(real talk)

Look, I need y’all to really look at these pay stubs. Not just the numbers, but the space between what they pay and what you get. It’s a game being played with your time and your life. Let’s talk about it.

(so Majestic)

Verse One

I’m standing in the lobby waiting on a chance to breathe

Looking at the paperwork up under their sleeve (yeah)

They told me fourteen dollars was the best they could do

But the invoice to the office says twenty-eight for you

That is fifty percent of your sweat going to a desk

While you’re out here doing the lifting and the rest (real talk)

They call it a service but it feels like a chain

A middleman living real good off your pain

They don’t provide the tools and they don’t provide the heart

But they take the biggest piece before you even start (yeah)

I’m checking the math and the math isn’t adding up

How they drinking wine while we’re passing the cup?

It is a system built to keep the worker on the floor

While the agency is knocking on the corporate door

Collecting a check for work they never performed

Leaving us out here trying to stay warm (so Majestic)

Fourteen for the labor and fourteen for the suit

They’re eating the harvest while we’re planting the root.

Chorus

They’re selling our hours for double the price (yeah)

Keeping us hungry while they’re living real nice

Cut out the middle and let the people get paid

Break out the cycle that the industry made

We’re worth more than the minimum they want to give

We’re out here trying to do more than survive, we want to live.

Verse Two

I walked into the office and I asked for a raise

They looked at me funny like I’m stuck in a maze (boss)

Said the contract is locked with the people in charge

But the profit they’re seeing is incredibly large

If I go to the company and try to go direct

They offer me the same fourteen with zero respect

It’s like they agreed on a cap for the man

To keep us all trapped in this corporate plan (yeah)

They save on the benefits and save on the tax

While we’re breaking our bodies and breaking our backs

The agency is a shield so the boss can stay clean

While the worker is treated like a part in a machine (real talk)

They can cut you tomorrow and not feel a thing

No loyalty found in the songs that they sing

Twenty-eight dollars is the value they see

But they only pass half of that value to me.

Chorus

They’re selling our hours for double the price (so Majestic)

Keeping us hungry while they’re living real nice

Cut out the middle and let the people get paid

Break out the cycle that the industry made

We’re worth more than the minimum they want to give

We’re out here trying to do more than survive, we want to live.

Bridge

It’s time to wake up and see the divide

Stop letting these agencies take us for a ride (yeah)

If we all understood the weight of our hands

We could rewrite the rules and change the demands (boss)

Power to the person actually doing the task

It’s time to take off the corporate mask.

Verse Three

Imagine a world where the worker gets it all

Where we don’t have to wait for the agency call (real talk)

Where the twenty-eight dollars goes straight to the home

Instead of the pockets of a king on a throne

We have to be skilled and we have to be wise

And see through the layers of the corporate lies

They tell you you’re lucky to have a position

While they’re stacking the paper and fueling ambition

But the ambition is ours and the labor is too

There is nothing they can do without me and you (yeah)

Wake up the neighbor and wake up the friend

It’s time for this cycle of stealing to end

We are the engines that make the world run

Don’t let them take half before we are done (so Majestic)

Know your worth and don’t let them divide

The value you bring is the value inside

Twenty-eight is the number, don’t settle for less.

Chorus

They’re selling our hours for double the price (boss)

Keeping us hungry while they’re living real nice

Cut out the middle and let the people get paid

Break out the cycle that the industry made

We’re worth more than the minimum they want to give

We’re out here trying to do more than survive, we want to live.

Talking Outro

[Music slows down, focusing on a deep bass groove]

(real talk)

It’s just simple math, family. If they can afford to pay a middleman twenty-eight dollars an hour just to find you, that means your work is worth twenty-eight dollars an hour. Period. Stop letting them tell you that you’re only worth fourteen. We’ve got to start recognizing the game so we can stop playing it. Much love. Be great.

(so Majestic)