[ INTRO — Atmosférico. Reverb largo. Solo el bajo con delay. ] Page one, clause one, party of the first part — Everything sounds clean when the ink is still wet. Page forty, clause nine, buried in the fine part — Dat is where di duppy live. [ VERSO 1 ] They flew me to the city, put me in a hotel room, Said the label believes in you, said your time is coming soon. The lawyer spoke in paragraphs, the manager smiled wide, Everybody in that room had already picked a side. They had a vision for my sound, said it needed just a turn, Said the roots were very powerful but the market has to learn. I read the paper slowly while they poured another glass — And I felt something cold move through the room that didn't have a name. [ PRE-CORO ] Fifteen years, they said, fifteen years of what I make. Every song, every riddim, every decision that I take. Veto rights on who I tour with, who I let inside the booth — Tell me what yuh call a ghost dat walks around in legal truth. [ CORO ] Duppy in the contract, haunting every page. Smile inna di boardroom, cage behind di stage. Duppy in the contract, dressed in black and white — Nuh blood, nuh fyah, nuh witness — Just di ghost dat owns your life. [ VERSO 2 ] I've seen them do it to my elders, watched it happen clean and slow, A name above the door but nothing left of what they know. The accent softened, the riddim lightened, the image rearranged — They called it a career, I called it something else. So I sat there with my pen and let the silence do the work, Let them wonder why I wasn't signing, let them feel the hurt Of a deal that couldn't close because the woman in the chair Had read page forty, clause nine — and the duppy wasn't there. [ PRE-CORO ] Fifteen years — I said, not one. Not my masters, not my tongue. Not my band, not my stage, not the way I hold the mic — Tell me what yuh call a contract dat was never really right. [ CORO ] Duppy in the contract, haunting every page. Smile inna di boardroom, cage behind di stage. Duppy in the contract, dressed in black and white — Nuh blood, nuh fyah, nuh witness — Just di ghost dat owns your life. [ BRIDGE — Sección dub. El arreglo se desintegra. Solo ecos y el bajo. ] Dem put di duppy inna di paper. Dem put di cage inna di clause. Dem put di chain inna di language Weh yuh nuh read till it too late. But I and I read it. I and I read it. I and I read it — And I and I put down di pen. [ CORO FINAL x2 — El groove completo regresa de golpe. ] Duppy in the contract, haunting every page. Smile inna di boardroom, cage behind di stage. Duppy in the contract, dressed in black and white — Nuh blood, nuh fyah, nuh witness — Just di ghost dat owns your life. [ OUTRO — El groove se desmonta en dub. La voz en eco. ] Page forty, clause nine... Page forty, clause nine... I put down di pen...
