[Intro - Spoken Over Distant Siren] "All rise. The State versus the plant. Charge: Possession of peace. Charge: Distribution of calm. Charge: Cultivation of a mind that thinks too slow to be dangerous. How does the defendant plead?" "Not guilty, your honor. The plant didn't do nothing." [Verse 1] They wrote a law in 1937 Said a flower was a threat to heaven Hemp was rope and the paper was clean But the cotton men and the oil machine Needed something to be afraid of So they pointed at a leaf and said "This is the devil, this is the dread Lock it up, cut it down, fill the prisons instead" [Verse 2] Now Johnny got ten years for a plant in his bag While the Sackler family put a price tag on a body bag OxyContin on the shelf, that's a business plan Cannabis in the yard, that's a federal man They'll prescribe you something that will eat your soul But the thing that calms you down They'll put a bullet in your bowl Tell me how that makes sense, tell me how that's control [Pre-Chorus - Gang Vocals] (Building intensity) Who profits from the prison? Who profits from the pain? Who wrote the drug schedule While they poured themselves champagne? [Chorus - Full Gang Vocals] Handcuffs and holy water They'll baptize you in a cell Handcuffs and holy water And they wonder why we yell They can sell you wine on Sunday They can sell you death by pill But a plant that grows from the ground they say "Lock him up, break his will" Handcuffs and holy water What a way to build a hell [Verse 3] Now here's the part that'll make you sick The sentencing ain't random, it's a loaded stick White boy in the suburbs gets a warning and a wave Black boy in the city gets a cell and a grave Same plant, same smoke, same exhale of breath One gets a future, one gets the depth They call it justice but we call it what it is A machine that eats the poor and feeds the rich their biz [Verse 4] Private prisons on the stock exchange Profits rising every time the laws don't change Lobbyists with briefcases full of blood money Senators who never smoked but find this funny They'll take your house, they'll take your kid They'll take your license, take your bid For a plant that's been here since the world began But they need a monster so they built one out of sand [Pre-Chorus - Gang Vocals] Who owns the prison? Who owns the law? Who gets the contract When they fill the cellblock floor? [Chorus - Full Gang Vocals] Handcuffs and holy water They'll baptize you in a cell Handcuffs and holy water And they wonder why we yell They can sell you wine on Sunday They can sell you death by pill But a plant that grows from the ground they say "Lock him up, break his will" Handcuffs and holy water What a way to build a hell [Bridge - Slower, Gritty Male Vocal Over Sparse Drums] My uncle did three years for a quarter ounce Came home with nothing, not even a bounce His kids don't know him, his wife moved on His whole life gone for a green leaf lawn And the judge who sentenced him, you know what he did? Got caught with the same thing, paid a fine and hid No cuffs, no cell, no breaking of the name Just a handshake and a cover-up and back to the game [Final Chorus - Maximum Volume, Every Voice] Handcuffs and holy water They'll baptize you in a cell Handcuffs and holy water We're building our own hell They can sell you lies on television They can sell you wars and pills But a plant that God himself put in the dirt They say, "That's where we draw the line, that's where we break your will" Handcuffs and holy water I'd rather have the plant Handcuffs and holy water Tell me who the criminals really are [Outro - Gavel Bangs, Then Silence] "The plant is found guilty of existing. The system is found guilty of everything else. Court is adjourned."
