International hip-hop artist Jason Chu of Model Minority, rising DC talent Ryan Lucas, and Lucas Kwong, the frontman for garage rock outfit Brother K came together for the single “Payroll”. The video is a half year’s worth of shooting and editing with visuals from Occupy Wall Street, Union Square, Times Square, Yale and Columbia campuses, and the streets of Harlem. Here’s more about their song:
Recorded over ten months in three countries: Canada (Lucas), China (Jason) and USA (Ryan). Incepted in the dead of winter 2010: on a bus traveling from Seattle to Vancouver, drifting in and out of sleep, my subconscious latched onto a string of words – “they’ll put you on the payroll” – and it unfolded from there…
Our salute to the 99 percent. Or to the 1 percent. Or to the 100 percent really, depending on how you take it.
They felt it was high time Asians claimed a larger place in the conversation about economic inequality and class stratification.
Payroll by Brother K x Jason Chu x Ryan Lucas
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Lyrics to Payroll by Brother K x Jason Chu x Ryan Lucas
(Jason)
The money power respect the guns glory and sex
Go hand in hand like slum lords and FEMA checks
Start wars so they ignore corrupt cops
Til every foreign nation looks like a city crack block
Forget crack, money lies in pharmaceuticals
FDA approval comes down to who knew whom
Suckin off dick Cheney for a handshake
Makin profit off the haitian earthquake
What’s first? Whos the money going to?
The top one percent makes all of the rules
They own our land, our prisons, our schools
Why you ever think they would tell you the truth?
Stay movin’ on our way to a classic
Still talkin truth, roarin’ like Jurassic
We gon’ man up, Kick Ass, get our ass kicked
Or handed right back to us like a backflip
(Lucas)
Well this is for the girls and boys
Who wanna die with lots of toys
Pretend they’re giving you a choice, yeah they’ll put you on the payroll
(Ryan)
Well, umm when They call it Security/ I call an inferior conspiracy / I call it, an alcoholic bottled with hennessey / drop change drop names illegit chemistry/ Same from south Bangladesh to Tennessee / the enemies enemy breed anguish and misery / multiply it up, spread it out, like there ten of me, rah! Transact smooth as Billy d in a winter minks / American dynasties, must be Kennedy / true voices are silencing, the, the industry / clogged like Internet blogs filled with empty pleas and silly strings of celebrity Charities / embellishing what is truly embarrassing / presenting comparisons, benevolent arrogance / selling their excellence etc when the cheddar their cherishing perishes / Snapping like terrapins/ raw!
(Lucas)
Well this is for the girls and boys
Who wanna die with lots of toys
Pretend they’re giving you a choice, yeah they’ll put you on the payroll
Cause when you see the living dead
If you can close your eyes instead
Pretend it’s just inside your head, yeah they’ll put you on the payroll
(BRIDGE)
Glad to have you dear we just know you’re gonna like it, know you’re gonna like it
Sign your name right here, and don’t worry bout the fine print, worry bout the fine print
(Lucas)
Hey wait, this is way too heavy for me right?
I’m not the Man I’m just one man who keeps his teeth white
And his life green, wear sunscreen, turn off the lights
Recycle, ride a bicycle, tell me what else would Jesus do? Fight
Against the new world order and push back at the borders drawn
By powers coming straight up from the shadows of Mordor?
No Frodo, and Haiti was a natural disaster
It ain’t a question of refusing to call America master, right?
What? Dream bigger? Seek truth? Fuck that,
I got enough worries like my Facebook page and my body fat
So don’t tell me how it’s probably the last hour now
Forecasting melting ice, dead trees and thundershowers
Of acid poured on the flaccid dreams of a generation
Raised without determination facing extermination
Cause if it’s true you better sic Jesse Eisenberg on me
Cause I’m hungry for brains in the land of the zombies
(CHORUS)
Well this is for the girls and boys who choke you out without a noise
Pretend they’re giving you a voice, yeah they’ll put you on the payroll
Cause when you see an open grave if you can smile and turn away
And make believe it’s all okay, they’ll put you on the payroll
Whoa, they’ll put you on the payroll
Glad to have you dear, we just know you’re gonna like it, know you’re gonna like it
Sign your name right here, and don’t worry bout the fine print…