Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

"The Way of the Samurai is found in death."

Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily.

Every day when one's body and mind are at peace,

one should meditate upon being ripped apart

by arrows, rifles, spears and swords,

being carried away by surging waves,

being thrown into the midst of a great fire,

being struck by lightning,

being shaken to death by a great earthquake,

falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease

"or committing seppuku at the death of one's master."

Yo, I wanna know what's going on

Ever since that Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth

I wanna know What you gonna do for us right now

It's been a while, baby, we waiting

I've just been chilling I been in the lab writing and stuff

I just been on my You know what I'm saying, on some

Guns, shoot-outs and crack sales

Black males who pack jails Trapped in Hell

No peace, cold streets Surrounded by police

This whole week, buildings with no heats No lights and gas pipes with slow leaks

Dog fights and lowlife throw dice

The whole night thieves Creeping in the midnight evenings

We saw through the misty regions

Go to your house Take a vial for the demons

Moonlit, the lunar eclipse

Prophets stand in the midst Of the seven candlesticks

I can't take it Beauty that was once sacred

Is now getting face-lifts, fake tits And fake lips, cold embraces

Memory erases, from the slave ships

My princess I used to spot her from a distance

Holding my infant, burning incense

The moment intended for her To step into my white tents

Now we step in precincts For your ebony prince

The smell of frankincense

Once treated like a pharaoh With royal apparel

Anointed with myrrh and aloe We used to wallow amongst the mallows

We had herd sheep and cattle Now we battle

Used to pass over brooks of Kidron Towers of Lebanon, the pool of Gechron

We used to sing songs Upon Mount Hebron

How is gold turned to bronze and shh How is gold turned to bronze

We was the wisest and the richest Now we turned to snitches

Women turn to bitches

In the time of harvest We was the smartest

Worshipped wisdom like a goddess

Now we act retarded Forsook the wisdom of the fathers

We used to have A thousand flagons of wine

In Palestine, now we drink Ballentine

And raise up in the violent mind

From then till now What goes up must come down

What goes down comes back around again

- Where it all began, began, began I - From then till now

From then till now, from then till now

I'll get you the rest tomorrow.

No problem.

- Listen, Frank. - Yeah.

Rule number one, don't fuck around with the boss's daughter.

Don't break my balls right now, Uncle Joe.

Frank, you asshole, listen to me.

She's been in and out of fuckin' hospitals for psychiatric evaluation.

- She is a real fuckin' wacko. - Yeah, yeah.

And now Vargo's put all the family's money in her fucking trust fund.

- Tell me something I don't already know. - You're gonna get clipped, Frankie.

Are you finished yet, Uncle Joe?

- You 're gonna get whacked! - Well, I'm not fu -

I'm not fucking dead yet,

so let's get off the goddamn phone already.

Frankie, are you fucking listening to me? That girl's a fucking wacko.

- Yeah, I know. - And Vargo, he's crazy about her.

And you know what I mean when I say "crazy."

Yeah, I know, I know, Uncle Joe.

Excuse me, Mr. Vargo. Sonny...

Louie Bonacelli's outside, said you told him to come down.

Thanks, Angie.

Excuse me for a minute, I'll be right back.

Okay.

- I almost hit the number last week. - What number did you play?

I played my license plate number.

- You know what? - What?

My fucking house address number came out!

Hey...

- Louie. - What's up, Sonny?

Come on, let's take a walk.

- So everything's set up? - Yeah. It's gonna go down tonight.

I'm using my special guy.

What about the girl?

Morini says he put her on the bus... to the seashore.

- Good. - I don't feel good about it though.

Handsome Frank's a made guy and all. A good soldier.

- I feel... I feel a little bad. - Forget about it.

Handsome Frank fucked up.

You can pay your respects at the funeral with the rest of us.

Yeah...

Home in!

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Have some more wine, Louise.

I don't want any more wine.

What the fuck?

What do you want? You want my Rolex? Whatever the fuck -

Did my father send you here to do this?

It's a good book.

Ancient Japan was a pretty strange place.

You can have it. I'm finished with it.

I've got a bad feeling, Vin.

First Valerio calls me in for a sit-down with Vargo himself.

And now the bird.

Come here, birdy-birdy. Come here, you little fucker.

Goddamn it, Vin, this is ridiculous.

I can't write this fucking small.

Here, little birdie.

You sure we can't swag a fax machine and somehow get it to this guy?

It's not the Middle Ages.

Come here, birdie.

I got him, Louie! Louie, I got him.

- Terrific. - I got the sucker.

You little fucker, here we go.

Easy now, Mr. Chicken, easy.

Mother of Jesus, Vin, hold the damn thing still, will ya?

I don't want to hurt him.

- Ready? - Yeah, okay.

Go home, little birdie, go home.

Shit! Shit!

What's going on? What's the problem here?

You little brat!

You want us to come up there? Is that what you want?

- Fuck you! - Then you're really gonna get it!

- You little prick! - Eat me!

Cocksucker.

Hey, Louie. What the fuck are you guys doing?

The kid says his mother went to work and locked him in the apartment.

Now he's mad as hell.

Louie, Vargo's waiting for us.

I think you've got bigger problems than this, don't you?

Johnny, you said the girl was on the fucking bus last night.

- What happened? - She was.

I don't know what happened. Let's go. We're already late.

Come on, Vin, let's go.

Know what I mean? Fucking New Jack or something?

You know what I'm saying? Niggas are buggin' the fuck out, man.

Ghost Dog! Knowledge to knowledge, baby.

Shit!

How you doin'? How are you? How you doin'? How are you?

They're inside. They're inside, waiting for you.

- Condolences on Handsome Frank. - Thank you.

My thoughts are with you, Joe.

They're waiting for you.

- I'm sorry about Frank. - Thank you. Thank you.

Sorry about your nephew, kid.

They whacked him. What are you gonna do?

That's the way it goes.

Hey, Johnny. Go inside. They're waiting for you.

Thanks.

Louie, how's it going?

I'm sorry we're late, Mr. Vargo. Sonny.

Mr. Bonacelli here was, delayed on his way over.

Sit down.

Johnny, why don't you step outside, have yourself a smoke.

Sure, Sonny. Mr. Vargo.

We got a really big problem here, Louie.

Seems like you're directly responsible for it.

Your mystery man fucked up.

Morini told me he put the girl -

Mr. Vargo's daughter, on the bus.

He did. But she got off the bus and went to Handsome Frank's house.

You wanted Handsome Frank whacked.

So he got whacked from outside.

I set it all up. No traces, no nothing.

Morini said that she was on the bus.

Jesus, I mean, it's lucky he didn't do her, too. Right?

If he had, you would be fucking dead.

This is not a good situation, Louie.

Where is she now? I mean, is she all right?

Don't worry about Mr. Vargo's daughter.

What we need to do is eliminate the scumbag who whacked Frank.

Frank was one of us.

His killer needs to be...

neutralized.

Erased from the face of the planet.

For the past four years, this guy's done maybe 12 perfect contracts.

Perfect. Like a ghost.

He's very valuable. He's totally untraceable.

I'm sure he didn't realize anyone was gonna be there

when he did Handsome Frank, or he woulda backed off.

He sure as hell didn't know that she was gonna... be there.

Louie, unless you wanna be buried next to Frank,

now is the time to tell us everything you know

about this mysterious, ghost-like, untraceable fucking button man.

Okay, okay. Let's see...

I don't pay him by the job.

He'll only work if I pay once each year, always on the first day of autumn.

That's the way he wants it.

First day of autumn,

I settle up for whatever contracts he's done for that past year, see.

The first day of autumn. Okay, okay.

Let's just skip that part for now. Where does he live?

Fuck if I know. That's the next strange thing.

I can't just call him up, 'cause...

well, he contacts me only through a bird.

You see, since I first started contracting stuff out to this guy,

the bird comes every single day.