[Intro - Sparse piano, low industrial hum] [MALE] Funny thing about a slaughterhouse... Everybody thinks the worst part is the blood. It isn’t. It’s the routine. [Verse 1 - Slow, heavy pauses] [MALE] They built the room to break you Not kill you quick Slow pressure Cold metal Same fluorescent flick Same conveyor dragging every little failure by Same hands pointing numbers At the pieces that survive They want clean cuts Neat scars No noise in the hall Smile for the photo Then bleed through the wall I learned young Pain don’t always scream Sometimes it clocks in Works eight Leaves clean Sometimes hell got paperwork Sometimes hell got rent Sometimes hell shakes your hand Then asks where your spirit went I watched good people grind down Till they fit the machine Edges cut clean Till nobody looked mean That’s the trick Don’t make monsters Make employees Make ’em tired Make ’em quiet Make ’em beg for normalcy Then call it life Cute. I call it processing. [Hook - Alternating leads] Welcome to the meat grinder Step in line Keep your head down You’ll be fine Welcome to the meat grinder Don’t ask why Everybody goes in whole Nobody comes out right [Verse 2] [MALE] Amoyra, fuck 'em up! [FEMALE - Deep smoky contralto rap, Southern hip-hop swagger, chest grit, clipped pickups, pitch/intensity shifts, unpredictable pockets] Oh, y'all got this down to a science, huh? Conditioned to comply, convinced the violence is guidance, volunteer silence call it resilience [MALE] Shit, that's efficient [FEMALE] Processed, handed a manual damage deemed manageable Crank jam, hands mangled same demand, keep it mechanical Everybody adjustin accustomed to functionin fucked up, but fuck it they just keep it runnin Productive destruction punish disruption cut anythin human that questions the system Wait... y'all actually prouda this? The injured instructin the next suppress pain, expect neglect Question the methods? That's aggression Now sufferin's somebody's profession Ground down gristle grinnin at the gears hands on the feeder pushin in their peers Watch how quick they adapt to the shit they despised First they flinch at the blade now they're sharpenin knives [Hook - Alternating leads] Welcome to the meat grinder Step in line Keep your head down You’ll be fine Welcome to the meat grinder Don’t ask why Everybody goes in whole Nobody comes out right [Instrumental Break] [Verse 3 - Male rapid-fire, dense internals] [MALE] Look look look Look at the system, slick with submission, precision-conditioned to swallow resistance and call it a living Built on attrition, polished decisions, permission to cripple ambition then market the damage as character-building Nobody questions the quotas or notices bodies get folded to fit in the metrics they worship like scripture Everybody sees it, nobody speaks it, easier keeping the gears moving clean than admitting the whole fucking engine is sickness Clock in exhausted, clock out diminished, repeat till the person that walked through the doorway is practically finished Praise every worker who breaks without quitting, then punish the ones with enough fucking nerve to admit that they’re injured Management smiling, filing compliance, sanitizing the violence with language designed to make suffering sound like improvement “Optimize output,” “streamline the process,” corporate translation for grinding a pulse into measurable units And everybody knows Everybody fucking knows Amoyra, take this shit before I really get pissed. [FEMALE - Deep smoky contralto rap, Southern hip-hop swagger, chest grit; clipped pickups, elastic vowels, unpredictable pitch and pockets] Nez, I gotchu watch how they switch when the shift ends walk through the door with a face they can't live in Ki-ki-keepin it civil, conditioned to swallow the instinct to scream when somebody asks how their day's been Li-li-listen, the grind gets habitual, physical mental, mechanical [MALE] shit, it's ridiculous [FEMALE] Get so accustomed to functionin miserable rest starts feelin suspicious, damn near criminal Re-re-rehearsin apologies, automatic responses a nervous system trained to anticipate consequences bleedin through bandages, braggin bout diligence can't even sit with yourself without feelin negligent Nez, they don't gotta chain anybody to the line You can clock out at five and keep hearin it grind They sent you home with the machinery inside now you're layin there guilty cause you ain't on it tonight [Hook | Bigger, layered, choir-like] Welcome to the meat grinder Step in line Keep your head down You’ll be fine Welcome to the meat grinder Don’t ask why Everybody goes in whole Nobody comes out right Welcome to the meat grinder Step in line Keep your head down You’ll be fine Welcome to the meat grinder Don’t ask why Everybody goes in whole Nobody comes out right
