City of the North (Beijing) // jason chu

A love letter to Beijing - and all its struggles, challenges, and unexpected beauty.

The first music video from my upcoming EP, "Goodbye, Beijing." Releasing 4/21 at grandmaster.bandcamp.com

www.facebook.com/jasonchumusic
Twitter: @JasonChuMusic

Beat by Bent Lorentz, Jr.
Camera: Nathan Chester, Joseph Djima, Jr.
Extras: Jon Pettigrew, Julie Ip

Lyrics:
VERSE 1
I, started this rhyme as I waited for the train
On the platform, hearing instrumentals in my brain
My kicks dirty gray 'cuz the air so foul
One hundred degrees out, so we pray for rain
The line pulls up, and it's full as hell
Not to mention, these cats got a funky ass smell
LL might be somewhere ringin some bells
But as for me, I can barely even hear my cell
These are the middle class losers, beggars, students
Here, if you don't got a car, you ain't included
A place that turns flesh to stone, like Medusa
The '60s, tried to make a ghost of Confucius
The car turns north as my head shuts down
Prepared to close doors like old John Brown
Done with the rhyme, and we're almost out of town
And I almost missed my stop, I was busy with the sounds

CHORUS
Just another day in the city of the North
Some push foreign whips; some are just piss-poor.
Just another day in a city filled with schemes
Filled with teams who be dreaming of the cream, so it seems
x2

VERSE 2
I live in a city where the dust hits ya bones
Where to be heard, your words gotta use megaphones
Where everybody smokes and it's killing them slow
Where you can sing out loud and nobody hears the tones
People tryna go hard, but they scared as hell
So they keep coming back like a carousel
no roots, so they move like a tumbling weed
Like police at the door while they bundling weed
They hear the knock outside and they stumble and flee
While I roam the city free like Grand Theft 3
There's poison in the air, so he's coughin up lungs
But he breathes in, the Spirit's got him speaking in tongues
Coughed up some blood, guess he is a little scared
But he made it this far, guess he's sposed to be here
A life well lived is a life without fear
Got more than 4 bars, am I coming through clear?

CHORUS

VERSE 3
I run the rings like Sonic, blaze like the chronic
Gaze at the stars, see my fate like a comet
But the haze on the city every day from the morning
No colors, just greys, like the city was in mourning
They poured over slums to make way for the champions
Now they got clubs where before, there were stadiums
Got bums, from locals turned aliens
An unmarked grave for the brave who remained in 'em
I jumped off the train as I headed to the crib
and came face-to-face with a horse drawn rig
A man with blank eyes and a face like stone
Is this city mine, or his to call home?
Just another day in a city caught between
Tryna stay above water while we, chase our dreams
Some live and some die, tryna do their thing
Some live and some die, this big city, Beijing

CHORUS

• Category

  Music

[Robert Zhang]

really good flow, production, nujabes esque. first good rap song i've heard about beijing... keep it up brudda

[whyny]

whoa, this is really good! very well done... really captures the life in Beijing (through a foreigner's eye at least)

[jeremy reilly]

can we get an instrumental??? Pretty Please??? :::)))) <3333

[Sammitco]

Now this for some reason makes me want to go

[won ella]

I cried......miss Beijing so much....thank you man!

[PurpleEyes77]

Explain, what do you mean?! I'll be praying for you! <3



[kingsleymore]

Fall of 2003. I'll never forget it.

[nonqueerguy]

I think there something wrong with me!

I think everything is gay/lame now adays my ex gf changed me :(

[TheMagDawg]

Love it!

[Jopng1105]

Good one!

[Bing05]

I was in Beijing a total of 6 days. By the 3rd day, my left eye started itching and swelling and didn't stop until after I finally left... D: