Issuu

Mike Firm

The Foolish Parade of Existence

Ready, Set, Go!

Main Character, Y2K Generation, Bad Company, Not Enough, Past Lives, Without Reason, Self-Made Middle of the Road!

A Moment of Truth / Survivor’s Guilt, Children of Men, Place of Pleasing Waters, The Fountain / A Thousand Faces, Tears of the Saints and Disciples, Patriot Games, The Foolish Parade of Existence End of the Line!

Ready, Set, Go!

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm and Hafsa Aden | Produced by Mike Firm | Audio Recording by Hafsa Aden, Reciting “The Divine Source of Liberty“ by Samuel Adams | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054

This track contains samples of “Manzanillo” (1908) by Roy Butin (Instrumentalist and Harp-Guitar), Valentine Abt (Instrumentalist and Mandolin), and Alfred G. Robyn (Composer). Retrieved from Library of Congress, National Jukebox.

This track contains samples of “The Honolulu blues” by P. Bianculli (Instrumentalist and Mandolin), Peerless Quartet (Vocal Group), James V. Monaco, (Composer), Grant Clarke (Lyricist), Henry Burr (Vocalist and Tenor Vocal), Harry McClaskey (Vocalist and Tenor Vocal), Albert Campbell (Vocalist and Tenor Vocal), Arthur Collins (Vocalist and Baritone Vocal), Walter B. Rogers (Conductor), and John H. Meyer (Vocalist and Bass Vocal). Retrieved from Library of Congress, National Jukebox.

Ready, Set, Go! - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Wounded Knee”, South Dakota, November 1940. | (2) “A Very Blue Eagle. Along California Highway”, Dorothea Lange, 1936. | (3) “Miniconjou Indian Grass Dance on Reservation”, John Grabill, 1890. | (4) “Study of Thistles”, Sophia L. Crownfield, 1890. (5) “American Progress”, John Gast, 1872.

Ready, Set, Go!

[INTRO: MIKE FIRM]

That dog won’t hunt…/ Ace-high, high roller marks…/ Paved with good intentions, fast track to hell/ Down on my luck, well bless your heart (bless your heart)/

[VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM]

Situations don’t change just the cast/ See you there as the crow flies/ Due west, making my fortune/ Manifest destiny, secret gardens/ Yellow-bellies can’t make the journey/ Hell or high water above the knee/ Wounded massacres across the range/ My hate negotiates turn your other cheek/ Knot in my throat before the speech/ Rallies gather, insurmountable/ City of the Dead and Dia de los Muertos/ Simultaneous The Rising Tide of Color/ Or would it be

The Passing of the Great Race/ Kill a Madison and burn a Stoddard/ Miscegenation you fear what you don’t know/ The beam of white was built from all colors/ The Fear of God only when you want to/ Benefit of the doubt, and taking them for fools/ Homestead Act, pennies on the dollar/ Breaking treaties never meant to follow/ Empire of Liberty and the White Man’s Burden/ Bursting your bubble you lack imagination/ Jesus was Black, Ronald Reagan was the devil/ And the government is lying to you about 9/11/

[CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM]

Place your bets, cash or gold/ Day at the races, watch em’ go/ Churchill Downs, and we’re going to the moon/ Off the leash, Ready, Set, Go!/

[VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM]

Fast forward a couple of decades/ Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt buddies/ Two world wars and all for misery/ Armenians fate, lest they perish/ Death marches, Nakba starts/ Liberation, seems so far/ Carmelita stands for justice/ Braceros migrate, bracing for the impact/ Came a long way from greasers to wetbacks/ Come full circle, history repeating/ Links and bridges connecting all sorrows/ All hallows, Nixon connections/ Marcos regime, Contras mandate/ Lease of bases, naval warfare/ Red scares and waves…/ Commies in the shadows proletariats/ Funny how things change really slow/ Society evolves but they really don’t/ Careful what you wish for down the rabbit hole/ The scheme gets bigger, checking on the bankroll/ Democrats pander expensing constituents/ GOP hoards the wealth shaming immigrants/ Terms and conditions, null and void/ Pressure makes diamonds, two sides of the same coin…/ Two wrongs, they don’t make a right…/

(AUDIO RECORDING: HAFSA ADEN)

All temporal power is of God. And the magistratal, His institution, laud. To but advance creaturely happiness aubaud. Let us then affirm the Source of Liberty.

Ever agreeable to the nature and will.

Of the Supreme and Guardian of all yet still. Employed for our rights and freedom’s thrill. Thus proves the only Source of Liberty.

Though our civil joy is surely expressed. Through hearth, and home, and church manifest. Yet this too shall be a nation’s true test.

To acknowledge the divine Source of Liberty.

[CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM]

Place your bets, cash or gold/ Day at the races, watch em’ go/ Churchill Downs, and we’re going to the moon/ Off the leash, Ready, Set, Go!/

[OUTRO: MIKE FIRM]

That dog won’t hunt…/ Ace-high, high roller marks…/ Paved with good intentions, fast track to hell/ Down on my luck, well bless your heart (bless your heart)/ asd

Main Character

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm | Produced by Mike Firm | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054.

Main Character - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Rosette Nebula”, 2007, Nick Wright. | (2) “Amazing Stories August Front Cover”, 1928, Amazing Stories. | (3) “Vintage Woodblock Print of Japanese Textile from Shima-Shima: Volume 2”, 1904, Furuya Korin. | (4) “18th Century Pattern from L’Ornement Polychrome”, 1888, Albert Racine.

Main Character

[CHORUS: MIKE FIRM]

What goes up must surely fall, fall back, back to sleep/ What goes up must surely rise, rise up, leap of faith/ Center stage, stage fright, entering my flow state/ Kakarot, Nyoi Bo, going Super Saiyan bitch/

[VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM]

I’m the man I’m the boss, I destroy and create/ I lead in the rain and the drought there’s no debate/ Let the waters wash away, open up the floodgates/ Mirage with the piercing sun, dunes brushing heat waves/

I’m the man I’m the boss, I’m asleep and awake/ Cool as blue, twilight white blanket in the mess you made/ Joy in the yellows spring is green passion scarlet red/ Day and night, life and death, fight or flight, Dhalsim

[CHORUS: MIKE FIRM]

[VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM]

I ain’t got a lot of time to tell you who you are messing with/ The proof’s in the pudding and you moving like the Walking Dead/ Face facts, POV, have to stand on your own/ You look shook, shock value, keep you in a chokehold/ In the scope, first person, element of surprise/ Ring the alarm… you’ve been found target compromised/

Y2K

Generation feat. Nzyte & HixMusi

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm, Phillip Richardson p.k.a. Nzyte, I’Sean Hixon p.k.a. HixMusi, and Cynthia Bui | Produced by Mike Firm | Featured Vocals by Nzyte & HixMusi | Audio Recording by Cynthia Bui | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054. Published by Phillip Richardson. Published by JixCo.

Y2K Generation - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Kodak DC240i Zoom (Blueberry)”, 2019, Froyo Tam. | (2) ”Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 Portable Computer”, 2008, Napoli Roma. | (3) “FEMA Headquarters Emergency Support Team Y2K Preparation”, 1999, Liz Roll. | (4) “Spindle Dust In, Berwyn, Illinois”, 2003, John Margolies. | (5) “Telescope Dome on Mt. Wilson, Pasadena, California (63805)”, ca. 1930-1945, Tichnor Brothers.

Y2K

Generation feat. Nzyte & HixMusi

(BRIDGE x2: MIKE FIRM & HIXMUSI)

It’s the end of the world as we know it/ Fuck around come on let’s get stupid/ Good sex vibes and money on my mind/ Fuck around find out, let’s get crazy/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM & HIXMUSI)

Y2K, shit out of luck/ No more stacks, no more problems/ Y2K, better live it up/ Saturday morning, that shit’s gone/ Y2K, can’t rewind time/

Sirens loud, dancing in the fallout/ Y2K, staring at the clock/ Gather round, party all night/

[VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM]

Riding around the block, tell me what’s good/ Stocks is falling and what about food?/ Growing up too fast, late night tv/ Parents ain’t around, sneak out quick/ Fireworks bright, running out of sight/ Scratching your head, fuck the po’lice/ Lame ass jokes get you beat 90s Cool/ Supa Dupa Fly, getting pussy in vogue/

Not gonna lie wasn’t always the coolest/ All I wanted was a bad bitch and someone to smoke with/ I’m the Man From Nowhere with no roots to grow in/ Hate and love switched around, I got tired of losing/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM & HIXMUSI)

Y2K, shit out of luck/ No more stacks, no more problems/ Y2K, better live it up/ Saturday morning, that shit’s gone/ Y2K, can’t rewind time/ Sirens loud, dancing in the fallout/ Y2K, staring at the clock/ Gather round, party all night/

[VERSE 2: NZYTE]

Yo, Imma find out where my bad luck ends/ But no regrets so my fears mean nothing/ Stand in the way then you better start ducking/ No prisoners when the heat start busting/ The government is not where my trust in/ I thought I was told truth they were bluffing/ On dark nights when my ribs start touching/ I spark light with this torch that I’m clutching/ But for sport I let these hands hit ya/ Hope you see what I’m saying like an 8k picture/ If the apocalypse wicked whisper/ I need everything that I hoped and wish for/ Countdown clicking but I ain’t bitter/ I hit the jewelry store and leave and not on glitter/ Sparked up pouring an expensive mixture/ And leaving women’s bras on my fan’s fixture, like/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM & HIXMUSI)

[VERSE 2: HIXMUSI]

Eyes be fried from the CRT/ Sharing games give it back in a week/ Blasting Rap Mixtape CDs/ What to play Yeezy or Weezy?/

Trading Cards like it’s Mary Janes/ Riding round all over the place/ Manual, ollies we skate/ Grinding shining night to day/ In the middle, we stay calm/ We’re dope boyz, just dropping bombs/ Create collaborate share all/ Go viral and promote our blogs/ ‘04 Razr, clack, end call/ Obey hat the swag so tough/ Always look back so simple/ Need that energy back in my core/

(BRIDGE x2: MIKE FIRM & HIXMUSI)

It’s the end of the world as we know it/ Fuck around come on let’s get stupid/ Good sex vibes and money on my mind/ Fuck around find out, let’s get crazy/

(AUDIO RECORDING: CYNTHIA BUI)

Oh my god Mike! Wake up… Wake up! I said wake the fuck up! Look man, your dreams aren’t real. They never have been, and they never will be. What part of that don’t you understand? So what are you waiting for?

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM & HIXMUSI)

Bad Company feat. Oidaking & Karim Hassanien

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm, Matthew Alexander Cross p.k.a. Oidaking, Karim Hassanien, and Robert Rosbaugh p.k.a. prodbyjinnsy | Produced by prodbyjinnsy | Featured Vocals by Oidaking and Karim Hassanien | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054. Published by Oida Records.

Bad Company - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Active Fires - Oregon (395360)”, 1938, G.G. Green. | (2) “New Equitable Building, Portland, Oregon”, ca. 1930-1945, Angelus Commercial Studio. | (3) “Acoma Pueblo”, ca. 1900, Frederick Monsen. | (4) “La Cigale”, 1899, Emma Justine Farnsworth. | (5) “Two Women by the Shore”, 1896, Henri-Edmond Cross.

Bad Company feat. Oidaking & Karim Hassanien

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM, OIDAKING, & KARIM HASSANIEN]

One, two, three/ If memory serves me right/ Tear it out, bad news/ Lost ones, bad company…/

[VERSE: MIKE FIRM & KARIM HASSANIEN]

And you don’t give a fuck/ And you’re down on your luck/ And you got nowhere to go…/ Lawlessness in the first degree/ I got scars to show/ Receipts to burn/ Escaped the trends/ I listened to myself/ Feeling whole/ Portland is crazy/ Higher than a needle/ Seattle looks nice, stillness in the snow/ SoCal roots/ Connected by 5/ Made me who I am/ Stinging with the recklessness/ I’ve seen enough shit to last me a century/ Millenia or something to find all my enemies/ Death by a thousand cuts…/ Eight signs…/ Darkness to the light…/ Letting sleeping dogs lie even when I hate it/ I don’t need love from anywhere I can get it/ Scenarios I made from the night don’t serve me right/ Keeps me from succeeding and the logic’s too occupied/ Bygones be bygones, clearing the trees/ Missing the forest, living like a black sheep/

[CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM, OIDAKING, & KARIM HASSANIEN]

One, two, three/ If memory serves me right/ Tear it out, bad news/ Lost ones, bad company…/

Not Enough

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm and Tiffany Morgan p.k.a Betty Hope | Produced by Betty Hope, with arrangement support from Mike Firm | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054.

Not Enough - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Bella Charra Mexicana”, ca. 1930-1945, Tichnor Brothers. | (2) “Orange Picking at Orlando, Florida, ‘The City Beautiful’”, ca. 1930-1945, Tichnor Brothers. | (3) Sunset at the Cross, Jumonville Methodist Training Center, Uniontown, Pa., ca. 1930–1945, Tichnor Brothers. | (4) “California Republic Flag, California Blue Book”, 1911, State of California. | (5) “Wet Night, Columbus Circle, New York”, 1899, William A. Fraser. | (6) “Skeletons (Calaveras) Riding Bicycles”, ca. 1891, José Guadalupe Posada. | (7) “A Mexican Vaquero”, 1890, Frederic Remington.

Not Enough

(INTRO: MIKE FIRM)

Fleeting echoes make matters worse than they seem/ The Art of Peer Pressure is getting to me/ Ring around the rosie and we’re all falling down/ Let me out and I’m haunted sulking in this ghost town/ Lift me up out this void I don’t care anymore/ Blood running cold when we settle the score/

(CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM)

What I am is not enough/ What I want is not enough/ Who you think I’ll be is never enough…/ Pulled from one side to the other make a switch/ Higher power saves you all but I don’t forgive/

(VERSE: MIKE FIRM)

A tale of many cities and everybody’s wrong/ My cousins grow envious and some aren’t bothered at all/ Late nights driving back and choosing to ignore/ Calls from the motherland they got a way with words/ Americans… you have it easy/ Different stages, different sections, and I think it’s getting hazy/ What a difference an hour or a couple miles make/ Some couldn’t let it go forced their hand and the tipping point/ Breaks these cycles and these structures and the cards we’re dealt/ Moving everywhere and nowhere at once…/ Dragging my feet to start fresh every couple months/ For once Crowntown three years a longer residence/ Public Enemy… the list gets bigger/ Don’t fit in with the rest just like I’m used to/

The patterns and the trends they look familiar/ The glasshouse shatters, the illusion’s clearer/ I figured my circle would be bigger as I got older/ Furthest thing from the truth I wanted us to win together/ Friends became enemies and enemies became whispers/ Chisme and the gossip never stopped and I pushed it inward/

No one stopped to ask all they did was isolate/ Wounds deep fake a smile tears rolling down my face/ Thin ice reputation only a few got my back/ Summer’s over heading north and no one ever gave a damn/

(CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM)

What I am is not enough/ What I want is not enough/ Who you think I’ll be is never enough…/ Pulled from one side to the other make a switch/ Higher power saves you all but I don’t forgive/

Past Lives

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm and Armando Tarula p.k.a. Trill Mando | Produced by Mike Firm, with backing melody provided by Trill Mando | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054.

Past Lives - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Mexico Calaveritas Calavera”, 2016, vlanka. | (2) “Composition in Color A”, 1917, Piet Mondrian. | (3) “Skeletons (Calaveras) Riding Bicycles”, ca. 1891, José Guadalupe Posada.| (4) “Yellow and Red Chrysanthemums”, 1884, Ellen FIsher.| (5) “Sparrows and Chrysanthemums”, ca. 1825, Katsushika Hokusai.

Past Lives

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

Years past, past lives, metamorphosis, I/ Tried some times, the needle dropped, the tables playing kept on turning/ Signals turnt to one night stands, even though we do regret them/ The list goes on, love lost, airing out my dirty laundry/ Me against the world, but something is missing/ Then why I find myself reminiscing something not existing/

A life that I never had, why do I hold/ Not moving on daydreaming climbing up the rope/ They said practice makes perfect, and I hope I don’t choke/ The kids are not alright there’s a fork in the road/ I guess we’ll be fine…/ Different paths as we grow…/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM)

Years past, past lives, love is just a feeling/ Past lives, years past, what to do when you’re leaving/ Goodbyes for the first and the last time again/ I’ll see you then, and I’ll see you when?/

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

Years past, past lives, metamorphosis, I/ On the hunt, silver gold, quiver feeling drawn/ So eyes watering colors blinded by the light/ The shining of the soul reveals eyes wide shut/ Motif, believe… ascending into heavens/ Yearning and lust, painting on a twisted canvas/ Running till I’m out of breath/ Running till I had enough/ Running till you see me here/ Running till our crying stops/ Tale as old as time and the fools rushing in/ Reading my palms, flip the cards, changing the script/ Share the truth, know I know, you wanted to cut me loose/ Burn it down admire or leave, you forced my hand you made me choose/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM)

[VERSE 3: MIKE FIRM]

Years past, past lives, metamorphosis, I/ Try my hardest not to push you away/ Trauma is a bitch, and she’s telling me lies/ Dealing with addiction, my ambitions, I don’t feel forgiven/ My biggest critic is myself, I tell myself you won’t listen/ Running up the count and the clock back in my prison/ Careful not to share too much/ Careful not to go the distance/ Careful not to give a fuck/ Careful not to say what’s hurting/ You think I don’t mean what I say/ When you think that I fear all the lies or what you became/ It was all in your head and hiding mistakes/ The end is here, I’m absolved, no more things to change/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM)

Without Reason feat. Oidaking & Karim Hassanien

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm, Matthew Alexander Cross p.k.a. Oidaking, Karim Hassanien, and Tiffany Morgan p.k.a Betty Hope | Produced by Betty Hope, with arrangement support from Mike Firm | Featured Vocals by Oidaking | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054. Published by Oida Records.

Without Reason - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Untitled [Stairways]”, ca. 1940, H. Farmer McDonald. | (2) “Equivalent, Set C2 No.5”, 1929, Alfred Stieglitz. | (3) “Abstract Butterflies from A Thousand Butterflies (Cho Senshu), 1904, Kamisaka Sekka. | (4) “Hawthorn Trees in Front of a Nocturnal Landscape with Houses in the Background”, 1864, Léon Bonvin. | (5) “Bouquet of Wild Flowers with Periwinkles”, 1863, Léon Bonvin.

Without

Reason feat. Oidaking & Karim Hassanien

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

My reflection in the winner’s circle double sided pane/ Practice makes perfect holo rounds tearing down the frames/ Mirror sees/ What do I say?/ Patterns of trauma sickness dread rolled up in shame/ Gotta keep pushing, I can’t fucking stall/ I can’t deal with it, petty shit you’re Walking Tall/ Matters in my own hands, built to last/ Forced to draw, think fast/ Time heals all, promises can’t let it go/ Runaway, runaway, watch it unfold/ Space without time, in another life watch it grow/ You’re sorry bout’ it all with nothing to show/ Bad blood testing patience, no one left to love/ Resentment made of cash flow, vice, hurt, and drugs/ PTSD spitting gas-fueled images/ Alice down the rabbit hole lost by accident/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM & OIDAKING)

Without reason/ Come home to see/ We’ve been running so long/ So who to believe?/

Halos for your crown/

Empty rooms to meet/ I’m fallin’ are you there for me?/

Without reason (without reason)

Come home to see/ We’ve been running so long/ So who to believe?/ Halos for your crown/

Empty rooms to meet/ I’m fallin’ are you there for me?/

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

Murphy’s Law, tearing it down/ Pulling at my thoughts, cracking a smile/ Misery loves company, do it for the drama/ I’m sorry bout’ it all, I passed the curve/ I don’t sweat it anymore/

I don’t obsess no more/ Tale as old as time, and it makes good art/ Punch Drunk Love, and it wrestles with your heart/ New beginnings, and a fresh start/

(BRIDGE: MIKE FIRM, OIDAKING, & KARIM HASSNIEN)

Promises (promises)/

You tell me why (tell me why)/

You see my future (see my future)/

This the last time (last time)/ Promises (promises)/ I wondered why (wondered why)/ I saw my future (saw my future)/ I moved on (moved on)/

Promises (promises)/

You tell me why (tell me why)/ You see my future (see my future)/

This the last time (last time)/ Promises (promises)/ I wondered why (wondered why)/ I saw my future (saw my future)/ I moved on (moved on)/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM & OIDAKING)

Without reason/ Come home to see/ We’ve been running so long/ So who to believe?/

Halos for your crown/

Empty rooms to meet/ I’m fallin’ are you there for me?/

Without reason (without reason)

Come home to see/ We’ve been running so long/ So who to believe?/

Halos for your crown/

Empty rooms to meet/ I’m fallin’ are you there for me?/

Self-Made

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm | Produced by Frank Nora, with arrangement and additional production by Mike Firm | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054.

This track contains samples of “Midnight Cassette 014: Hip Hop 1” from the The Overnightscape Underground - Lot 53: Midnight Cassette System (2011) by Frank Edward Nora. Retrieved from The Internet Archive.

Self-Made - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Drinking Fountain on the County Courthouse Lawn, Halifax, North Carolina”, 1938, John Vachon. | (2) “John R. Chiles, Uniform Rank of the Black Knights of Pythias”, 1905, George O. Brown. | (3) “Great Victory of Our Forces at the Battle of the Yellow Sea-Third Illustration”, 1894, Kiyochika Kobayashi. | (4) “Engraved Illustration from Les Indes Noires by Jules Verne”, 1877, artist unknown. | (5) “Civil War View”, ca. 1860s, Thomas C. Roche. | (6) “The Photographic History of The Civil War Volume 04 (Page 97)”, ca. 1860s, Photographer Unknown. | (7) “Full Moon”, 1860, Henry Draper.

Self-Made

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM)

Look no hands, momma we made it/

Hey, hey, look momma we made it/

Look no hands, momma we made it/

Self-made, all the love, money, reputation/ Holla at your boy, godamn!/

You losers can’t test me, godamn!/

You’re nothing to me, godamn!/

Self-made, all the love, money, reputation/

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

Don’t squander shit cause you can’t live without it/ Rhymebooks galore and fighting words kick/ Rapping with the hunger, eating all the bricks/ Moving high on supply I’m sentenced to the pen/ Spiral with words and the windy city spins/ Confidence speaks got my ear to the ground/ Double down on the rhymes and vision with the sound/ Fighting words turn to action I don’t give a fuck, come on now/ No limit no space/ No light no place/ Moonwalking on a star supernova then I reinvent within/

Life after death legacy reigns/ Trained to be the best, 72 steps/ 10,000 hours and I got more to bake/ For my piece of the cake, I’m the bear of the Michelin/ Low lights turn to highlights and limelight shine is the presence that I give and I want it all, switch/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM)

Look no hands, momma we made it/

Hey, hey, look momma we made it/

Look no hands, momma we made it/ Self-made, all the love, money, reputation/ Holla at your boy, godamn!/

You losers can’t test me, godamn!/

You’re nothing to me, godamn!/

Self-made, all the love, money, reputation/

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

Cookie cutter shit and your heart wasn’t in it/ I was stuck I was lost then I forced myself to do it/ You reap what you sowed and you only talked about it/ Practice makes perfect and you made excuses about it/ I’m tired of being tired, I’ll ether competition/ I’m sick of being sick, combine my own solution/ My name bears witness and casts a strange shadow/ Tux and a smoke imitation for the crowd source/ Gentlemen of crime not bound by city lines/ Cobblestone streets, drenched in blood/ Alliances break get what they deserve/ Eyes on the sky, watch for the Falcones/ Or vultures, since they pick at me/ Started from the bottom and we’re still here…/ For them to see…/ Switch/

(VERSE 3: MIKE FIRM)

Things change, people change, money comes and go/ I picked it up grinded and careful with my hope/ Just want to survive, feeling strength I’m alive/ Summers are simmering my piece of the pie/ Turn of the century capital of a dead foe/ Squared up boxed up living in Jackson Ward/ Orders from the white man but creating our own/ They don’t want us here, the keepers of the old world/ Down on our luck with a side of confederates/ Always strive and prosper, exacting our vengeance/ Sons of bitches, strange fruit in the distance/ 40 acres missing, casting a revenant/ Fraternal keeps us safe, structures, and discipline/ Friendship, charity… and benevolence/ I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees/ Our people gather sunday joy in the streets/

(OUTRO: MIKE FIRM)

Three stories, laid to rest…/ Three faces, what’s the catch…?/ Three versions for you, next batch…/ Three statements, what’s the test…?/

Middle of the Road!

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm and Cindy Rojas

Villagomez | Produced by Mike Firm | Audio Recording by Cindy Rojas Villagomez| Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054.

This track contains samples of “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924) as performed by George Gershwin and The Paul Whiteman Concert Orchestra (Paul Whiteman - Leader, Ferde Grofé - Arranger, Ross Gorman - Clarinet, and other musicians in the ensemble), written and published in 1924 by George Gershwin, Ferde Grofé, and Paul Whiteman.

Middle of the Road! - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Vintage Woodblock Print of Japanese Textile from Shima-Shima: Volume 2”, 1904, Furuya Korin. | (2) “Inside Akiba Shrine at Ukeji”, 1857, Utagawa Hiroshige. | (3) “Narumi, Section of Sheet No. 10 from the Series ‘Cutouts of the Fifty-three Stations (Gojusan Tsugi Harimaze)’”, 1852, Utagawa Hiroshige. | (4) Print (aka ‘Stormy Dragon’)”, 19th Century, Utagawa Hiroshige.

Middle

of the Road!

(INTRO: MIKE FIRM)

Tell me what you feel…?/ Listen to the sounds that envelop you…/

You fear what I am…/ You’re terrified of the truth…/

(VERSE: MIKE FIRM)

Stuck in the middle, stuck in the ocean/ No ones coming, no one listens/ Sins of the deadbeat, saved by the women/ Saved by the bells… (scratch that)/ Scratch that, I saved my own damn self… (fuck that too)/

Climbed the ladder, tried to bring others/ Fight or flight, lightning on fire/ Can’t take compliments, trauma response/ Own worst critic, and that’s by a mile/ Running till I collapse…/ And the whole bridge coming with me/

They said we didn’t earn it…/ Victim mentality is what they want to see…/ Silver spoon greedy cocksucking no soul pieces of shit…/ The White House got us messed up, fuck every single thing they represent/

(AUDIO RECORDING: CINDY ROJAS VILLAGOMEZ)

It’s so interesting…

Cause everyone on the outside of the country, I was talking to them, I’m like, oh, the U.S. is just a third world country with a Gucci belt.

I think it’s… the other part of the expanded focus is like: This is just right now, for a few years, the USA right now. But there’s so many other things happening. I don’t know if it necessarily makes me “hopeless”, But there’s hope in those things too, because I think people innately want to survive.

Give yourself permission that you’re not going to be able to save everything, everyone, all the time. And you’re, you know… that’s just how it’s gotta be. Or it’s not sustainable and then you do nothing…

A Moment of Truth / Survivor’s Guilt feat. Trill Mando

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm and Armando Tarula p.k.a. Trill Mando | Produced by Mike Firm | Featured Vocals by Trill Mando | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054. Published by Essential Music.

This track contains samples of “Jelly Roll Blues” (1921) as performed by the Norfolk Jazz & Jubilee Quartet (Len Williams - Bass Singer, Delroy Hollins - Baritone, Otto TustonTenor, and James “Buddy” Butts - Tenor), written and published in 1915 by Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe p.k.a. “Jelly Roll Morton”.

A

Moment of Truth / Survivor’s Guilt - Mixed Media CollageDesigned by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Dunes in Noachis Terra Region of Mars”, NASA, 2011. | (2) “Dull Gray”, 1930, Wassily Kandinsky. | (3) “Several Circles”, 1926, Wassily Kandinsky. | (4) “Animal Legend (Tierlegende)”, 1912, Franz Marc. | (5) “Tree Branches from Seitei Kacho Gafu”, 1903, Watanabe Seitei. | (6) “The Emperor Scorpion (Buthus Afer) from Dictionnaire Universel D’Histoire Naturelle: Atlas”, 1892, Charles Dessalines D’ Orbigny. | (7) “Diagram No.4 from Solar Biology”, 1887, Hiram Erastus Butler.

A Moment of Truth / Survivor’s Guilt feat.

Trill Mando

“A MOMENT OF TRUTH” (INSTRUMENTAL)

“SURVIVOR’S GUILT”

(CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM)

You left me here, you went your own way/ Context matters, and I’d do it again/ What I gave and what you take stories shared/ They came and went/ They came and went/

[VERSE 1: TRILL MANDO]

You left me here/ So I went my own way/ Nothing else matters, I know I’ll be okay/ You know that I ain’t fake/ I know I make mistakes/ If anything happens, you know I’m here to stay/ And I’ve been trying to keep faith (keep faith)/ I just hope that you’re okay (okay)/ I know that I’m to blame (I’m to blame)/ For things that I’m ashamed/

(CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM)

You left me here, you went your own way/ Context matters, and I’d do it again/ What I gave and what you take stories shared/ They came and went/ They came and went/

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

No matter what, you’d be disappointed/ Crabs in a bucket and I made my way out/ Looking back, and pulling others with me/ Losing track that misery loves company/ Moving states and moving schools/ Moving boxes and new living rooms/ Bit by bit, piece by piece/ Zeros to ones, tryna be somebody/ Had to let it go in order to move on/ Live your own life and living my own/ Double up, I was tired of excuses/ Polymath, and envisioning equations/ I’m the master of my path executor of realities/ You had it harder than some it’s all about perspective/ Feeling like a ransom robbing hoods with the wizardry/ You stayed in the same town I’m searching for opulence/ You call me vain, but I want a good life/ One where I’m good and my people thrive/ Trimming the fat and removing the noise/ Secrets that you hold that I won’t expose/

Children of Men feat. ALM3LON

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm and Dave Smith p.k.a. ALM3LON | Produced by ALM3LON, on behalf of Trempirical LLC | Featured Vocals by ALM3LON | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054. Published by Trempirical LLC.

Children of Men - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Bestiaire Fabuleux”, 1950, Patrice de La Tour du Pin, Maurice Darantière, Thérèse Moncey, and CH Collet Doreur. | (2) “Maison Sidi Youçouf Adami. Chambre de la Nourrice from La Décoration Arabe”, 1877, Emile Prisses d’Avennes. | (3) “Virgin of the Deliverance”, after 1872, AugusteAntoine-Ernest Hébert. | (4) “Balthazar”, ca. 1700, Possibly Workshop of Hyacinthe Rigaud; Formerly Attributed to Jacques-Albert Gérin.

Children of Men feat. ALM3LON

(INTRO: MIKE FIRM)

And we fight…/ But that’s true…/ And it’s you…/ But I don’t…/ Trust you./ I never did… and I never will (I never will)/

[CHORUS: MIKE FIRM]

Hit em with the 123… bittersweet symphonies/ I’d rather die standing than to live and curse on my knees/ ‘fore they kill me pick up the nines/ What does it take? What does it mean?/ Children of Men, need a Hail Mary/ Sins of the father, dopamine hits/ Children of liars…/ Children of bastards…/ Children of hate…/ But what do you know? Kids of tomorrow/ Who to believe in kids of tomorrow/ Fruits of my labor buried alive/ Wait for redemption, not on my watch/ Future is now, I’m the kids of tomorrow/

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

Another burden…/ Another waste…/ From the bottom to the top…/ Like the birds and the bees…/ Pick up the guns, gather the mob/ Lost to the winds, losing our minds/ Stranger than fiction. Severance/ Nothing is ever… as it seems/ You love to pretend…/ That you are my father…/ Blood running cold… and I break your commandment/ Fly on the wall, you decide to hurt her/ Looking glass, I loathe my reflection/ Blinded by lights, drown in your suffering/ Flipping the script, I write a new legacy/

[CHORUS: MIKE FIRM]

(VERSE 2: ALM3LON)

Never give up/ I got your back if you falling and I lift you up/ We came out the mud/ Always knew wisdom and money don’t matter where it coming from/ My papa taught me to be better than he was but I was just trying to be like him I stan/ I know he was flawed/ I knew he was scarred/ I knew he had demons all over his heart/ But he tried hard/ If I have a son, I protect him like I was his gun/ Cause some kids don’t know right from wrong/ And they got some crazy ways to having fun/ Look out for you, look out for you/ Ya tell the truth, deep in the root/ I put a label but where is my fruit/ Children of Men we looking at you/ This ain’t nothing new/

[CHORUS: MIKE FIRM]

Place of Pleasing Waters

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm and Luz Rowley | Produced by Mike Firm | Audio Recording by Luz Rowley | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054.

Place of Pleasing Waters - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “La Fuensanta”, 1929, Julio Romero de Torres. | (2) “Moonlight, Wood Island Light”, 1894, Winslow Homer. | (3) “Chinese Cherry Blossom”, 1838, Rushan.

Place of Pleasing Waters

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

Not gonna lie this child daydreamin’/ Place of pleasing waters new frontiers/ Listening in awe of a land forgotten/ Stories fables distant valleys/ Mom describing secret gardens/ Lushness water sticks the heat/ Cascade oasis cool off springs/ Nectar of the gods pulled from trees/ River down the middle inviting breeze/ Chatter in the plaza the bells ring/ Mass for the masses spirits sing/ Tucked in the clouds hidden from me/

(AUDIO RECORDING: LUZ ROWLEY)

Hola, um… soy yo, este…

No te pude llamar ayer, pero. Hoy, este… tengo tiempo.

Este mira, te voy a contar que.

Pues la primera vez que regrese a México, Después de tantos años, Estaba yo… uh, te voy a decir cómo me sentía.

Como muy emocionada, pero a la vez como, un poco de miedo, Porque eran tantos tantos años.

Cómo, veinticuatro años, veinticinco años.

Que… no había yo estado alla. Muchas emociones. Sentimientos encontrados. Esa es la frase.

Vas a un lugar que tanto extrañas pero al mismo tiempo como que ya no reconoces.

No sé si eso hace sentido, pero, uhm.

Que siempre recuerdas, pero a la vez como que extraño porque.

Ha pasado tanto tiempo, y,

Y cuando llegue alla, la emoción, las. Mariposas en el estómago, sabes.

El deseo de…

De sentir la… la tierra, el aire, estar cerca de mi gente.

De mi familia, la comida, el ambiente, las casas.

Todas las emociones, así como de golpe.

Muchas emociones juntas, tu sabes?

Una felicidad, pero es… es raro.

Es difícil de describirlo, pero.

Muy contenta, muy feliz de que,

Tuve la oportunidad de… de regresar…

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

Not gonna lie, life is weird/

Place of pleasing waters, the curtain reels/ Taken aback, by the false image/ Tales from the past, trying to make sense of it/

The land has scars, the sky is grey/ The illusion has been broken, split perspective/

My people tire… for posterity/ Nevertheless, they’re living wealthy/

Connection with family I’ve never known/

They look like me and I know it’s home/

But it’s all melancholy from years away/ Two weeks not enough for two decades of fate/ Didn’t cross the borders, the borders crossed us/ Elite at the top, playing with their pawns/ I digress, flying back feelings strange/

The only one staring out the windows amazed/

(AUDIO RECORDING: LUZ ROWLEY)

Hey, um.

Creo que este es el segundo mensaje.

En el otro creo que me… apasione mucho, anyways.

Pues… siempre quise que yo, que fueras tu.

Pero al principio pensé que no querías ir.

Pero bueno, fuiste…

Y creo que si te la pasastes bien, uhm.

Qué bueno que fuistes, porque.

Yo quería que, vieras lo que.

De donde nacistes, de donde eres, de donde vinistes.

En una manera que te re-conectaras, con tus raíces, no?

Y espero que te…

Que te haya gustado, que lo hayas disfrutado.

Y que, aprendistes un poco de donde vinistes.

Esta es tu tierra. Son tus orígenes.

Y, es dónde venimos.

Y que bueno, y si me hace muy… contenta de que.

Hayas ido alla, y ojalá regresemos.

Y pues, allá es donde somos, y, yeah… y si, es bien, muy.

Como “emotional,” hablar de eso.

Pero, si. Son nuestras raíces y es donde venimos.

Y que bueno que fuiste.

Y, hay que ir otra vez cuando podamos, okay?

Este, déjame saber si hay algo más que, quieres que te diga, okay?

Uhm, y te veo mañana, bye!

The Fountain / A Thousand Faces feat. Zak Tovin

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm and Zachary Ludwig p.k.a. Zak Tovin | Produced by Mike Firm | Featured Vocals by Zak Tovin | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054. Published by AudioFile Records.

The Fountain / A Thousand Faces - Mixed Media CollageDesigned by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Automat”, 1927, Edward Hopper. | (2) “‘Smash The Hun’ from the Front Cover of the February 1919 Edition of The Dry Dock Dial”, 1919, Edward Hopper. | (3) “Interior Decoration”, 1900, Helen Hyde. | (4) “A Monday Washing, New York City”, 1900, Detroit Photographic Company. | (5) “HSP’s Rack Picture”, ca. 1900, John Frederick Peto. | (6) “Autumn Flowers and Grasses”, 1762, Miyazaki Yuzen.

The Fountain / A Thousand Faces feat. Zak Tovin

“THE

FOUNTAIN” (INSTRUMENTAL)

“A THOUSAND FACES”

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

Spitting image turns to glass/ Molded by the fire, I/

Took a chance, made my peace/ Got a peace to protect mines/ Sugarcoated you gotta get your facts straight/ What I have to lose and go on and check the rate?/ Villainize… keeps me lonely/ Villainize… keeps me happy/

Who’s the man under the mask?/ Who’s the man behind the flask?/ Who’s the one that got you sweating bullets when the clock/ Strikes midnight all you see is your worries…/ All I give is a fragment of… who I used to be/

Changing cadence tone and voice for who’s in front of me/ Not like it matters when you’re lost in disbelief/ All of us expendable expecting screams of encore/ A call to adventure, and I don’t know what’s worse/ Every word every scheme and singing along/ Like a current in the sea I thought we were strong/ Waves of emotions when we reach the top floor/ In distress save our souls lest we forget our songs/

[CHORUS: MIKE FIRM]

A thousand faces, a thousand places/ A thousand ways to die…/ Hide my shame, no more lies/ Hate my name, no more rhymes/

I don’t what you’ve been told/ I don’t know how to cope/ They say you don’t know what you have/ Till it’s gone…/

(VERSE 2: ZAK TOVIN)

A thousand faces, thousand places/ Thousand ways I isolate myself from spaces that I’m safe in/

A thousand opportunities have all been wasted

For the blunts I’m facing/ Tryna stop and chill a thousand pills I pop for thrills

I been so complacent/ I look back and ain’t nothing make sense/ I look forward and I ain’t seeing shit/

If I don’t look any way I ain’t even gotta figure how to come to grips/ I just need a bag, need a line for the drips/ I just need a tab, need a shroom for the trip/

Need a bong for the rip/

Need a girl for the clit/

Need a gun for the clip/

Bro I just need anything that is gonna make it so that I ain’t gotta think/

Cause if I gotta face it

I’ll be gone in a blink, I be sinking/ And sinking, and sinking/

Try to live my days without thinking/

All the drugs are wolves that wear sheepskin/

Now I wear the wool without blinking/

But the pain inside is not shrinking/ No, I just forget when I’m drinking/ It’s a masquerade when I ball/ Now the mask is on let that sink in/

Wait up/ I might fuck around and take a dose and hope I don’t wake up/

Going out that way you ain’t gotta say much/

Finally get a break from this persona that I play up/

What the fuck is god? Ain’t nobody gonna save us/ Doesn’t matter if you nobody or you famous/ Fuck it homie blaze up/ We be on the way down/

Never on the way up/

So I’m getting fucked up now/

(BRIDGE: MIKE FIRM)

Till it’s gone (fuck it)… listen/ Till it’s gone… listen/

Know too much, but not too many/

Know no one, but know everybody/ Know a few, but not necessary/ Knowing less, but feels too heavy/

[CHORUS: MIKE FIRM]

A thousand faces, a thousand places/

A thousand ways to die…/

Hide my shame, no more lies/

Hate my name, no more rhymes/

I don’t what you’ve been told/ I don’t know how to cope/

They say you don’t know what you have/ Till it’s gone…/

Tears of the Saints and Disciples

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm | Produced by Mike Firm | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054.

Tears

the Saints and Disciples - Mixed Media Collage -

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “The Great Library of Alexandria - Colorized”, 2015, O. Von Corven, Colorized by K. Vail Abdelhamid. | (2) “Founding of the Nation”, 1929, Kawamura Kiyoo. | (3) “Vintage Woodblock

Print of Japanese Textile from Shima-Shima: Volume 2”, 1904, Furuya Korin. | (4) “Reconnaissance de la Terre Adelie, le 20 Janvier”, 1840, Louis Le Breton, Auguste Étienne François Mayer, and Léon Sabatie. | (5) “The Virgin of Guadalupe with the Four Apparitions”, 1773, Nicolás Enríquez. | (6) “Fire”, ca. 1730 - 1765, Louis Félix de La Rue.

Tears of the Saints and Disciples

[PRE-VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM]

I see with my eyes wide open/ I can feel you testing me/ What is born will surely die/ Letting go and being free/

[VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM]

They say the sky’s the limit but I’m here to break barriers/ Running full speed and gracious with the hurdles/ All these losers ain’t got shit on me/ Spitting fire and I extinguish layers/ Praying on my downfall, got to keep moving/ Lightning strikes, match spark fuses/ Burn it all down, this message in a bottle/ Soldiers and poets in the line of battle/

(CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM)

Back to basics, you don’t know/ Testament holiness, listening to ghosts/ Sanctify, they consecrate/ Canonize and you watch em wait/

Bear the cross, fight em til the end/ Fight em till the end till you get what’s yours/ Enemies closest, knives to the throat/ Fight em till the end till you get what’s yours/

[PRE-VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM]

Rome didn’t fall in a day…/ All our secrets, who’s to blame…/

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

Fight or flight, take no prisoners/ COs watching, birds on perimeter/ Horus on alert, something’s Sinister/ Training Days moving weight in the carrier/ Sprint vs marathon took some patience/ Knowledge is power and learning all of these lessons/ The search continues, I make em bleed/ Justice in the quest, honor among thieves/ Written in triumph, the winner’s spoil/ Reconnaissance and rifles at the door/

[BRIDGE: MIKE FIRM]

The angels sing, the trumpets sound/ Time is ticking, no one’s around/ Prophets speak, people gather round/ The battalion fights, turns to graveyards/ Battlegrounds, casualties/ Fire burns and water speaks/ Genocides, war machines/ Earth is moved, and air relieves/

(CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM)

Back to basics, you don’t know/ Testament holiness, listening to ghosts/ Sanctify, they consecrate/ Canonize and you watch em wait/

Bear the cross, fight em til the end/ Fight em till the end till you get what’s yours/ Enemies closest, knives to the throat/ Fight em till the end till you get what’s yours/

(VERSE 3: MIKE FIRM)

History repeats and we ignore why/ Somethings gotta change don’t understand the plot/ The road to hell is paved with good intentions/ System of a down, mass surveillance/ Land of the free, we know it never was/ Statue of liberty, blinded from the jump/ Borders and horrors, gunning for the top/ Power to the people, no matter the cost/

Patriot Games

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike FirM | Produced by Mike Firm | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054.

Patriot Games

-

Mixed

Media Collage -

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Northern Half of Mauritania’s Atlantic Coast from Skylab”, NASA, 2019. | (2) “USA Flag Pole”, 2015, Wil Stewart. | (3) “USS George H.W. Bush CVN 77 Gulf of Aden Sunset”, 2014, US Navy. | (4) “Void of War”, 1918, Paul Nash. | (5) “A Flight of Bombing Planes, 1st Australian Flying Corps, Palestine”, ca. 1917-1918, Frank Hurley. | (6) “Gas. Australian Troops with Respirators on Posed for the Camera in the Advance Trench, Garter Point, 4th Division”, ca. 1917-1918, Frank Hurley. | (7) “Mercedes de Cordoba”, ca. 1905, Joseph T. Keiley. | (8) “Two Women On The Shore; Women On The Beach”, 1898, by Edvard Munch. | (9) “Paskaert Van’t in Comen Van’t Canaal”, 1672, Pieter Goos. | (10) “Field of Four Tiles with Bunches of Grapes”, ca. 1600, artist unknown.

Patriot Games

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

My depression sinks to the bottom and it’s getting me/ It’s so large that it swallows me the tallest mountains you can see/ Turning doubt into cash like the anthem to shining seas/ Calling on my psyche catastrophic until settling/ Fighting mind over matter central core tenet, not everything is as it looks/ Picture books and I can’t distinguish truth and sword all the time it took/ Given up, trust no one/ Pointed words from the fallen sons/ Healing is the storm and I avoid all the medication/ Therapy visitation fascination all my life/ Mythos codex pages turn reading into zodiacs/ Conscious numb in the moment lacking all sensations/ People fall and they left me here/ People fall and they disappeared/ No one left and I know it’s clear/ I’m the one, I’m the shit/ Take the reins, nothing to fear/ Wave after wave, martyrs and snakes/ Wins over losses and spirits break/ The killing joke till I beat my peers/ They said praise I said stop/ They sang hymns I see flaws/ They yell murder I see cops/ They don’t know what it means to fly/ They don’t know, why we cry/ Living hearses till we drop (drop)/

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

Crabs in a bucket, walking like a pimp/ If you can’t have it, where’s the advance?/ Climbing all the ladders, blood sweat drips/ Ceilings shatter cirque du soleil/ Shen Yun make a buck and have skin in the game/ Bay of Pigs and blowing up your friends/ Papers please, cashing in/ Y2K for decades, feeling senseless/ A cloud in the fallout, pleasantville who’s the villain?/ You got us fucked up turn the news on/ Election season, it’s the purge on repeat/ At home, in the desert, then you shoot us in the streets/

(CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM)

Son of a gun, catch me politic/ Clear and present danger, admiral James/ Patriot Games/ Patriot Games/ Dollar and a dream, a slave to your sins/

(VERSE 3: MIKE FIRM)

Money grabs and the counter’s full of stains/ Blueface blues and the sirens motion feds/ It’s your call stay put negotiating bets/ In the house it’s a killin’ and you have to invest/ It’s never enough and you want to raise the risk/ A life for a life and ethics for your money trees/ Sell your soul for some bills and a stake/ For some capitol street independence you have no shame/ New World Orders and the constitution doublespeak/ Famine to riches and state sponsored coups/ First world problems and everyone else/ Pushed to the limit fighting back cause we can’t lose/

The Foolish Parade of Existence

Written

by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm | Produced by Mike Firm | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054.

The Foolish Parade of Existence - Mixed Media CollageDesigned by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “A U.S. Air Force Firefighter Sprays Water at the Fire of a Simulated C-130 Hercules Plane Crash During Operational Readiness Exercise Beverly”, 2012, US Air Force. | (2) “La Saeta”, 1918, Julio Romero de Torres. | (3) “Active Fires - Oregon (517961)”, ca. 1901-1905, Samuel T. Frear. | (4) “Wet Night, Columbus Circle, New York”, 1899, William A. Fraser. | (5) “St. Catherine of Siena”, 1746, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. | (6) “Yellowstone National Park - Beehive Geyser, on Northern Pacific Railroad (NBY 431889)”, unknown date and author. | (7) “Avon-by-the-Sea”, unknown date and author. | (8) “Florida Hibiscus, Miami, Florida”, unknown date and author.

The Foolish Parade of Existence

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

Pretending that nothing matters coming up short/ 40 hours turn to numbness and we’re entertained for sport/ Second Sundays gather round the family tree/ Big man, big stacks, we got what you need/ No point of return

Black Fridays in the streets/ Revolution won’t be televised newspaper no tweets/ Headlines got you loving the foxes and the wolves/ Sharpening of teeth knife talk licking your wounds/ If I sound preachy, than at least you paid attention/ Dinner serving food for thought reloading ammunition/ Spread looks good if mass incarceration/ Displacement redlining generational precision/ Fighting back said fuck the system weeping through the landfall/ We act like it doesn’t bother even if it stings/ No more lies, no more hurt, hellish landscapes/ Swimming gainst’ tides in the river and the sea/ Scrolling for an upper in the comfort of our bedrooms/ Same shit same day same fucking nonsense/ Death of the author a split in your cranium/ Life after death and Biggie had a vision/

(BRIDGE #1): MIKE FIRM)

What’s your vision? I want to survive/ Better than that? Live and thrive/ What’s your mission? We’re fighting back/ Starting anew stock lock load and make it bang/

(CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM)

You lie to yourself and you just don’t quit/ You lie to yourself but you just don’t quit/ You lie to yourself you’re a fucking hypocrite/ You lie to yourself and you better know the rest/

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

Larger and bigger than a fear of the unknown/ I’m in love with my craft and everything it holds/ Masters of the Universe exact with control/ Awoken from my slumber and faced with countless threats/ Rising from my coffin to the glory of my destiny/

Better yet, three days, three earths, three kings/ And a fever and a thirst for exacting my revenge/

Claiming my birthright given by supreme/ Written in blood and death sees the light of day/ Art imitates life foiling all the threads/ Power, country, heroes and villains/ Loading up, geared up, ak47s/ Heartfelt embrace as darkness envelopes us/ The hole in my chest, soul leaving body/ Where to go when we’re down, who to save/ Leader or follower, who’s the coward, who’s the bait?/

(BRIDGE #2 x2: MIKE FIRM)

Say it ain’t so, simon says/ Ring around the rosie and break some legs/

Better late than never add insult to injury/ Letting out the terror that lives inside of me/

(CHORUS x2: MIKE FIRM)

You lie to yourself and you just don’t quit/ You lie to yourself but you just don’t quit/ You lie to yourself you’re a fucking hypocrite/ You lie to yourself and you better know the rest/

(VERSE 3: MIKE FIRM)

A life worth living is a beautiful scene/ In the unrest, magnificent dreams/ Take what you will and leave out all the rest/

The human condition and a lifelong test/ Every day is a fight and we can’t do it alone/ Found my own path and people and you need to find yours/ The tyrant or betrayer no one knows who they’re messing with/ Firebreath drones, angel dust from the ashes/ My side of the story, Mike Firm in the flesh/ Contemplate existence and I’m not done yet/ The ink of a scholar is worth a thousand times more/ Than the blood of a martyr and mothers weeping ghosts/

End of the Line!

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm, Lillyanne Pham, and Kevin Yatsu p.k.a. Makiyat | Produced by Makiyat, with arrangement support from Mike Firm | Audio Recording by Lillyanne Pham | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054. Published by AUGURY HOUSE.

End of the Line! - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Miembro del Cuerpo de Policía Rural Mexicano en Tren durante la Revolución Mexicana”, 1912, Manuel Ramos. | (2) “Moonlight on the Viga Canal”, 1912, Helen Hyde. | (3) “Nightfall Near Olana”, 1872, Frederic Edwin Church. | (4) “Fork-Tailed Flycatcher. Tyrannus Savana” from The Birds of America from Drawings Made in the United States, ca. 1840-1844, John James Audubon.

End of the Line!

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

Feels like an odyssey conveying what’s inside my head/ Pages upon pages of knowledge pouring out the pen/ Fascinated by the news, horrified by camera shots/ The steeper the climb, the more that we die inside/ Channeling the worst of me, bittersweet/ What have we left but destruction guaranteed/ Nothing left to grow, a murder left to sow/ Planet barren in the wasteland of a dream deferred/ Eyes glazed, souls burnt/ Hands up for a crowd that’s also numb to it all/ Shot in the dark is brighter to a victim’s eye/ A moment of truth, or the end of the line/

(AUDIO RECORDING: LILLYANNE PHAM)

Yeah… the roughest part of my life was definitely my teen years. I lived… in my car. On my friend’s couches. In the classroom, going through raging hormones. Having to show up to school. A school that wasn’t built for me. So, when they call youth lost… I just respond… They’re handling most struggles most adults couldn’t even handle…

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

I have no fear/ I’m done with peace/ Follow the leader/ Trust in the dreams you dreamt/ Landing on the moon, tiptoeing till I fall/ The beginning of my journey, I was shooting for the stars/ I was 4 with no alternates/ I was 6 stand uproot again/ I was 8 not thinking stable/ I was 10 ostracized by others/ Never thought I’d be the shit, but I gotta win/ Power and sentiment, beyond social relevance/ I was 13 when I started to lose it/ I was 14 family unraveling/ I was 15 anger at its peak/ I was 18 future was uncertain/ Two milestones, but the paths divided/ Four years apart living different dimensions/ I was 19 when I kept it focused/ I was 21 ghost in the city/ I was 22 a great impression/ I was 25 felt like Icarus/ Great depression… pieces I held/ From the cuts over time, the wounds that I healed/ I was 27 partially restored/ I was 28 want to burn it all/ I was 29… when I stepped up evolved/ I turned 30… optimism in technicolor/ Excited for what’s to come and dreading the flames/ Loving all the art and begrudging the paint/ Nihilism at bay the finale of the show/ A third of the way, and searching for more/ End of the line or the promise of hope/

Enemy of the State feat.

Eyerap, Generik, & Nzyte

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm, Jeffrey Dul p.k.a. Eyerap, Brian McLure p.k.a. Generik, and Phillip Richardso p.k.a. Nzyte | Produced by Mike Firm | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054. Published by Generik. Published by Nzyte Records.

This track contains samples of “Gnome & Promenade/Pictures at an Exhibition/ Mussorgsky” (2015) by Floyd Willems. Retrieved from Free Music Archive archived website at the Library of Congress, Web Archives Division.

This track contains samples of “12th Street Rag” (1921) by Bowman, Euday L. (Euday Louis) and Imperial Marimba Band. Retrieved from Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division.

Enemy of the State - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from “FEMA Headquarters Emergency Support Team Y2K Preparation”, 1999, Liz Roll.

Enemy of the State feat. Eyerap, Generik, & Nzyte

[VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM]

Listen here, gather round… fuck it, check it, yo/ The government wants me dead but the legend never quits/ I fight for my life, my family, and my state/ Of mind is going off the rocker, jumping off the deep end/ Never say never, I don’t know what exists/

Life after death, dying till the weekends/ Decisions but I’m mortified we’re trying to get paid/ Tomb in tribute blood money keeps us awake/ The nightmares never stop and we pray to be saved/

Listen… point the gun at your head/

Listen… point the gun at your friends/

Listen… point the gun at your kids/ Listen… enemies of the state…/

[VERSE 2: EYERAP]

Powers that be don’t believe in our cause/ Gaining control not retracting their claws/ Giving a taste to wind up in their jaws/ Tons of red tape in a system of flaws/ Freedom they take and manipulate laws/ Instigate hate from the news that we saw/ Aw shit, just great another graveyard shift to bandage debt like gauze/ Probable cause, nah we’re all outlaws/ No bedside manner more pills in the drawer/ Grasping at straws, this cold world won’t thaw/ Corruption stalls from within it gnaws as it eats at liberty’s call/ Time to rise up living enthralled have faith make the godless appalled/

[VERSE 3: GENERIK]

They’re not interested in, protecting the vulnerable/ When empathy is the enemy and paranoia is in control/ Middle finger to the broligarchy/ Mark me targeted by the maggot army/ Power-hungry cowards bowing down/ Hail the insecure dictator clown/ Are these rights or temporary privileges?/ United psych ward ran by the village idiot/ Censor me, keep you distracted by the culture wars/ While they pick-pocket your pension and start a civil war/ Unserious species overwelcoming our stay/ Make money and die that’s the American way…/ They’re not interested. They’re not/

[VERSE 4: NZYTE]

I see them dumbing down the masses got our brains fertile/ I’m paranoid thinking the systems in my inner circle/ I know they want to lock me up and beat me blue and purple/ So I’m on the move with more weapons than the ninja turtles/ Surveillance cameras tracking every move/ And every time I spit a rap the feds be in the groove/ How my taxes get spent?

I strongly disapprove/ We vote in booths it’s just an illusion that we choose/ It’s like we’re praying to breathe in this nation/ They keep on doing wrong saying be patient/ I speak my mind and I’m marked for elimination/ Tired of these leaders being complacent/

[VERSE 5: MIKE FIRM]

Undercover, under water/ Underground, over my head/ High on life, sky’s the limit/ High on power, gotta make it sweat/ Face your fears, face the music/ Rifle leaning, this my last stand/ Red Dot Music, RIP Mac/ Somebody do something slick sleight of hand (humble)/ Fuck hesitation it’s time for revolution/ Clock strikes midnight, drop annihilation/ Down to survival pray that you remember our names writing hymns and singing revivals/ If the feds want me dead there’s a method to their madness/ Rise up or shut up, our blood’s on the table/ Fables and gambles, made in their image/ We do this till we free us from start to finish, it goes…/

This is America snatch you from the streets (streets)/ Land of the klan and bastard police/ It’s a hot summer ICE melts in the heat/ Funny games… and fascist regimes/ Caught in the fold clear as day paperclip and others that we don’t know…/ Soylent Green, loudly for the whole world, open your eyes to the makings of your role/

Heard So Much About It feat. Laughing Dark

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm and James Beeson p.k.a. Laughing Dark | Produced by Laughing Dark and Mike Firm | Mixed and Mastered by Mike Firm | Published by Class of 2054. Published by Dark Laugh Records.

Heard So Much About It - Mixed Media Collage - Designed by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “Dull Gray”, 1930, Wassily Kandinsky. | (2) “Several Circles”, 1926, Wassily Kandinsky. | (3) “Diagram No.4 from Solar Biology”, 1887, Hiram Erastus Butler. | (4) “Yellow and Red Chrysanthemums”, 1884, Ellen FIsher.

Heard So Much About It feat. Laughing Dark

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM)

I wake up, burned out, losing track of time/ Going through the motions, I gotta get what’s mine/ In a shadow of sorrow, and I can’t let it show/ Supply and demand wealth substitute my soul/ What’s it mean to live when you’re lost in the rat race/ Stuck in a loop, and my face shares nothing/ Heard so much, I heard so much about it/ Heard so much, I heard so much about it/

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

Walls that I build, inside mirrors that I see/ A smile through the cracks, empire building currency/ Designer labels, I’m the latest trend/ I don’t give a fuck, but why do I pretend/ It’s so obvious/ Beyond my means/ Have you seen my numbers, pyramid schemes/ Blood runs cold, I got ice on my neck/ These chains won’t break, and you better respect/ The Modern Man’s Hustle out of fear you connect/ Built my own prison, I’m the architect/ Shroud of mystery in the misery/ I try not to break, but I’m watering these money trees/ My biggest fear is the war with myself/ Seeing red, black, and blue afraid to delve/ It’s deeper than I figured, making 7 figures/ I don’t know what’s real, dead ringer/

(BRIDGE x2: MIKE FIRM)

But you know that it’s fake/ You know that it’s pain/ You feel all the shame/ You know it’s a game/ You want to be free/ You hate all the small talk/ You live in your dreams/ And you want to walk away/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM)

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

Final destination, I’m a nervous wreck/ Market falls short, writing blank checks/ No sympathy. No heart/ Empty faces, met with false starts/ Purpose in the wrong places I can’t feel a thing/ Bankroll my religion and virtue I can’t think/ Spiral superficial takes me back to my prime/ Nothing else matters, I’m a prophet bottom line/ Exchange transactions, money launder luck/ For a quick buck. I’m a sick fuck/ Prey for the picking, murky waters/ Joke’s on me, free fallin’ faster/

(BRIDGE x2: MIKE FIRM)

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM)

Through the Storm (Laughing Dark Remix)

Written by Miguel Rodriguez p.k.a. Mike Firm and James Beeson p.k.a. Laughing Dark | Produced by Laughing Dark | Mixed and Mastered by Laughing Dark | Published by Class of 2054. Published by Dark Laugh Records.

Through the Storm (Laughing Dark Remix) - Mixed Media CollageDesigned by Mike Firm

This art piece is composed from the following images: (1) “House at Okutama, 1955”, 1955(?), Shiro Kasamatsu. | (2) “Equivalent, Set C2 No.5”, 1929, Alfred Stieglitz. | (3) “Tierlegende (Animal Legend)”, 1912, Franz Marc

Through the Storm (Laughing Dark Remix)

(VERSE 1: MIKE FIRM)

Running from my problems, troubles in my vision/

See the faults at my core, and I can’t bare witness/ Testify, Empire/

In your cookie jar/ Drown in the pussy, oasis in the desert/ Like fine wine, you know I’m never finished/ A thin line vices come in threes/ A ménage trois, a catastrophe/ Voice of reason, you never seemed so distant/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM)

Fall back, fall back

Surviving the night/ Hips are moving, you’re the center of attention/ Can’t escape, like an omen’s threat/ Psychedelic impulse enjoy your stay, let’s go/ Stand up, arms high, floating in the clouds/ Night out, perreo, foaming at the mouth/ DJ got us bumping, it’s ecstasy/ The heat is rising, I’m the recipe/

(VERSE 2: MIKE FIRM)

Far from riches, money turning fables/ I make my own luck, and we’re ripping all the labels/ Stuck in pose, and the roses of the cradle/ Reaching for the stars, and taking up the mantle/ It’s underground, and you hear the sound/ And you best believe, that it’s going down/ Legends never die, and they never fold/ It’s touchdown smoke-out guns out bangin’/ Fast life, speedball, rush, and it’s lethal/ Weapon of choice, Odachi and TantO/

Protect at all costs, justice and the gavel/ Flashes of light, red and blue stand tough/ Fuck the line, the revolution never dies/ They want us to break, but there are other pillars/ The culture exposes, it won’t be televised/ Pumping lead and red like the enemy’s jugular/

(CHORUS: MIKE FIRM)

Fall back, fall back

(BRIDGE: MIKE FIRM)

Pilot talk…/ It’s a world tour…/ Concert highs and lows…/ Stuck with the highs…/ But who get’s hurt? But who?/

(VERSE 3: MIKE FIRM)

I can’t seem to get it, I try too hard/ I don’t want to fail, and I want to ball/ I doubt myself, and I want to scream/ I chase the green, but I’m vanity/ I change the pace, and I need some space/ I trust no one, and I push em’ away/ I can’t bear the weight, I have nothing to say/ I want to leave, I can’t make the grade/ We fight back… down for the cause/ Public enemy, you fuckers can’t stop us/ We don’t need your money, mirrors and twists/ Contortions of the body, calling the red phone/ Put em on the board, consider all angles/ A Thousand Suns, brighter mass numbers/ Long and short game, the marathon and sprint/ Strategize chess and we’re steps ahead/ Breathe/

Mike Firm

The

Foolish

Parade of Existence

The Foolish Parade of Existence (Front + Back Covers) - Mixed Media Collages - Designed by Mike Firm

These art pieces are composed from the following images: (1) “A Multicolored Image of Water and Trees”, 2025, Kyle Hinkson. | (2) “Biblioteca Vasconcelos”, 2015, Angel Vallarta. | (3) “Mosaic Pattern from L’Ornement Polychrome”, 1888, Albert Racine. | (4) “The Chess Tournament”, 1883, Burton Brothers. | (5) “Palm Tree (Fig. 31) from Les Palmiers Histoire Iconographique”, 1878, Oswald de Kerchove de Denterghem. | (6) “Section Showing Scaffolding Design”, 1863, Thomas U Walter. | (7) “Antiquities of Mexico: Fac-Similes of Ancient Mexican Paintings and Hieroglyphics”, year unknown, artist unknown. | (8) “Four Pallbearers in Mexican Dress Carrying a Coffin Behind a Priest Into a Church”, year unknown, artist unknown.

ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN

Mike Firm

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Mike Firm

PHOTOGRAPHY

Mike Firm and Class of 2054

MARKETING AND MUSIC VIDEOS

Mike Firm, AUGURY HOUSE (Kevin Yatsu), BRENDA ARTS (Spencer Garland), ESSENTIAL MUSIC (Armando Tarula), Cindy Rojas Villagomez, Hafsa Aden, Omar Rojas Villagomez, and Tyrel Ott

Ups and downs.

I’ve been trained to look for patterns. Left and right.

I’ve grown tired of waiting for nobody.

Past, present, and future.

I’m creating without expectations.

Connections and community.

I’m flourishing because of them.

Strength and passion.

I’ve finetuned my skillset.

Timelines and timeliness.

I continue to prioritize this reality.

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This album is a labor of love.

I couldn’t have done it without my family, friends, partner, mentors, collaborators, and countless others.

This album is for all my dreamers: those who the borders crossed.

This album is for the artists and poets: those who the world didn’t + doesn’t understand. This album is for everyone: those trying to make sense of it all.

This album is for my mother: she who sacrificed significantly for her children. This album is for my circle: those who I laugh, cry, and celebrate with. This album is for me:

I who dared to imagine and achieve a dream deferred.