Factory State of Grind

With the Lions coming off another pitiful season, the Pistons on a landslide of a losing streak, Granderson being traded and uncertainty for the Tigers, and the injury woes of the Red Wings, you don’t need Mitch Albom or any other schmuck with a blog (like me) to tell you that there are some tough times in the D.

A buddy of mine, Dan Amboy (D-Boy), produced a Detroit remix to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys “Empire State of Mind” called “Factory State of Grind.” The song is pretty cool; it definitely gave me chills the first time I heard it. It also gave me a real sense of pride to be from Michigan, despite the hardships and adversity this state has had to deal with.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuNyBX_pK9k&w=367&h=317]

So if our teams are anything like the people that call Michigan home, I think they will persevere.

Ed. note — NSFW & lyrics after the jump

Verse 1

Yeah Im from the 8-1- 0h, thats where I came from
Home of Mateen Cleaves, Glen Rice and Mo Pete
Yeah they call it Bedrock, land of the Flinstones 
Only hustlas get dough, everybody gets stoned

Yeah Im from the mitten where Em stays spittin
No matter where I go, Ill stay from Michigan
Land of the ballers, home of the Pistons
I wanna call Chauncey, tell him how we miss him

Oh you know we dead broke, product of the system
You buy a Toyota it takes food out our kitchens
General Motors soldiers, this is how we livin
The country got a sickness but we got all the symptoms

Can I get a witness? Michigans the hardest
Fuck them Californians, fuck them New Yawkas
We aint got no stardom, dog we just starvin
Yesterday for lunch I had a plate fulla garbage, Im from

Chorus

In Detroit… 
Depression everywhere you look 
There’s nothing you can do
Now you’re in Detroit
Forgotten city where we live
Hard work will inspire you
Let’s hear it for Detroit, Detroit, Detroit 

Verse 2

Detroit, Michigan they used to call it Mo-Town
Now its murda capital, everything has broke down
10 year old kids, sell dope and tote four pounds
Cant roll through the city if ya got ya windows rolled down

You could just your whip snatched, you could get your shit jacked
Economic crash, we caught all the impact
We caught all the whiplash, this aint where the crips at
This aint where the bloods are, this is where the thugs are

Home of that Kid Rock American Badass
Think ya city shitty? We make Americas asscrack
And it aint nobody wipin, we cant get no diapers
Losin like the Lions, prayin for the Tigers

At least we got the Red Wings, mothafuck the Penguins
This is Hockeytown and that fact is neverendin
So go on do that Joe Louis, go on throw yo fist up
We done got our wrists cut but we aint gon give up get fucked

Verse 3

I came up out this mothafucka spittin cuz I had to, 
I ask you, what else Im gon do? tell me dat, cant do it
Yesterday I saw a grown man deliverin a pizza, 
He used to be a teacher

Yeah Im from the Great Lakes, shout out to the UP
Aint nobody make cake, but we smoke them doobies though
Cold as the north pole, when ya see the 5-0 roll slow
Cuz they broke too and ya wallets what they go fo

Old folks, losin their pensions health insurance
They thought they were assured it
Im just can’t take this I wanna move to Canada
At least the people there got free surgery and bandages

But I aint goin nowhere Ill stay here bleedin
Screamin for freedom and all that I believe in
Homie hell is freezin, go on pull ya lightas out
We could get the mitten lookin like a fuckin lighthouse, lights out

Outro 

Lets get somethin’ straight, I’m not from Detroit, I’m not tryin’ to get that shit twisted, I live like an hour north, but that’s that like the emblem that represents the state ya know, represents who we are, depression is contagious, you can feel that everywhere, it just keeps spreadin’ we can’t stop it, but like everybody knows somebody that worked at GM or Ford or Chrysler, you know how many houses depend on that shit man, just look around here its sadness, nothin’ good goin’ on but we still tryin’, you still wake up everyday, and you gotta smile, fuck it, there’s food on my table I can’t really be bitchin’, it’s not like I grew up on welfare, damn man I feel like someone’s gotta say somethin’, might as well be me