] [banjo chop x4] [trap hi-hat roll] [dobro riff over bass] [courthouse drone rises] [breathe cold] [Verse 2 — more receipts, drawl stays level, data named clean] Now here is the number that ought to keep you up Less than two percent of officers who kill somebody ever get charged with anything Less than two percent Out of every hundred killings by police ninety eight of those officers never see a courtroom as a defendant Not acquitted Not found not guilty Never charged And the ones that do get charged average around six years if they get convicted at all Civilians convicted of murder average forty eight point eight years Forty eight point eight Officers convicted of murder average around twenty one Same crime Different badge Different number And Eric Brandt who never touched anybody who stood on sidewalks and filed lawsuits and won them got twelve years for words that a judge did not like Twelve years More than Van Dyke got for sixteen shots into a child [Pre-Chorus — dobro slides hard, snare tightens, verdict building] I am not saying let everybody walk I am saying the same system that gave those men those numbers gave Eric Brandt twelve and I want somebody to explain to me with a straight face how that scale is level [Chorus — fuller, harder, every element locked cold] ERIC BRANDT GOT TWELVE YEARS FOR WORDS VAN DYKE GOT SIX FOR SIXTEEN SHOTS LIVOTI GOT SEVEN FOR A CHOKEHOLD KILLING THE SCALE IS CROOKED THE SCALE HAS ALWAYS BEEN CROOKED WORDS THAT CHALLENGE THE ROBE COST MORE THAN BODIES IN THE STREET THE SCALE IS CROOKED SOMEBODY STRAIGHTEN THE SCALE [Drop 2 — hardest drop in the track, 808 and fiddle collision, banjo stabs wide] [massive 808 drop] [fiddle surge over trap] [banjo stab x6] [dobro slide bar 4] [one beat silence] [full return cold and flat] [Bridge — harmonica only, narrator bare and direct, no percussion] Lady Justice wears a blindfold That is the story we tell But the scale she is holding tips one way every time a badge walks into the room Ninety eight out of a hundred killings never charged Six years for sixteen shots Seven years for a chokehold death Three years for holding a man down while he called for his mother And twelve years for a man who spoke ugly words into a phone The blindfold is not blind The scale is not level It knows exactly who it is weighing and it has always known We are just saying it out loud now In a song With a fiddle And a receipt [Final Chorus — every element, courthouse drone loud now, full hick-hop locked] ERIC BRANDT GOT TWELVE YEARS FOR WORDS VAN DYKE GOT SIX FOR SIXTEEN SHOTS LIVOTI GOT SEVEN FOR A CHOKEHOLD KILLING THE SCALE IS CROOKED THE SCALE HAS ALWAYS BEEN CROOKED WORDS THAT CHALLENGE THE ROBE COST MORE THAN BODIES IN THE STREET THE SCALE IS CROOKED SOMEBODY STRAIGHTEN THE SCALE [Outro — slide dobro returns alone, courthouse drone fades last, one note holds] [dobro slide x4 slow] [courthouse drone fades] [harmonica single note] [silence] [one dobro note] [the scale sits there]
