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Pablo Escobar

from Green Album by Ari Lesser

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about

An rhymed autobiography of Pablo Escobar

lyrics

Pablo Escobar

My name’s Escobar but my friends call me Pablo
Y espanol es la idioma yo hablo
Born to a poor family in the slums of Medellin
The most powerful criminal that this world’s ever seen

Was an outlaw ever since I left my mamma’s womb
At a young age I started smuggling stones from peoples tombs
Not long afterwards I became a car-jacking thug
Before I found my calling in the business of drugs

In the 70’s I entered the cocaine trade with a mission
I was poor, and ruthless, and filled with ambition
Got my start in the drug business running coca paste
And I knew I wanted more after I had that little taste

Saw Kilo’s of cocaine went for 35 grand
I could make big money if I came up with a plan
Saved up cash for a plane so I could move weight by air
Within a few flights I was a multi-millionaire

Everyday I was pulling in like 500 grand
Had no shortage of cash so I invested in land
My Hacienda had 20 square kilometers out back
With a private airport, and private race track

Had so much cash, I didn’t know what to do
So I bought a helicopter and a private zoo
Had a bunch automobiles shipped in from afar
From Chicago I even imported Al Capone’s car

I was the biggest drug lord around, but there were others
My fiercest competition were the three Ochoa Brothers
Instead of fighting we chose to cooperatively sell
And formed a group known as the Medellin Cartel

We ran five flights a week to and from the USA
I was personally earning a million dollars a day
Used some of my vast wealth to promote social good
Becoming known by poor people as a modern Robin Hood

Built soccer fields, homes, schools to teach the kids
Helped way more than the Columbian Government ever did
So when I entered my name in a Congressional race
The barrios of Medellin became my power base

I was elected to the Congress in 1982
Paid off tons of politician, and told them what to do
I was a cold-blooded businessman, brutal and violent
Using money and bullets to keep the opposition silent

They choose Plata o Plomo, Silver or Lead
They took my bribes or they wound up dead
And whenever an official tried to stop my operations
I’d quickly make an order for a mass assassination

Kill whole families right down to grandmothers
Nieces, nephews, parents, kids, wives, sister and brothers
My friends lived in luxury, my enemies in fear
My cartel was pulling in 300 billion a year

So I gladly took lives of anyone who interfered
If I ever got indicted, always managed to get cleared
Killed like 200 judges and 1,000 cops
Cause it always seemed to help me get my charges dropped

I was treated like a prince everywhere that I went
Cause I paid off like half a dozen different governments
Everything was going fine until somebody squealed
A smuggler turned informant by the name of Barry Seal

Took a photo of me loading up a shipment of cocaine
With a CIA camera he hid on his plane
Before this I had tried to keep my work subliminal
But this photo made me an international criminal

The first thing on my agenda was an act of restitution
Immediately ordered Barry Seal’s execution
Once he was dead I began the next phase of my mission
Get the Columbian government to ban extradition

That’s what the US wanted but I wouldn’t take that fate
Better a grave in Columbia then a cell in the States
So I killed presidential candidates everyone respected
To make sure my man Ceaser Gaviria got elected

He did what I wanted, changed the constitution
Banned extradition, I avoided prosecution
But I was in the spotlight I couldn’t get no peace
Getting bombed my rivals and shot at by the police

I saw one way out of my difficult position
I decided to turned myself in on one condition
That being I got to choose the place I was confined
Built on land that I owned to my own designs

Known as the cathedral, called it Club Medellin
It might be the nicest prison that this worlds ever seen
Built for maximum comfort, not security
Didn’t keep me in but kept enemies out assuredly

Even when I was in prison I lived like a rock star
My suite had a Jacuzzi, a discotheque and a bar
And I was still getting paid every time a crack fiend sparked it
Controlling 80% of the world’s cocaine market

Forbes magazine called me the world’s seventh richest man
My empire was still running according to plan
Until four of my lieutenants tried to steal some of my money
I brought them in to tell them that I didn’t find it funny

Had them tortured and murdered while still behind bars
Columbian Government said I finally went to far
“You’re going in the normal prison system” they said
I told them, “No thanks, I think I’d rather wind up dead”

Soldiers surrounded the cathedral made my gang look measly
But I had paid so many off, that we walked out easily
For 17 months they searched for me around the clock
11,000 warrants, 4,000 roadblocks

Had the best technology donated by foreign nations
If I was on the phone three minutes they could pinpoint my location
One day I got careless, talked to my son for too long
The cops were there in minutes and the gunfight was on

Chased me to the roof where my bodyguard went down
They were shooting from behind they were shooting from the ground
Took bullets in my leg, back, and head as I was fleeing
And died in the crossfire on that roof in Medellin

So just one day after I had turned 44
December 2, ’93, I was alive no more
When Medellin’s masses found out they mourned my loss
They had lovingly called me El Patron, The Boss

I had done many bad things but also lots of good
And they would always remember me as their Robin Hood
So whether you think my legacy’s a blessing or a scar
There will never be another man like Pablo Escobar

credits

from Green Album, track released September 6, 2007

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about

Ari Lesser Cleveland

Ari Lesser is a singer, songwriter, rapper, and spoken word artist from Cleveland, Ohio. He has performed all over the world, and written hundreds of songs on a wide range of subjects. Ari’s repertoire is expansive, touching on everything from history, to animals, to Star Wars, but now his focus and passion is making music based on the Torah. ... more

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