King's Cement

[Verse 1]
(A cappella)
He watches the tinted window slide down slow
On a silver Mercedes at the Mokola go-slow.
(Beat drops)
The six PM sun melts on the hot tarmac lane
He counts the new potholes, filled with yesterday's rain.
The driver don't look, just stares at the road ahead
While the big man inside is a ghost in his own head.

[Chorus]
Ah, King's Cement foundation, so strong and so deep
But the load-bearing walls, what secrets they keep?
The crown is so heavy, the blueprint is thin
This house that you built now, where do we begin?

[Verse 2]
The generator coughs diesel-breath on the bougainvillea bright
He remembers a promise under one bare NEPA light.
"We go build am together," you said, "stone by stone for them all."
Now your mansion's shadow makes your father's house look small.

[Chorus]
Ah, King's Cement foundation, so strong and so deep
But the load-bearing walls, what secrets they keep?
The crown is so heavy, the blueprint is thin
This house that you built now, where do we begin?

[Bridge]
Odo to gbagbe orisun, a gbe.
(A river that forgets its source will dry.)
All the floors you polished, all the votes you had to sweep.

[Outro]
The traffic moves on, a brief flash of the brake light,
Counting the silence in the coming Ibadan night.