[Verse 1: Cairo Egyptian-accented male MC, shouted fast over the frantic darbuka and heavy kick] Up on a roof in Shubra where the satellite dishes grow Got a pigeon tower built of wood and wire and a flag on a pole Two hundred birds of mine, and I know every single face Zizo's on the next roof with two hundred in his place Here's the law up on the rooftops, and it's older than the street Any bird that lands on your roof is a bird you get to keep So you feed 'em and you train 'em and you never get to sleep Every sunset it's a war, two roofs and one sky Two flags on two poles, and the birds don't ask why So I grab the pole at sunset, red rag tied on top Wave it once and every wing on the block goes up and won't stop [Hook: Cairo MC, shouted, the mizmar wailing on every line] Up on the roof and I wave the flag That ain't surrender, that's me takin' what you had Send your birds up in the Cairo sky Watch 'em all come home to me, yalla, bye bye [Verse 2: Cairo MC, faster, the darbuka rolling] Zizo waves a green one, tryin' to call his flock back But my birds fly figure eights and his come followin' the pack Thirty of his birds come down on my roof in a wave And he's screamin' cross the laundry lines like I robbed a grave I don't argue, I don't fight, I just scatter seed and grin Rooftop law, ya Zizo, that's the rule that we live in Three weeks, I got his best ones, I got his blue-bar hen And his tower's half empty, khalas, I'm wavin' it again Whole alley's on the balconies, they're bettin' on the sky Auntie Samia's sellin' tea and yellin', "Higher, Hamada, fly" [Hook: Cairo MC, harder] Up on the roof and I wave the flag That ain't surrender, that's me takin' what you had Send your birds up in the Cairo sky Watch 'em all come home to me, yalla, bye bye [Verse 3: Cairo MC, shouted, the whole band pushing] Friday mornin', Zizo climbs up, and he's carryin' a sheet White as milk tied to his pole, so I'm thinkin' he's beat White flag on a rooftop, that's a man who's givin' in So I'm yellin' down the alley, "Zizo's done, I win, I win" Then my birds go up, all of 'em, my birds and his birds too Every wing I own is circlin' his sheet against the blue Three weeks he was feedin' 'em at dawn under that white Every bird I stole was learnin' his flag, every night Now they're all on Zizo's roof, mine and his and the hen And he's grinnin' cross the alley, "Rooftop law, my friend" [Ramp: one-time pre-hook, the Cairo MC ramps up bar by bar, the mizmar going higher each line] So I grab my pole, I grab my red, and I'm wavin' it like mad Up and over, come on home, every bird I ever had Two flags in the Cairo sky, and the whole of Shubra's loud Four hundred birds above us, and they're turnin' in a cloud [Hook: Cairo MC, everything in] Up on the roof and I wave the flag That ain't surrender, that's me takin' what you had Send your birds up in the Cairo sky Watch 'em all come home to me, yalla, bye bye [End]
