[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 scrap just to see the light of day We traded emperors for alleyways, kings for the tongs Singing silent hymns to a land where we don’t 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 bled 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. [Verse 3] See the lantern light bounce off a hatchet's edge Every truce a whisper standing on a ledge Opium sweet dreams for the ones who can't fight Back rooms counting sorrow by the lantern light I ain't a villain, I'm a mirror of the choice America gave me silence, so the blade became my voice But somewhere in the smoke there's a kid still holding on To a Gold Mountain dream his grandfather built songs on So I write this for the paper sons, the tong widows too For the Itchy Onion nights that nobody ever knew History skipped our chapter, but the blood remembers still Somewhere we still rule it — somewhere we still will [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. [Verse 4] Brother on one side, sister on the other Same blood in the gutter, different flag, no mercy for another Mayor shaking hands with the men who lit the match These narrow blocks burning and they're selling us the ash But I got a hundred hands and I only need a few Loyalty ain't cheap when the whole block wants you So if I ruled this quarter, if the streets bowed to my name I'd burn every deed and start our whole story over again [Outro] (Male Rap - spoken word, fading out) Yeah. From the Pearl River to the Barbary Coast. Still standing. Still fighting. (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. (Beat fades out)
