Gold Bucks (Skim)

Lyrics

[Intro]
1130 Piedmont Avenue.
Before the condos, before all that new-Atlanta gloss.
Just that pink neon hummin' in a humid night.
Yeah. I remember.

[Verse 1]
Steve Kaplan flew down from New York, thought he knew the game.
Brought that Gambino handshake, whispered a different family's name.
Valets parked the Benzes, athletes fresh off the field.
Inside, the champagne's flowing, everything's concealed.
Just a good time, that's what they sold you at the door.
You never thought to check the math on what you were payin' for.

[Chorus]
Slide the plastic, get the paper, call 'em Gold Bucks.
Just a little somethin' extra for good luck.
Twenty percent, thirty, maybe forty on the top.
The realest game in town, and the house, it never stops.
That's the skim, baby.
Welcome to the club.

[Verse 2]
They called the dancer 'Honey,' they called the house money 'scrip.'
Little paper tokens in your hand, a promise on your lip.
But in the back office, that machine just keeps on whirrin'.
Your Amex takin' a beating, your memory startin' blurrin'.
Was it two grand? Three? Man, who's keepin' score?
Just another zero for the boys who wanted more.

[Chorus]
Slide the plastic, get the paper, call 'em Gold Bucks.
Just a little somethin' extra for good luck.
Twenty percent, thirty, maybe forty on the top.
The realest game in town, and the house, it never stops.
That's the skim, baby.
Welcome to the club.

[Bridge]
Then the Feds put ears in the walls, heard every whispered deal.
Put a hometown hero on the stand, made the whole damn thing feel real.
Andruw Jones talkin' 'bout a lap dance that he got.
The whole city watchin' the high life start to rot.
Kaplan told the papers, "I wish I could change things."
Yeah, I bet you do.
Wish you'd clipped the wings on the FBI birds that flew.

[Outro]
Now it's just a memory, some new glass tower's there.
But the hustle's still breathing in this Atlanta air.
From Gold Bucks to Bitcoin, Piedmont to Peachtree.
Same old skim.
Different century.