[Hook: Vocal sample from Mary Hopkin's “Lullaby of the Leaves”] (x2)
“Cradle me where southern skies can watch me with a million eyes”
[Verse 1: Apani]
Yo, what you think you doin', n***a?
n***a, where you think you goin'?
n***a, watch your place, acting like you're not knowin'
Showin' your a**. n***a, show me your teeth
[Bisk?] and showin' your scars deep
Three-fifths of man versus poppa large—who's in charge?
Can't bargain, can't win. [Our limits?] don't apply to your kind of kin
We blend it, buy the bottom, sharecropper shacks act amongst the cotton
People forgotten, f** 'em. Bad luck s**s
Black bucks breed more bucks
For Daddy Warbucks and stuck-up society who*es
Yeah, shake my family tree down to the core
Even more is hidden, forbidden to your eyes and mind
More lies fashioned for the unwise, nothin' surprise... me no more
I'd be surprised if sh** changed
I'd run fast and far if I could escape this cage—can't contain my rage
Guess that's why they keep me locked
Keep me livin' hand to mouth, hustlin' for what I got
If I drop a crumb, here come the vultures
All I really got that's mine is my pride and culture
What, y'all want that too?
Wouldn't you hate me if I was you?
Wouldn't you want me dead?
Take a minute—let that sink into your head
You call me enemy—my blood's red
I'm flesh and bones too—human like you
Can I live?
I'm sayin', really. I'm sayin'
[Hook: Vocal sample from Mary Hopkin's “Lullaby of the Leaves”] (x2)
“Cradle me where southern skies can watch me with a million eyes”
[Verse 2: Apani]
I stood up to be counted
You beat me down surrounded by your million eyes
My bones cracked—it sounded like Hell's thunder
Under attack, arms pinned back
Blurry vision, bloody, can't see who first stuck me
Between my thighs, I felt ugly
They took turns to f** me
Beneath southern skies, they want to shame me, make me think I'm nothin'
But I'm still every woman, plus won't give them the satisfaction of reaction
These ba*tards will have to k** me
Spill my blood on the roots of this willow tree
Where strange fruits swings off the limbs of plenty
If that be God's will, then so it is
I'd rather die in birth than raise his kids
I'll leave this black hole with my soul intact
Never look back. Now once he put his tongue in my mouth
I'mma spit on his fronts, never give in
Gotta go. I'm scrappin' even if I can't win (What?!?)
[Hook: Vocal sample from Mary Hopkin's “Lullaby of the Leaves”] (x2)
“Cradle me where southern skies can watch me with a million eyes”
[Bridge: N'didi]
I refuse to accept this cruel reality (Reality)
Never ever thought this sh** would happen to me
Victimized by savage brutality
How the hell can I live like this?