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RONIN

by Zack Hemsey

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Țepeș Mode
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Țepeș Mode A full blast of emotions. Dripping with energy and character. As I'm on a crusade to steer myself clear of substance abuse, childhood traumas and bad decisions and as I'm starting to gain the upper hand on my demons "Nice to Meet me" feels like the anthem of my life. It's good to be alive and this track is the best soundtrack for it. Keep rolling out the juicy beats mate.
Dustflower
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Dustflower Bought this as a gift for somebody. He enjoys it very much! Favorite track: Don't Get In My Way.
CyhAnide
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CyhAnide For a long time, I'd forgotten how good rap can be. And now I remember. Thank you, Zack. Favorite track: Nice To Meet Me.
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1.
Eyes wide shut but they know Buried alive by the lies in their soul Their stride of a blind man's stroll Well for whom does the next bell toll I'm too many years in the zone Too many years to have built what I own And many dumb fool try to take what I've grown But these roots go deep and you can't blood a stone So if you want to push, I'm a shove If you want to spar we can do it no gloves And if you're gonna run at me you better do it hard 'Cause I fear no fall, no brawl, no scars I'm too pounds shy of a bomb I'm one shade short of alarm I'm too past wrath that I'm calm Got two last laughs in my palms I'm three degrees west of a hurricane Four wheel drive with a ball 'n chain My five foot seven is irrelevant I'm six six six if you threaten my development Now see a wise man learns from your mistakes And lets the blunders of his brother serve to fill his plate So best be on your way before the tidal wave breaks 'Cause you don't want to come to meet the Reaper that awaits You don't want to say no more than a mime, you can't afford And you don't want to let this turn into lines of mine and yours And you don't want to press your luck, better back up and withdraw 'Cause trust me when I tell you you don't want that tooth 'n claw And you don't want to see inside the mind of a savage kind And you don't want that recognition of "oh, there goes that guy" But if you do decide that you are gonna play that hand and try Just think before you act because your actions don't rewind A man with a grudge and a case A man with intent on his face And if a man walks into place Let it be known I won't hesitate This a long time coming like a comet pass Got 'em all fired up from the rocket blast And if I fall on my sword turn my bones to ash Let it clog up the sand in that hourglass We in the title fight, blow for a blow And you can reap the benefits of what I have to sow 'Cause I'm about that worth of which you don't appear to know So you can take the scene while I take over the show It's a long way down when you're head is in the clouds And all around the sirens play Don't get in my way Don't tell me I should bow 'Cause I'm no clown And this is not a game Don't get in my way You don't want to say no more than a mime, you can't afford And you don't want to let this turn into lines of mine and yours And you don't want to press your luck, better back up and withdraw 'Cause trust me when I tell you you don't want that tooth 'n claw And you don't want to see inside the mind of a savage kind And you don't want that recognition of "oh, there goes that guy" But if you do decide that you are gonna play that hand and try Just think before you act because your actions don't rewind Poisoned by the snakes in the grass Hoaxed by the rats out the maze They should have never poked the lion as he pass 'Cause now it's two hawks in a cage This a tale of a cautionary kind This a story of that Icarus design This a message from the hanged man's twine This when mother nature rips apart the fault lines And this the type of case that make a grown man cry When feeble of the spine crumble underneath the grind When blessings of the meek lead to lessons of the blind When Heaven shows its teeth and the planets are aligned So amusing the feeling as they race off Got 'em musing from the pressure as I chase off Should have thought it through before he turned to face off Now this fool sounding like he gone and turned his bass off This an ace caught, cut the game short You don't want to have an escalation of the maimed sort And you don't want to feel the flame that burns pride Now you know the reason why those sleeping dogs lie Long way down when you're head is in the clouds And all around the sirens play Don't get in my way Don't tell me I should bow 'Cause I'm no clown And this is not a game Don't get in my way You don't want to say no more than a mime, you can't afford And you don't want to let this turn into lines of mine and yours And you don't want to press your luck, better back up and withdraw 'Cause trust me when I tell you you don't want that tooth 'n claw And you don't want to see inside the mind of a savage kind And you don't want that recognition of "oh, there goes that guy" But if you do decide that you are gonna play that hand and try Just think before you act because your actions don't rewind They sicker than a wicked man's whip Victims of they hype and of they sycophant's lip And underneath the money and the power is the tip Of something very dangerous and it's strengthening its grip And I don't have to tell 'em that they turning pale with albinism I am not their keepers but I keep my own morale And isn't everything we do just a matter of decision So if life is just a prison then I'm breaking out this minute This an epidemic of the vultures in the playpen Weasels with a smile and a guile that leaves 'em vacant Businessman sticking up the layman out the gate and Thieves wearing suits but they can never fool the vagrants And con man bringing 'em treasures of fool's gold CEO's grinning from swindling stocks cold Politicians trading their morals for blindfolds And cowards step aside as the criminal mind holds Welcome to the jungle where deception is the code Brother fighting brother as their avarice corrodes See that evil, speak that evil, be that evil bold You are not your own and love's a memory of old One nation under fraud - the anthem you applaud Well let this serve to warn, I won't enable or reward And let the flies swarm, let the noble die strong This is my scorn, new day, new dawn
2.
Slave 04:39
Habits of the lemmings die hard Patterns of obsession go far Digging ditches so they never see the stars Now all them lessons learned get buried in the yard And ways of the weapon bombard Building mountains of them body bags large Rubbernecking while collision greet your car And you may know your name but don't know who or what you are You're a slave You're a slave You're a slave You're a slave Poised to drink that Kool-Aid suicide Follow don't get left behind Don't think, better do just what they certify You that servant, never choose a side Vassal of the modern times And when it all blows up you duck your head and hide You out there searching for that silver line But sweat has covered up the signs Now that fortune came, but it's gone and it passed you by You plucked your feathers, now you wonder why You can't lift yourself and fly Well in the middle of an ocean no one's hands are dry If that tree fall does it make a sound Can the world stall from the runaround Can a mind think if it's in a crowd Can a soul search if it's never found And can a thing grow when you cut it down Can we all find peace in the here and now You can crawl through the mud with your hands bound But I'll get plenty of that dirt when I'm underground You're a slave You're a slave You're a slave And this a slave ship This a slave ship Shackled in those chains, whipped Pushed until you break, fixed Back into the game quick March along the pavement Earn that meager wage, spit Do just what they say, skip Work until the pain splits Let the haze lift Pull yourself out of that grave pit And consider how you became sick All that labor brought you nothing but your bones sore All that devotion led to nothing but the sweat pours And now they want more Own you to the core Well I don't make laws But I am not yours And this a mob call Let them bricks fall If you want freedom then just take it, what you waiting for Don't let your masters tell you this is how it's done Don't let the wicked fool you, this is how the war is won That mayhem can't continue if the noble don't succumb That forest on fire pave the way to what becomes They tell you disregard the doubts that creeps across your mind They tell you there is simply nothing more for you to find They tell you time to wake up and get back into the line These pyramids don't build themselves, now go resume the grind I tell 'em I don't follow in the footsteps of insane I tell 'em I don't trail along a path with no terrain I tell 'em you can work the fields and bask in all your grain But for one don't live to work, I will not live in vain You're a slave And this a slave ship You're a slave And this a slave ship You're a slave And this a slave ship You're a slave And this a slave ship This twisted culture got you feeding from it's hand But you will lose that food if you don't meet all their demands And loyal is the soldier that gets slaughtered with the lambs Examining the blueprints got you questioning the plans And if a man fall, does it make a sound Will the world stall, from the runaround Does a mind think, when it in a crowd How can a soul search, if it's never found And can a thing breathe if it's always being drowned Can the leaders of the lost forever disavow And you can stare at the sky while you on the ground But I'm a wait until I die to take it lying down This a mob call, let them bricks fall This a mob call, now let them bricks fall This a mob call, let them bricks fall If you want freedom then just take it What you waiting for?
3.
A sky red from the blood Rose cheeks dull from the mud Hands worn through from the sludge A self no longer begrudged And murder is a potion of love Sacrifice devotion thereof And he without sin never was Now a changing of the guard has begun A kingdom that belies the internal Is a prison of the mind that's infernal And eternal is the lie turned plague So I've dug this grave so my truth won't fade I feel the war paint on my face I feel the ground tremble and quake I feel my heart sync to the pace that these war drums make I feel alive and awake And all I see is war path ahead of me Each and every step I welcome readily And if my lack of fear bring the death of me Let the spirits of my ancestors envelop me So know this is that armageddon coming A flood that goes beyond the refuge high upon the summit A sun become hole, black hold on consumption Spun inside itself into a beacon that has summoned That creature of the deep that leaves a pit inside your stomach That rumbling beneath that bodes arrival from above, and That nature of the beast that feeds upon the will to numb it That monster brought the seed of life, well now I have become it And I feel like I've got a gun Like I've been changed more ways than one And this whole world has just begun And it's so nice to meet me A self once masked by these stains That filth washed out with the rain When I'm done only thing that remains Is a tombstone etched with my name Look into a face that has changed Recognize the corpse in that grave Resurrect, what's lost can be saved I am now free, once slave And I am not a part of a game I am not a moth to a flame I am both man and brigade I won't be denied or restrained I am what the weak can't obtain I am what survives if it's slain I am rest in peace if you aim No I am not built of the same And I feel like I've got a gun Like I've been changed more ways than one And this whole world has just begun And it's so nice to meet me Behold a pale horse in my gaze High upon it Death in a rage He said he had the truth that I crave So my sword through his chest I gave Ain't no one command I behave Never put my faith in plans best laid And I don't follow rules that you made I think it's time I set this whole bitch ablaze On the precipice of slaughter is the Lord Angels and those demons come together with a cause And I don't think you really know the meaning of a storm Let this serve a lesson on the essence of reform Hatred without focus make the eager man fall Violence without purpose make the mighty man small Vengeance without mercy leave the noble man flawed And insurrection mounts behind those battle lines drawn But future is beholden to the present moment cast And prudence don't repeat the futile habits of the past And courage is to he that sheds his skeletons as last These trains of thought now heading toward a devastating crash Bloodshed to that order like a flower to a thorn Beauty know perfection like a child know the law And I advise you heed these words enlightened and forewarned Truth in what you are an oath of life to which I've sworn And I feel like I've got a gun Like I've been changed more ways than one And this whole world has just begun And it's so nice to meet me
4.
So Silent 05:04
He was down on the floor with his lips to a glass Said he dreamed of a future that won't come to pass That he once strived to excel in a world so vast But why run a race when it's rig and he's fixed in last Then he mused all of life is a joke and he laughed That it is what it is and he's thankful for all that he has I said well let me just pose one question and ask If you just want what you have, then why are are you sad If you want to fight Then why are you running If everything is fine for you Why are you stumbling So silent She was tripping on something that was laced in her tea And she was high as a kite when she said she could see Said we in the land of the free but no freedom grows And if we in a brave new world where'd the brave all go I said, hell if I know Then she told me that the problem is society Everybody crippled by anxiety No one is the person that they try to be Then she said, what we need are a few with a view that can bring a change through That we need less talk and more do So I said to her, what about you If you want to fight Then why are you running If everything is fine for you Why are you stumbling So silent I was listening to someone give a speech Something 'bout the knowledge of enlightenment he reached And as my eyes glazed over in my seat He approached and he asked if he could challenge my beliefs I said by all means have at it Then he talked about the suffering and source of bad habits How the emptying of mind is the challenge And withdrawing from the world is the cure to all sadness I said that all sounds like madness Why have a life and then not be alive Why have a mind and then choose to be blind What you call wisdom is the fear that you hide You cannot retreat from those demons inside This is not peace, it's a mask you adorn This is not truth, it's a trap, nothing more And you're too busy running from something you can't ignore If you want to fight Then why are you running If everything is fine for you Why are you stumbling So silent
5.
Words of a scribe No words can describe But they can serve as a guide And you can learn if applied Now some burn from the match Some fall through the cracks So for those lost, this a map Silver crimson black To know silver is to know respect In disguise come that silver like a side effect But silver lies with the snake, aint no idle threat So only rest where all them silver lines bottleneck Silver off the screen, treated patron like a saint Silver in that spoon but don't confuse the painter with the paint Cuz silver heed the tales of butchered men and perished souls Leave in its path fallen beasts, silver bullet holes Silver under gold like pressure under weight Silver that potential, it's that key to heaven's gate Silver when that patience conquer seizure with restraint Silver understands the essence of no greatest of the greats And silver tame emotion like that silver spider sews Silver mirrors light the way that silver moon glows And silver cut adversity so keep your hands closed That silver crimson black a mix so few have ever known Silver crimson black Silver crimson black Crimson decimate the workings of a straw man Cut the ribbon, crimson opens with a strong ram And crimson spread a mass of fury when the flames fan Crimson have you searching for the exit on the floor plan Crimson mob bold Paint the town - red - giant uncontrolled Red letter A's told And crimson can seduce and turn a district into sleepers Infect a righteous leader with a case of scarlet fever Now let that crimson rise within, begin to see red Catch that surprise, crimson reveals, begin to seem red If crimson blooms all the waters up and seized red And all the crimson in our hands leave them seas red Mark that zone red Sound that code red That ringing phone's red, emergency the word said And crimson flows from the rivers that our hearts bled Crimson rose, redrum, murder, pose, dead Silver crimson black Made with sliver crimson black Made with sliver crimson black Made with sliver crimson black Black rose pedals on the landscape when Grim come near And black roams far, it's that final frontier When black holes swallow black's magic disappears That black hole sorrow break the most austere Now evil in the air, black tones sound fear Though even if you stare black veils, all clear And never beg a savage, black hears don't tear But black mourns those who've departed so dear Sincere is the reckoning, black's cloud storms Black robes worn, black day's norm Like black rats spread disease, black swarms Meander in the dark and black eyes gone form As black's knight shield the heaven's with - black - hides the messages But black's light shows the evidence And space is full of dark matter's black mass Raise them stone walls, watch when black's ball smash Cuz black's mark bear that ash from the rubble Black bears the vault where those secret thoughts huddle And black bares all, turn and face it if you dare But if you run from black's bear be prepared for some trouble Now who on earth am I Why are we alive What's the me in "my" Where does time fly All the pieces to the puzzle black hides Black boundless explanatory gap so wide And black envelops in that blackout Question of the truth will lead to silence in that blackout You should know confusion always follows when you black out So never turn your back to black when it blacks out Every luminescence casts a black shadow we perceive But black's mail contain not one letter you can read And criticize their worth but black's sheep stampede Rely upon a plea or flee from black's ops That silver shines when a man stand in victory That crimson blinds from the fires of our history That black aligns all the beauty and the misery Crimson and that silver can shed light on black's mystery So pull that sliver from the stone, let that red attack Cross that silver with that black, be a silverback And hold that crimson, red-handed as you go Then with your black hand spin that hourglass, black widow Silver crimson black Silver crimson black Silver crimson black
6.
Evil on the mind and blood splatter in the air Lying on the pavement beating in despair Cruel were the blows as they battered and impaired He was shown no sympathy and he wouldn't be spared And all the townspeople were gathered and stood there Watched the punishment get delivered with no care But when he looked around at the faces that all stared He saw his own face, that's when he became scared Greet the menace He awoke from the clock tower chime Heart thud like a cannon on the line Vivid echoes of the dream on his mind This week the 3rd of its kind Now his bottles of meds will conceal But wounds left open are harder to be healed And though some case files are better if left sealed Unless he take them pills insomnia won't yield Well no rest for the wicked Such is the fruit of a life with no limit Ghosts of the past always tend to revisit And rarely will they come bearing gifts of forgiveness And from the streets to the wars, so much violence he made As he grew in age he began to follow different ways Hounded by the haunted memories from the days that He was detrimental, man he wished that he could change that But one can never really leave what's behind You can't undo the fate you've designed Cover up the tracks and bloodhounds will find 'Cause all debts owed get paid in due time Evil on the mind and blood splatter in the air Gag in his mouth he was strapped to a chair Hood on his head when lifted a face stared He was looking at himself, that's when he became scared Cruel were the blows that battered and impaired Fading from the world and beaten to despair Beyond all hope and clinging to one prayer Let him soon pass out from the pain and be spared But the pain kept coming Weak from the rivers of blood that kept running And fain from the image uncovered in front of him He knew it, the angel of death he'd confronted Ain’t no mercy in that self combat Foot to his chest it tipped his chair back 'Cause this tormentor was eager to give more Put a cloth to his face, to follow the water poured Then he awoke with a cough and a heave His heart pound like cannons in mid siege Vivid echoes of his terrified screams Guess nothing ever just is what it seems Then he noticed his clothes were soaked clean Sheets on his bed were drenched to extreme But this time around he knew it was no dream From the smell he could tell he was covered in gasoline And in the corner by the door was a man Cloaked in the shadow with a cigarette in hand With no words spoken and motive and clear plan Well all's fair and karma's a bitch, law of the land Till then he had averted but with homicide certain And that guilt inside him hurting, he concluded with the verdict If this is what it takes to serve as my life's penance Bring on that inferno, I'm ready to greet the menace Evil on the mind and burnt skin in the air Smoke fill his lungs as he breathe in despair Devil on his shoulder in snickered with no care This a one way journey without hope or a prayer Fading from the world and thinking don't be scared Let it all go, get ready be prepared As he looked through he blaze at the body that stood there He saw his own self in them eyes that just glared Greet the menace
7.
I see a ghost in a photograph I feel that wave come up under me I see myself in that other half I feel that pain pull me underneath I see the times that we'll never have I hear the sighs of content we'd breathe I feel the smile that I wish I had But all these moments are projections of the past 'Cause a part of me died and a liveliness was lost when you passed And a light in me dimmed as a certainty was slipping through my grasp Now I'm picking up the pieces getting cut open by shards of broken glass Well how long can this last Missing is that purpose in my life but I can get it back This isn't gone I can get it back I can get it back I can get it back I can get it back This isn't gone I can get it back I can get it back I can get it back I can get it back I see no soul in the mirror Only see signs of demise getting nearer "Time heals wounds" is absurd as a theorem But I can see above the sky's getting clearer And though despair of things before will never leave Although our past mistakes can never be retrieved Way out in the distance is a vessel on the seas And I'm a set a heading toward the sun, 'cause I believe that I can get it back All that hope and that joy That trust and that care Those dreams of a boy, I can get it back All that love and that worth That touch of a flare That feel of the earth, I can get it back That drive to extreme That confidence to lead That willingness to bleed, I will get it back Reassembled when I'm done Depression on the run as I come beating on these drums This isn't gone I can get it back I can get it back This isn't gone I can get it back I can get it back This isn’t gone This isn’t gone This isn’t gone This isn’t gone I can get it back I can get it back Battles with the mind and the timid stand off Slightest bit of pain and those tender folk scoff Choose the destination but that bridge must be crossed Guess the bottom line is we're cut from different cloths Borders they divide but I'm inclined to cut across Reach the outer limits then I cut away my loss Continue toward the goal in sight no matter what the cost Emboldened by this chance, I'm not afraid to get lost 'Cause now I'm pushing forward and nobody dare oppose Now I'm moving faster while that ticking clock slows And now I'm climbing higher like the ground can't hold So I don't plan on stopping when this summit plateaus I'm that invasion of the body by the soul Sickened from the cold but soon a certified whole Never one to fight but I just hit it on the nose It took my spirit, but I got it back, case closed I can get it back I can get it back I can get it back I can get it back
8.
Fade Away 05:55
There's time on the wall, but no one around His will is numb, he's half in the ground If all we are is all we were Then he'd soon pass on without a whisper And life goes on And I will not be told I won't be controlled I don't want your cure I won't be reassured I will not be fixed You're the one that's sick And I will not decay I won't ever fade away I'll not fade away I'll not fade away I'll not fade away I'll not fade away There's flies on the wall and no one around Once bright eyes are dull, she's half in the ground And life goes on And I will not be changed I will not be chained I will not be tamed I will not behave I will not be caged I will not be slave I won't be contained I will never fade away I'll not fade away I'll not fade away I'll not fade away I'll not fade away
9.
Dogma looks but never peers through the smog So in the clear will appear that black swan To trap love you must wade through the fog But try to grab it once you have it then it's gone Now some never see beyond these walls And some never see those worms that crawl But mind your step or you will trip on pride's fall Trust no man if his head above all Stance still like the world on pause Eased breath of a wind pre-storm Firm grasp, let the blade conform Manifest thy will, transform Become sword unsheathed, cut raw Become myth turned life, real lore Meet the rage on the field of war But never drink of the blood that pours Look upon ruin and behold these ways When you remove that leash then you'll end the dog days Only by hand can you turn that page Only keys of integrity unlock that cage If you swim in foul play you will live among plague If you cut a man's spirit he will bleed just the same When you linger in the desert don't expect to find rain And if you wish to know peace you must come to know pain Every pioneer leaves a home of the brave Every last deed has a seed that remains And with every backlash some are shocked and afraid But you will never see the light if you refuse to leave shade This that jewel of the master Steady wins the race though impatience run it faster Turn to face the dragon as it brews your disaster Ride upon it's back breathing flames with a rapture In this world only victory or capture Never sleep until that Reaper come and snatch ya And you can't starve with a belly full of laughter Learn to take risk so reward can come after We all the same but ain’t no two of us alike And when push come to show you abstain from the fight Receive the match of life but then decline to ignite That's what the sage calls the wrong of two rights So live or die, choose the former or the latter Walk that tight rope but don't fall to the flatter Hit 'em with the truth and that body gone shatter I call that mind over matter Real talk, this ain’t the rhyming of a rapper It's expression of my heart but all these people got it backwards Jam me in a box but I don't fit inside your pattern Maybe now they'll get the message when these lyrics gone and slapped 'em So pay attention to the key of my tone I can lend a hand but I can't save your soul And if you want a leader you should lead yourself home I call my own shots, I won't sit in your throne
10.
The Zoo 05:33

credits

released April 30, 2013

Digital booklet included with album purchase.

Music, Lyrics, Production, and Vocals by Zack Hemsey
Published by Zack Hemsey Publishing (ASCAP)

Mixed by Zack Hemsey
Mastered by Lou Hemsey
Artwork & Design by Omead Afshari

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Zack Hemsey New York, New York

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