[Intro: Shad]
Yeah so I wrote this poem about
About clever men and our violence
And it starts out with this young boy
That wakes up on a desert floor
And all around him are the sights and the sounds of war
Soon he learned that the whole world was a desert
And in fact the whole world was at war
Everyone frightened to their core
And so he trained and became a sniper
Eventually climbing to the top
To the highest status, highest income brackets
Highly skilled
Quiet skills

[Verse 1: Shad]
I was taught not to love the land
Never trust the land
Live on a higher plane
You're above the land:
Penthouse suite
Oversee:
Don't need to understand
That man is dust
Man is of the land
Motherland I never touched
I had to run from it young
Began to see the only safety
Was gun in hand
I didn't get to plant seeds or feel the sands
They can seize where you stand
I had to leave it, now I fear the ground
That's where bodies lay
That's where bones are found
You gotta own the ground
Who controls the ground?
Sniper
From a higher up elevation:
Hire and firing power from a higher education
Higher up the corporate ladder
The higher your social station
Always training your sights
Ready, aim and then strike
Gotta stay on top
Hide your wealth
Hide yourself
High and stealth
See those fighting below
And try to help them but
The land is dirty
Their hands is dirty
And man is dirty
It's kill or be killed, have mercy

[Interlude]
You get told that from school, and
Definitely grow up and you're in the business world and
They tell you if you wanna be successful
You gotta step on people
You gotta crush people
You gotta destroy people

[Verse 2: Shad]
I was taught you always take the shot when you got it
And pay the costs from your pockets
And take the losses like a boss
And make the profits too
Trust no one
Gross sums and hold guns
And I don't run
And I don't miss
And I don't miss no one
No diss
But I'm focused
Like my scope is
From my crow's nest
Low-risk
Tie no strings
No close kin
Stay close-lipped
And I leave no prints
And no hints
And no doubt:
When I go out
I goes in then I'm ghost
And they're ghosts when I
(Gunshots)
A sniper brought up to the height of the stakes
Told only the soul is sacred
And any spot that's vacant you can take
And above all no place is safe
Unless you're stationed above all
And stay in that space
Hovering over
I was taught everyone is a soldier
Life is a fight
Keep money and people tight in your holsters
Yo it's kill or be killed
The land is dirty
Their hands is dirty
And man is dirty
That's all I ever learned
Have mercy