What is “Gold Standard” about?
"Gold Standard" redefines wealth as a way of living rather than a bank balance. With Nina Simone on the speakers and Langston Hughes in the pen, Kairo West argues that community is currency and success should be measured by impact, calling the gold standard "a mindset not a dividend." The outro sharpens the point: they wanted bronze and got twenty-four karat. The fifth track on Baldwin Bus Receipt, it comes just before the album shifts into the storytelling of Block Party Forever.
Gold Standard lyrics
Set the standard gold and they can never pull it back
Nina on the speakers while I'm plotting my attack
Every single morning is a chance to build the stack
Knowledge ammunition I don't need to overreact
Started with a notebook and a dream to break the chains
Turned the page to power now the whole city campaigned
Failure was the teacher that made excellence sustained
Gold standard living never let em see you strained
Gold standard I'm the gold standard
Everything I touch is turning gold now
Gold standard set the gold standard
Watch me turn the struggle to the gold crown
Langston wrote the rivers I'm just flowing with the pen
Every generation got a chance to try again
Building bridges over every wall they built to hem
Gold in every action gold in every stratagem
Community is currency the richest is the friend
Who shows up when the spotlight and the glory start to end
Measure by the impact not the zeros at the end
Gold standard is a mindset not a dividend
Gold standard I'm the gold standard
Everything I touch is turning gold now
Gold standard set the gold standard
Watch me turn the struggle to the gold crown
They wanted bronze I gave em twenty-four karat
Everything I built is too heavy to disparage
Gold standard I'm the gold standard
Everything I touch is turning gold now
Gold standard set the gold standard
Watch me turn the struggle to the gold crown