Hustle Like Me

There really is no difference between white collar crime and the common criminal. It's all illegal any way you slice it.

They call you corporate?

Well then so am I

You’re that same guy I saw pass by

And cut your eyes in my direction

Like I was some kind of menace

But we’re both lawless

I run my world from where you wouldn’t dare

You run yours from that big corner office

Same hustle

Different size slice cut from the same seedy pie

The only real difference?

You run your sins from a hundred floors high

But you hustle

Just like me

 

Mr. White Collar critic

I may openly live it

But just like me

You push your product towards the weak and impulsive

So like it or not you’ve been right in it

Just like me

 

Supply and demand

Different trade, same plan

We target the same clientele

That same vulnerable man

Cause’ once that money changes hands

We both have no shame

All green money spends the same

 

You got your stocks, insider trade

I got my rocks

We’re both self made

You got your inside sources turned state’s witness

I employ the young and ambitious

Sometimes they slip up

And they too become snitches

 

So the flavor in your greed taste just like mine

Two people who at the end of the day

Pull up their britches in the same way

One crooked leg at a time

So you see

You hustle

Just like me

 

You got your “just in case” insurance

Stashed off shore, to be dispensed upon request

You launder

I make threats

Eventually,

What both of us want both of us gets

 

You keep a tight circle

I keep one too

But mine’s called a crew

In any case it keeps us less nervous

But they serve the same damn purpose

They help us sleep while our money stays in service

 

What I sell makes people believe they can fly

So yes,

My trade is predicated on a lie

But I guess

Your trade is just as cleverly disguised

It’s just that your lies are forgiven by less judgmental eyes

But both our business models have destroyed innocent lives

 

So in essence

When you stare at me

It’s like a mirrored view into your own scandal clad eyes

You know why?

Cause’ you hustle

Just like me

Author's Note

There are so many double standards in society. Why do we look so down on the common criminal and seem to be more willing to give a pass to the corporate criminal? This poem is one man's observations about the commonalities between street and corporate crime