So many spirits engraved in a gravestone and I'm hoping that I ain't slayed as a token of my estate
It's kind of nice
Knowin' that we fightin' for our rights
We try to rise, but whats "human beings"?
The mere price is held in eye of beholder
The shooter was never s'posed to go shoot you
911 "Serve and protect" us...
Or did we lose 'em?
Wakin' around dawn
Like 6:30 in the mawn' & I yawn, open my palm and reach for TV controller, I hold it...
For a second, before it becomes a weapon to piece together my mind to make enemies of my brethren
Until the channels flickin', beginning at CNN, and I see confederate flags still pushin' against the wind
How I'm s'posed to feel when they street sweepin' my kin off, beat the case and go dip off, never be seen again
Lil' ghetto boy, could be any one of my friends, I first started to notice sh** was real awkward at age of 10
Skin was different, but we related
We all children of somethin', somehow we've been created
May never know how it happened, but all that sh**'s a distraction
This world could blow any moment, so whats it even matter?
They hate to see us gather
My skin was kinda' light
They said "You kinda' white."
Replied "Hispanic," reached out to go shake his hand and
I added on that I ain't "have a touch of white at all, yeah, we from round the same way, so we cut from the same cloth,"
And from that day on
My army of brothers became strong
Same n***as I could relate to, I started to notice hate through
I wondered right an innocent age, and realized when I moved into a place thats predominantly caucasian
Stepped in a cla**room, they was doin' multiplication
I ain't learn it back home, so the sh** had me kinda phased
And I stared at the sea of white kids peerin' back through my face, waitin' for me to speak a word, I ain't have nothin to say
Who was I to relate?
I was used to seein' struggle
All these kids knew was money
All I learned was to hustle
All they had on they mind was how they was gon' catch the busses
All I had on my mind was seein' me becomin' somethin' of self
I found currency was nothin' to wealth
I found treatin' others equally did nothin' but help
Until I observed the same word I used with my friends
Be used with a hard "E-R," beginnin' with "N"
As a way to contort a mind, to spark rage at a shorter time
Seen a smirk right across the mouth of some friends that I thought was mine
Even seen it from people I'm 'sposed to call if I'm dyin'
The same teachers that taught me to read novels and write
And this when the shift in the paradigm began to evoke
Same time I started to articulate when i spoke
Same time I looked to God, and I prayed, and I hoped for a better day, and I woke to the same pain in result
Almost my life time combined, and we still in the same boat
Even lived to see the day we was visited by the Pope
Even the hand of God layin' right in the face of all couldn't show us the right from wrong, we still losin' lives to the law
Started off hittin' us hard with Trayvon
Mourn for a couple weeks, and we ready and movin' on
And even some of these cases, I never seen a response
And I still wonder what actually happened to Kendrick Johnson
And I seen Eric Garner, seen Sandra Bland
Seen innocent k**ings captured right within the palm of our hands
Yeah, these smartphones could bring damage
Brain damage, we keepin' the same habits with social media, TV channels...
So that same mornin', palm of my hand
I closed the remote tight 'til my knuckles had turned white
Threw it hard as I could at the television, and all that "confederate" vision had blown out, blink of an eye
Sat for a second thinkin' "We could change if we want
Be the change that we want, stop bein' slaves to the norm."
(Breathe)
We turned that BET up off the TV screen, these Black Lives Matter, not for "Entertainment," we make it happen
A silhouette
A hoodie and padded vest:
We gather amongst the calvary here to survive against
The status they locked us into, the standard we've had to set
We feed off the finances they clap for and probably get
They just want us rappin'
Singin' and dancin'
Basketball playin'
My life ain't your entertainment, my name ain't "Ursher Raymond"
They just waitin' for us to slip up when we hurt and angered
They bankin' off of our headline controversial statements
This where I draw the line:
We could die any day
We all live a struggle
We all tryin' to make a way
We all gon' be equal right at that moment we hit the grave
So what kind of legacy you gon' leave when your name engraved?
We all the same