Akala - Absolute Power lyrics

Absolute power corrupts absolutely But absolute powerlessness does the same It's not the poverty It's the inequality that we live with everyday that will turn us insane Absolute power corrupts absolutely But absolute powerlessness does the same It's not the poverty It's the inequality that we live with everyday that will turn us insane In a scheme of livin' my life wasn't hard But as far as Britain goes sh** I practically starved Sleeping in a track suit, gas meter runnin' out Electric cut off as well, candles lightin' up the house Lookin' in my momma's eyes I see how she feels The strain and the pain of just paying bills It ain't real, and that's how I grew like so many more And it is part of who I am I am very sure You wanna know the rage I feel in my stomach Knowing my mum and dad split up when I was still in her stomach And not everything that happened I will put in sixteens But I will tell you enough so you will know what I mean My boy's mother got cancer the same time as mine His mother died, and mine survived The sh** was f**ed back then When I was like ten already had the mental strength More than many grown men Absolute power corrupts absolutely But absolute powerlessness does the same It's not the poverty It's the inequality that we live with everyday that will turn us insane This was a couple years after my step-dad left Did he really know the crazy mess that he left? 'Cause mum done' recovered from the lumps in her neck Being poor and alone just couldn't cope with the stress And I earn my big sis for So much soul that night 'hattan left school When she left home I was thirteen by now Still a little kid, innocent Next couple years though would turn him 'to a militant That is the result of no food in the fridge And every other day being searched by the pigs f** these patronizing teachers Don't want my grades 'slip, trynna' emasculate me -yeah turn me 'to a b**h And I don't mean a woman please lemme be clear I mean a spineless man 'cause what do they fear Than a working cla** black male with a brain When our energy is harnessed, every changed Look at 'Pac look at Marley look at Hendrix look at Garvey This is the potential that is wasted on a daily basis In this racist, cla**ist world that we live in Still we comin' from nothing but we educate millions Absolute power corrupts absolutely But absolute powerlessness does the same It's not the poverty It's the inequality that we live with everyday that will turn us insane I understand why it scares you It's like how dare you Overcome obstacles that we have been careful to Place in your way every step of the way In this so called democracy where kids get sprayed Blacks and the Asians, Turks and the chavs Crowded in council flats, living like ants And who's more confused than the poor white trash Spouting the bullsh** about they want their country back It never was yours, you should read more What they did to brown people they did to their own poor Peoples memories short, so much that im seeing Black and Asian kids cussing eastern Europeans No pot to piss in, makes competition I fail to see how this is an effective system Cats and dogs in America and Britain Eat better food then most of humanity We spend our technology only on k**in' How is this more than sophisticated savagery It's like it's said, the world is a stage Each person's just an actor with a part to play Like the middle cla** kids, - kids of the rich Have everything, but yet still they pissed On coke and ketamine, strung out on h**n I ain't generalizing, look at the evidence Absolute power corrupts absolutely But absolute powerlessness does the same It's not the poverty It's the inequality that we live with everyday that will turn us insane Go to Glastonbury any year You will see, unlike carnival It won't be crawling with police This is London, the kids on the very next street Had a very different life experience than me In my experience they can't help but be smug After a lifetime of what they think's just good luck They're still more anxious And more thankless Unearned privilege weigh's like an anchor That's why they copy what we do, tryna' be what they not They will grow up though and get better jobs They will maintain the system they claim that they hated But they can't burn it down they got a stake in this matrix Hip-hop is just a fad to them, you didn't know? But to us, this our living breathing soul And yeah they might backpack in South America Or even volunteer in an African village But all said and done, push comes to shove And sh** hits the fan they're middle cla** and British That's just how it is, most rich brown people are just as full of sh** So more concerned with they cars and j**els Most of the worlds poor looks just like you So more concerned with imprivileged few Most of the worlds poor looks just like you Absolute power corrupts absolutely But absolute powerlessness does the same It's not the poverty It's the inequality that we live with everyday that will turn us insane