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Hostile Design lyrics
Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.
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Intro
You ever try to rest your legs and the bench bite back? City planner playing defense on the track. They don't want us here. Word.
Verse 1
Look at the bus stop, seats tilted down at a slant. Try to get comfortable? Deadass, you can't. Metal armrests right in the middle of the wood. Saying it's for spacing, but we know what's good. It's hostile architecture, freezing out the block. Putting jagged rocks under the bridge by the dock. Smell the exhaust, cold concrete on the spine. City spent a million just to ruin the design.
Pre-chorus
They don't put up a sign that says "Go away." They just build it so your body physically can't stay.
Chorus
Hostile. Spikes on the window ledge. Hostile. Pushing people to the edge. Tax dollars working just to keep the streets mean. Ugliest design that my eyes ever seen. Hostile. Ain't no place left to stand. Hostile. This was supposed to be our land.
Verse 2
Me and the guys just trying to catch a vibe. Gas station blasting Mozart to scatter the tribe. High-frequency noise that only young ears catch. Got a headache walking past the corner patch. Skateboard trucks grinding on the anti-skate clips. City hall treating us like we the local crips. I’m nineteen, tired, just need a spot to sit. But every flat surface got a spike glued to it.
Pre-chorus
They don't put up a sign that says "Go away." They just build it so your body physically can't stay.
Chorus
Hostile. Spikes on the window ledge. Hostile. Pushing people to the edge. Tax dollars working just to keep the streets mean. Ugliest design that my eyes ever seen. Hostile. Ain't no place left to stand. Hostile. This was supposed to be our land.
Verse 3
Zoom out, look at the budget, look at the greed. Funding the metal instead of funding the need. Mayor talking 'bout cleaning up the downtown view. By making it impossible to sleep for you know who. The unhoused freezing while the benches look pristine. It's a war on the poor hidden right in the routine. Camouflage cruelty, concrete and steel. Making sure the most broken got no place to heal.
Bridge
Poured cement on the fire grate. No heat for the winter. Just cold intention.
Verse 4
Check the blueprints, twenty-six zoning codes. Removing public restrooms off the main roads. Blue lights in the bathroom so you can't find a vein. It ain't helping nobody, it's just shifting the pain. Three thousand dollars for a slanted iron seat. Zero dollars for the man starving on his feet. This ain't conspiracy, this is urban design. Drawing invisible borders right across the line.
Verse 5
So we occupy the space, bring a folding chair. Set up on the corner like the mayor ain't there. Kick off the anti-skate knobs with a steel toe. We ain't got nowhere to hide, nowhere to go. If the city is a living thing, they choking the heart. Trying to tear the community right apart. But concrete cracks when the roots push through. We still standing here. What you gonna do?
Chorus
Hostile. Spikes on the window ledge. Hostile. Pushing people to the edge. Tax dollars working just to keep the streets mean. Ugliest design that my eyes ever seen. Hostile. Ain't no place left to stand. Hostile. This was supposed to be our land.
Outro
Yeah. Hostile architecture. Friendly faces though. We still outside.
Inside the recording
You ever try to rest your legs and the bench bite back? City planner playing defense on the track.
They don't put up a sign that says "Go away." They just build it so your body physically can't stay.
Yeah. Hostile architecture.
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.