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How do you sleep at night?

by Rich Jones & Montana Macks

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1.
I heard clicks on my phone Saw a helicopter My friend told me I'm fakakta I said I'm precocious Now if I catch a L That shit would be catastrophic I gotta keep it cryptic Keep a shelter in the tropics I want what's right, damn the optics And y'all looking ostrich I see it too often All walks of life wanna turn their brains off Damn that would be nice Try it with a bottle Do it with a pipe Munching on stems on a Tuesday night I wash it down with a something and Sprite Legs up on the desk I'm done with the lectures and tests And ya know I only talk what I type Hey, forget invisible ink I know I'm not as in the pink as I used to be But that don't bother me You either grow the mind or you choose lobotomies Skipping to the homily Laughing if it's drama or it's comedy Are you on that fire water or the ayahuasca? Are you feeling short of breath and should I call the doctor? Just wanna do you proper Just wanna do you proper Hey it's all friends here and we don't call the coppers x 2 Smiling at my enemies Don't wanna give them energy That they could use to punish me For letting them live rent free Waiting for epiphany Wait to long and your history We can bond over misery Start there Inside my head, inside my head Is a TV and a bed And a jar with some tree And a fridge with some meh Get me to the next week Love a good memory But living ain't free and I could really use the bread It's a trap, it's a trap Even if you got a map You can't walk the same path and have someone trace it back Hands on my back and I need a little scratch Are you on that fire water or the ayahuasca? Are you feeling short of breath and should I call the doctor? Just wanna do you proper Just wanna do you proper Hey it's all friends here and we don't call the coppers x 2
2.
Cheap seats but the sight lines decent What's the beef? Talking past or recent? I'm checking out, damn yeah I'm checking out Haha, fuck this shit yeah I'm checking out (Mykele) A bad ambassador but fine connoisseur of truths My daily pursuits get tangled in the booth mix The blueprints be air tight Yeah bruh I’m there tonight but let me smoke this pre roll just let me get my head right Don’t roll but I write joints at high points in my life I stay shaded like Mary J. In 95 Don’t go outside tho cause 5 0 They ride slow And ready to spark reactors like Chernobyl Cooperate? But I don’t know you And I don’t owe you spit So back up and pull up yo mask before I flip the script Like what’s yo badge number And why come to harass me fast While I’m on my way to buy some groceries I’m flowing oh so openly on this track Just pass the proceeds back To the activist keeping us in tact Cause ya know we all gotta eat We standing for better that’s why staying in street sustain the energy fight Me max and rich be like Pass and assist for life, We all spices I’m eating good, my girl smile is priceless Strictly essential, spit facts but make em sound enticing Never drop that poison, like Walt & Jesse with the Ricin Can’t stay concise on a diet of beans rice I’m rambling Fill every shopping cart in the hood and reverse some damage move the cameras And move some brothas on the campus Redefining the curriculum, eat my wheaties and stay the champion Cheap seats but the sight lines decent What's the beef? Talking past or recent? I'm checking out, damn yeah I'm checking out Haha, fuck this shit yeah I'm checking out (Rich) Good grief, no nothing good about it Feel's like I'm locked in and the world's on auto pilot Every night sirens, don't get too much silence I'm listening to the sounds of a mind misfiring Petite problem from the onset Living offsides, haven't been flagged yet How to live right and still get the bag May not be doable, I'm thinking it's a bad bet So what's next? I cradle the bottle neck Tobacco leaf getting stretched until there ain't none left I need time, I'm, I'm, I need time You don't get to ignore arms outstretched For so long, before long They'll think damn I gotta mine I gotta get mine Cheap seats but the sight lines decent What's the beef? Talking past or recent? I'm checking out, damn yeah I'm checking out Haha, fuck this shit yeah I'm checking out 2x
3.
Shifts 02:52
You sleep 1st We'll take shifts And if we drift into dreams Pray that no 1 comes to catch us unaware Uh huh I lived a few summers scared None with such subterfuge Never thought that I'd lose Pray that no one comes up my stairs Maybe more for me than them Pray I never have to kill Wishing I had squares right now Wishing I could just drown out all these sounds Maybe things will be alright Pray I never have to kill Wishing I had squares right now Wishing I had squares right now Shit No more memory lane Seen what unchecked nostalgia can do to the brain Better clear some space Uh huh No more playing these games Seen what unbothered people do and it's lame Taking up space Uh huh If you don't see this as life or death Check your head I squared my debts So I'm not weighed down when I dive to depths Not yet reached Pray for me to make it back to the beach Whatever pothole my blood first leaped from Leave me there if I don't make it Reprisals allowed if I was taken too soon I don't predict or assume I just wonder is all as I sit in my room
4.
I been hiding low key high up in the rafters I've been shouting out, I don't want applause after Too many opps in the audience A lotta dead kills the ambience don't you think? I do? Don't you think? I do? Well it's still legal ain't it? But legal these days needs a bit of explaining Maybe always did, just got hip to the changes The schemers and players The crooks and their favors Was it cash or for labor? Focaccia offers got the rest of us sittingg in squalor Your life or the guala What they do for a dollar makes your skin crawl If your skins in the game at all Name the court I'll bring the ball Winner take all How do you sleep at night? How do you sleep at night? The days haunt me In a manner that I can't move Night terrors on a joy cruise Who's that? That's the boys in blue And I don't have no love And no it isn't cool And no it isn't sweet I want retribution In a manner undeniable That anyone could see the difference Miles carved from inches Curtains for the henchmen Gallows for collaborators Shame for the silent and compliant Hello operator Connect me, I'm feeling heavy Rightfully so Counting all my blessings with a lump in my throat I got too many questions about which way this could go Sleep with one eye open and I'm turning my home Into something out of Home Alone No tours, no peaks No justice, no peace Never thought I'd want a piece Nazis in the streets Take the safety off release I'm a lover, pray I don't gotta squeeze How do you sleep at night? How do you sleep at night? How do you sleep at night? How do you sleep at night?
5.
How to stay mad without burning out? The things we gotta say is best by word of mouth I don't know who's listening I don't know who's watching I don't know who their listing as causing problem But I can't be scared of that, no So good night to the good guys The efforts they support You ask who they serve, they won't even retort When they get paid overtime to hunt people for sport In the name of broken windows and curfews Confused Property over people ain't the math I subscribe to Like TK said, you're all being lied to Who wants to wake up? Who goes back to bed? Or worse, who ends up dead? Friend or foe Friend of Fed I'm a call away from grabbing twenty cartons of Reds And going for it I meant it My home, for all of it's life and demeanor Deserves much better, a life more sweeter You can tell me it's a Caddy But I know that it's a beater with some nice features No future with these leaders Like these, likely, It's the end, that's a wrap And I don't wanna get wiped off the map If saying goodbye Sounds easier, I gotta ask why Some days I wouldn't mind But that would just prove everyone right Joked about Canada and about Uruguay Thought about Europe, but that's more of the same It's potent strains, the roots of what we face today Hey, they started it But who will end it? I'm no pretender or false lender But I've read a little And the spender's agenda? We're second fiddle Money over people ain't a riddle It's obvious Timeless And they want us helpless to fight it Survival absolves all sins If the opposite is six feet A funeral ain't a win unless it's there side Catch me getting snacks up around the half time Hot dogs and popcorn and land mines Sink or swim Land sharks out prowling for a feast Rather die with the freaks Than cut myself clean just to be a puzzle piece Now pass the wreath If saying goodbye Sounds easier, I gotta ask why Some days I wouldn't mind But that would just prove everyone right
6.
(Rich) I'm living in the trees until further notice Until I've made my opus or catch an obit Doing as I go since '06 I ain't rich but I make rent Thinking maybe I should hold that back B-R-B Reading up on solidarity won't cut it I don't care about the budget I'll just do it And see who wanna parallel my pirouette I got secrets socked away Save it for a holiday Hey, remember those? Now I just stay at home barely clothed Hazy, feeling too behaved like Was I crazy before? Must of been out of head Waking up on the floor Wanna share flowers? Call up the florist Hello? A dozen Thanks It's cash only? I'll hit the bank, slide out like a zamboni I'll pay in dank, otherwise could ya loan me? I'll pay you back, on that you can quote Wish I could say the same for the people that nearly broke No point in naming names I left that with the old me Stuck for a minute and I didn't lift a finger Rather be a lover and rap singer And that's word, and that's word And that's word (Davis) When you overthrow tyranny You loot it of it’s riches For those spoils were necessities long overdue Catch me rockin one gold front tooth like Fannie Lou Tell em keep they eyes on the prize But they view askew Pupils on the ragu No more bread to spread cause the rents long overdue bell hooks eviction notice in all lower case Ain’t you tired of this paper chase rat race? In this life of sin, all i need is my pen and one dusty mic to grace Keep a can of mace just in case for the snakes and jakes In this wild city my birthplace Imagery random access and will crash your database Rich jones and Dirty D by a landslide Always in first place Bring us our flowers and don’t forget the vases
7.
8.
Don't bring an umbrella to a gunfight It ends poorly Unless it's Batman II, your shit ain't bullet proof Prepare accordingly If this machine kills fascists, do so expeditiously Angry parent counts to 3 don't cut it Bread loaves and mustard are for closers not capos Careful what you covet Lotta budget covens out there for my taste buds I'm nonplussed It's too sus That's my 2 bucks Vagabondish Hit me with a glass of suds and a bag of buds Poor coping skills 101 since the fucking jump Still here somehow Survivors guilt followed Made space in my marrow Lifelines narrow You the hero or nero? The sauce or the gyro? Some peaks, lotta B-roll Downing scotch at the bistro It's all a peep show Casualties of cheap shots and weak blow Watch the leaves go Damn Looking bleak man Uh huh Watch the leaves go on by Andy day now Goodbye I'm a big dope, smoking big dope Listening to this big dope's mirrors and smoke Hey, hey, hey It could be more than this, there's gotta be more than this Cool world, what's the twist? I'm a big dope, smoking big dope Listening to this big dope's mirrors and smoke Hey, hey, hey It could be more than this, it's gotta be more than this Cool world, what's the twist? On a fool's mission Wouldn't do different if you get my inference I got my True North And if I lose that I'll hop back on the Newports Or Kools Whichever gets me across the finish line big sleeping My soul refuses all appeasement No reaches or leeches It's called a tear down for a reason It's rotten with roaches A single tear, I bleed clear Camouflaging my emotions Survive bombardment Impossible to not con carne Until our wars are all our fathers battles reincarnate
9.
I'm taking it out of bounds Getting a tech foul Foul moves getting life, wow Good deeds getting death now Finding the source of the switch around Switch around Source of the switch around It's around (Rich) Lemme know and it's in and out Call me back in an hour Vega skins with the sour Sweet dreams a fleeting thing If anything, I could use a shower If anything, I could lose the cowards Take the reins the world is ours Give it back! It wasn't mine, I didn't know But now I do Can't be unlearned Can't be unheard Can't be unlearned Give it back! Every key to every door Kill the myth then mop the floor Professional in the finest form Have more fun with the blinders on Don't mean your missing the shit show Stalling the renaissance Privilege by the zip code Street knowledge or bank rolls Won't save you when the tanks roll Shark week on the schedule Every week on the schedule Sacrifices are scheduled Won't tell you that in the manual All these rules are malleable They're bendable and they're breakable They're 2 systems that are applied and answered to To reset gotta pull it up right from the roots I'm taking it out of bounds Getting a tech foul Foul moves getting life, wow Good deeds getting death now Finding the source of the switch around Switch around Source of the switch around It's around 2 x No time to mess about It's all ending soon No time to mess about It's all ending soon (A.M.) Switch around Go around Like it's Talladega Monopoly, Boardwalk High, get the paper Every acre, wanna Tesla You can keep the mule Neighbors staring at me Got my chains on by the pool Ran laps, working on the cardio Back and forth but it ain't Atari yo When I'm winning They sabotage the whole game Worked a hundred years Racial shit still the same Saw 5 cops coming, put ya hands up Create the culture Then they try m ban us Man up, baby, take responsibility Too many excuses Ain't believing what you giving me I just gotta live Teach my baby right Mama call my phone, 11:30 every night I'm alright Thankful so I gotta pray But we begging for a change fighting every day Morning... But we begging for a change fighting every day Begging for a change fighting every day
10.
(Matt Muse) Damn, Rich I'm glad we got a track But it's still fuck 12 Tell em bring our n***as back I'm off Henny She off Jack Bumping "Bounce & Break Yo Back" I be like "aye aye oh" When she bob that, Bob that back down Do or Die in the background Got the plug like I drive a Tesla So they on the line, bill collector If they white then I tax em extra Reparations Hit the 40s on every acre Let the whole hood ride the mule Like damn PETA just hear me out I'm tryina teach black folks to save fuel Go from never how being safe feel To 50gs in our safes feel Spooky shit, Statesville My hair down, my care's free My city Chi and we proud to be If you out South come fuck with me (Defcee) Macks built the beat I laced it tighter than a skaters van We grew organically while the labels were raising plants So it's no respect if you pay for fans Quit complaining fam A rumble pack wouldn't shake your hand Saving money instead of spending it on a game of chance Change of plans Traded hitting stages for fixin paper jams Happy I'd tried and failed Than If I'd never played and ran So I'm more at peace than Tibetan monks Blendin painted sand They throwing shots But I can trace where the casings land Celebrating when cake's in hand, son, But making baby bands SkighMob, Future Cult, Grand Total, defprez And Rich Jones Pressin lines for us like a left end (Skech185) "When are you coming back?" she asked. We lost her six weeks later As my Summer sat Behind shadow painted smiles and blockades Lost days to fearful coughing Absence Illustrated, seen the bottom Seen some coffins Seen The abyss blink back first Seen it often The slight sprint between last chance cars on the green And last laughs at bars forgotten is flashbacks to Van Buren subs And we lived that 5 A.M. shit as a practice And half that carried me home most nights It's abstract if you wasn't there. Thats right, "Food,Sports, and Violence" My mind lives between scenes when we see humans to be humans And you made it because who knows who's gonna make it And so we keep moving (Psalm One) We all gonna die and we know it But how you living? Got you dying inside admit it The sky is falling Temp is risin homie Ain’t shit surprising I got my pie up Walther ppq it just for the light up My one desire Grow for centuries from what I write up My two desire Roast my enemies down by the fire Hoe Lotta smoke Politicians speaking in kaleidoscope Nevertheless I continue to step in my power, Enemy, vamanos! I ain’t scared of ya Covid ain’t no barrier I’ll throw a mask and throw these hands You bitches so embarrassing Crooked cop to Karem nem The barrel what we starin in But I’ll reverse and put in work And burn it all to raise again Hybrids in the lobby Call me Psalmie no apology Jones been tapping in, I had to rap, It’s been an honor, G And baby if this is my very last time breathing I hope I gave y’all something to believe in, Peace, man (Jovan Landry) Umm, Straight from The Go Or uhh, straight from the The Chi From Wacker down below, or from the South and West Sides I... I can be cocky with it, and diverse with the flow Steadily fresh from our head our toes, Where everything is matching You know we never lacking, We just be Cadillac-ing Be dripping saucy mild, Shout out to the Wild Wild Where I stay everyday, Repping so hard you know we don’t play Like anywhere we have our good and bad days, And Chi-Town be in my heart always You know we got that culture though, The weather hot, but then it’s cold So frozen like Italian Ice, but blazing heat like Vocalo J-O to the V-A-N, representing Aboriginal… J-O to the V-A-N, representing Aboriginal… (Rich Jones) 10 Years I finally turned this into something If I'da cracked then right now I'd be dead or done Rest in peace to who we lost You're not forgotten Rest in peace the vibes we lost Developers stomped No more geese to lay golden eggs No more leases Where the roofs for heads? Free all those on reefer charges Free those who got stuck by Burges For the birds that they're sitting rotting When I say Chicago Move with caution Say Chi--- Keep it moving Lotta love, not a lotta options Feel the ops Sayonara Talking big Bring the commas Moving wrong Think of the karma Polish fried, forget the carbs Mustard brown Onions carameled Highs are high I can't handle Lows are lows Change the channel Peace

about

“How do you sleep at night?”

Be it death scrolling online or taking a not so leisurely trip to grab groceries, I’ve found myself asking this question a lot this year. It feels like every day brings a new way we’ve found to be awful to each other, bad news heaped upon bad news and few answers if any on how to turn it around. And that’s without even reconciling what our lives have become under the duress of the pandemic and the horrific loss of nearly a quarter million people in this country alone since March.

There are some wildly bad actors at this moment, but it’s not just bombastic shit heads or calmly ghoulish pragmatists who deserve a solid boot to the ass (and boy do they ever). It’s the unbothered and unconcerned, those who choose to have no opinion at all and go about life as if everything is just “great”. I don’t know, maybe life has turned me overly sour, but I have a hard time getting geeked about brunch or whatever while police kill with impunity and we not so quietly descend into a fascistic nightmare. It all feels a little too Cabaret and I have no interest in tuning any of it out or having delusions of normalcy.

In regards to How do you sleep at night?...

I recorded sporadically in the initial months of lockdown, hesitant to dive into anything too seriously as I had an album that needed finishing (this is not that album). I honestly didn’t know what to say at the time but I knew if I was gonna do something, “party and bullshit” was not on the menu. I also knew that it should definitely be a Hip Hop record. While I’ve gone on to make all sorts of sounds over the last decade, it’s truly my first love and the thing that centers me and informs my choices as an artist period. My favorite MCs speak directly about their opinions and that is what I sought to do as I would hate to have people misconstrue where my heart and head are at. Plus, I was long overdue to reconnect with Montana Macks, the person who brought me into this in the 1st place almost 20 years ago sitting on a school bus and who’s made some of the best music I’ve heard to date. Lucky me that quarantine started with him sending 14 hours of beats to go through! Even luckier that we’re part of a community that has embraced us as we’ve enmeshed ourselves in a cultural movement that is not inherently our own but that we nevertheless feel honor bound to uplift and support as much as it has for us.

Since I started working in earnest on this, I’ve had some pretty rough days. Watching in horror as strangers and friends alike have been brutalized by our local police and then hearing politicians and their commanders praise them for their, “professionalism and restraint,” will do that. Same goes for all those struggling to keep their businesses afloat while aid that would truly sustain them is still less than an idea even after we’ve seen how they are being ravaged by the pandemic. It’s just plain not right and it pisses me off. However - it’s been some solace to put how I feel down, an audio diary of sorts to remind me what’s happened, keep my head in the fight and double down on how I can be the best friend and comrade to those who need it. My hope is that it inspires you to do the same because Lord knows we need more people to step up if we’re going to have any shot of turning the tide.

A note on how How do you sleep at night? will be made available....

If you want to hear and buy this album, it will be available for purchase directly from me and through my Bandcamp page. I thought long and hard about if not having this music available for casual streaming would be a bad thing and the conclusion I came to is that this is NOT a casual listen. I don’t want people to find any of this music on some playlist completely removed from the whole work itself, add to their favorites and move on, nor do I care to hope a platform algorithm or gatekeeper deems this worthy of your attention. I want people to engage with this intentionally because they actually WANT to listen to it! Maybe this is naive but I’m gonna trust in what I’ve made and that it makes it to the ears and minds it’s supposed to.

And finally - how am I sleeping at night? Far too often on the couch and not nearly enough next to my partner and 2 cats who I’d be SUPER lost without otherwise. Paranoia’s a tricky one. Here’s hoping upon all hopes that the work that needs to be done happens and here’s a spoiler for you A we’re the ones that’ll have to do it!

credits

released October 30, 2020

Words unless otherwise noted by Rich Jones
Sounds by Montana Macks
Recorded (mostly) at California Ave
Mixed/Mastered by Montana Macks
Design/Cover by Rich Jones

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Rich Jones Chicago, Illinois

Rich Jones is a prolific Chicago artist, community figure, and veteran of the cultural scene. Known for his versatile and evolving style, his latest album How do you sleep at night? finds him returning to his Hip Hop roots as he tackles class complacency, complicity under American authoritarianism and the value of human life vs. what’s profitable. ... more

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