it's either a rant about the criminal justice system, a first-person retelling of the archetypical "hero's journey" set in a post-apocalyptic future where corporations rule the world with impunity, or a clever inversion of Milton's Paradise Lost in which the antichrist is portrayed as a superhero fighting against the rule of a divine tyrant. Or maybe it's all three.
lyrics
Crime & Punishment
I never claimed to be a prophet but I've been to the mountain
walked the burning sands, & drunk from the fountain
seen fire in the sky, watched the floods raise
did my time in the desert – 40 nights, 40 days
lost everything, then lost it all again
from my most prized possessions to my very best friends
can't claim to understand what – if anything - it means
just givin it my best guess, but all the things I've seen
incline me to find that my mind is a weapon
a blind man could see the signs I'm connectin'
reflectin' on the present, movin' to the future
blast past the past and the pigs that'll shoot ya
I move like a monster, makin mad music
my mind is all I have, i'd be a fool not to use it
Son of man with a plan, so understand what it's about
be lik hey-zeus with a whip, chasin' the money men out
It's crime & punishment, rhyme & reason
and when we fight back, they call it treason
So I say what I mean, mean what I say
our future's been stolen so I live for today
crime, punishment, rhyme, reason
burnin up inside but outside - freezin'
balanced on a wire like 10 miles high
desperately tryin' to remember how to fly
most ya'll ain't prepared for the truth I spit
I fight back like Warsaw while ya'll walk into Auschwitz
ya'll think I'm the one who's crazy?!! What's your malfunction?!
Understand where we stand, we're at history's junction
consumption can't save you, you can't fill the hole
put your coupons away, they won't save your soul
ya'll so indoctrinated, can't even tell what's right
addicted, conflicted, conscripted to fight
crusades and wars as they treat us like whores
and when we fight back they control us with force
sensational tv violence desensitizes
so that when it's real no one realizes
or understands the impact of culture combat
distressed, dissociated, can't even contact
our own histories, long memory gone
so we don't know who we are or where we've come from
trapped in a box, can't go where I wanna
can't do what I need to do - can't move cuz it's gonna
collapse in on me, I need energy,
my lady sendin' me empathy, synergy
react exothermic, reject hypodermics
instead inject respect & reflect on the verdict
i've seen my friends locked up, my hope locked down
I blow the top off the spot when I walk into town
raise hell where I step, flame springs from the ground
livin in a house of cards, gonna knock it all down
dragon heart from the start and my part is eternal
the soul of a warrior, attackin' this infernal
evil and insidious corporate beast
bringin' light like the suns rays, rising in the east
so I feast when I can, starve when I gotta
spit flame at the game and it don' get hotta
Jamil Honesty’s hard-hitting LP gets a new video documentary that explores its powerful themes in detail, split into multiple parts. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 3, 2023