Tongs of Chinatown (Hop Wei Trop Mix)

[Intro - spoken, atmospheric] Somewhere between Canton and California... a war nobody put in the history books... [Hook] If I ran these streets, imagine that Every debt collected, no turning back Silk and steel held under my hat Ruler of Chinatown, imagine that [Verse 1] Fog roll off the bay like it's hiding a sin Grandfather's letter said "Gold Mountain," bring your kin Found a mountain made of pickaxes and blood Railroad ties laid where the graves got no name carved above Downtown they call it progress, uptown it's a grave Paper son swimming just to keep from the wave Tong flags snapping where the hatchet men roam Hop Wei on one block, Long Zii calling it home In the back of the Itchy Onion the dice never sleep Every fortune you're chasing got a debt that runs deep They taught me kung fu is just water dressed as a fist Bend so you don't break, that's the only way we exist [Hook] [Verse 2] Exclusion Act coming like a fog made of law Signature drying while they're sharpening the saw Half of me dreams English, half of me still bows Ancestors watching how a young man keeps his vows 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 Chinatown's on fire 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 corner, if the streets bowed to my name I'd burn every deed and start the whole thing over again [Hook] [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 Imagine if we ruled it — imagine that we will [Outro - Hook] If I ran these streets, imagine that Every ancestor's debt paid back Gold Mountain finally in my hands Ruler of Chinatown — imagine that