**[Intro — chopped guitar scratches / Brooklyn-style shouted cadence]** **YO!** Day one! **DAY ONE!** Case opened! **CASE OPENED!** Verdict coming down Before the evidence shows! **HA!** **LET'S GO!** **[Verse 1 — rapid Brooklyn hip-hop cadence]** Day one, they got my name on the paper, Day two, somebody's calling me a danger, Day three, now the headline's getting stranger, By Friday I'm a criminal according to the chamber. Judge from a distance, sentence from a screen, Everybody knows the facts before they know what they mean. Put a label on a person, put a number on a file, Then tell 'em it's justice with a bureaucratic smile. Guilty as charged— Charged with what? Being inconvenient? Talking too much? Asking who signed it? Asking who knew? Asking why the rules Don't apply to you? **[Pre-Chorus — gang vocals]** **DAY ONE!** No investigation! **DAY ONE!** No hesitation! **DAY ONE!** Write the verdict down— **BEFORE THE TRIAL!** **[Chorus — huge crossover chant]** **GUILTY BEFORE THE GAVEL!** That's the way they want it! **GUILTY BEFORE THE GAVEL!** Put the label on it! Barely legal, barely heard, One accusation becomes the word, Strike the match— **WATCH IT BURN!** **GUILTY BEFORE THE GAVEL!** **[Verse 2 — faster rap]** Barely legal? That's convenient language, Draw the line crooked, then call it standards. Move the goalpost, rewrite the rule, Then punish everybody who refuses to play the fool. Capital punishment in a suit and tie, Not always a bullet—sometimes opportunities die. Sometimes it's a paycheck, sometimes it's a name, Sometimes it's a future they erase from the game. Who gets pardoned? Who gets blamed? Who gets buried underneath the shame? Who gets called a threat? Who gets called a friend? Who writes the law And changes it again? **[Guitar Scratch Attack]** *CHK-CHK!* **SKRRAAAP!** *CHK-CHK-CHK!* **SKRRAAAP!** **CUT!** **BACK!** **CUT!** **BACK!** **DROP!** **[Verse 3 — aggressive punk/thrash delivery]** Great balls of fire when the courtroom ignites, When the microphones turn into street-corner fights, Everybody screaming but nobody hears, Everybody selling another man's fears. This ain't about vengeance, This ain't about hate, It's about who gets to decide Who deserves their fate. If justice is blind, Why's she checking the name? Why's the scale getting heavier Depending on the game? You don't need a prison To lock somebody away— Sometimes all it takes Is a lie repeated every day. **[Breakdown — call and response]** **WHO MADE THE CHARGE?** **WHO KNOWS?** **WHO MADE THE RULE?** **WHO KNOWS?** **WHO CAST THE STONE?** **WHO KNOWS?** **THEN WHO GETS TO JUDGE?** **NOBODY!** **[Bridge — half-time, menacing]** Day one— **GUILTY!** Day two— **GUILTY!** Day three— **GUILTY!** Before anybody asks— **GUILTY!** That's not justice. **THAT'S A SCRIPT!** **[Final Chorus — full band]** **GUILTY BEFORE THE GAVEL!** That's the way they want it! **GUILTY BEFORE THE GAVEL!** Put the label on it! Barely legal, barely heard, One accusation becomes the word, Strike the match— **WATCH IT BURN!** **GUILTY BEFORE THE GAVEL!** **[Outro — scratch guitar / shouted]** Day one! **GUILTY!** Day two! **GUILTY!** Day three! **GUILTY!** **WHO NEEDS A TRIAL WHEN THEY'VE ALREADY GOT THE VERDICT?** **CHK-CHK!** **SKRRAAAP!** **CASE CLOSED!**
