[Verse 1]
Sunset, five o'clock, dead center of winter
Ain't nobody goin out after dinner
You can sit and hear grandma talk about the old days
Next to the fire pit, watching the coals blaze
Or maybe you're not that stable, your past is painful
Maybe you got the bug that's fatal
From a game of cat's cradle or unwrapped an*l
Another J then, another Black Label
Or maybe get an early rest, you a hard worker
And every day you gotta go a couple yards further
To find a place to graze or fill a water bucket
It's like the earth said "f** it!"
Maybe you gotta be old before you grow
Know everything about s** except that you can say no
Bad luck, sista, sixteen with a son to rear
But it's the motherland, that's how it's done here
[Verse 2]
Late night, dogs bark up a storm at every pa**erby
Tryna make it home where it's warm, and if you cast an eye
Toward my place, you'll see a candle lit
I got a brain fulla sh** and I don't know if I can handle it
When the long night reminds me I'm a troglodyte
And I'm stubbing out bu*ts like a sodomite
Nearest neighbor's out of sight
Sometimes the moon sheds light, but not tonight
When I finally sleep, I dream of climbin
And every step I take I kick aside a diamond
The hill in my village is turned into a mountain
Reach the peak after hours, turn around and
What I see makes my hands shake:
A city risen up from the dark rural landscape
Then I awake to a fresh new frontier
Cuz it's the motherland, that's how it's done here
[Verse 3]
Daybreak, lotion for my dry hands
Water I put to soak's frozen in the pie pans
People outside huddled close to the braai stands
Glance to the east, it's snowing in the highlands
And my plan's to hit town and kick out jams
To put my people up in a position of finance
So I squeeze in the back of a packed van wrapped in an afghan
And pa** gra**land the color of Pac-Man
Taxi man's a DJ, blastin his beats
Then he delivers me to the African streets
And it's home now, I got a lotta homes cuz I'm grown now
You know it ain't where ya from, it's where ya hold it down
I'll never stop reppin VA, USA
But Africa's in my blood and she's there to stay
And yo, I give a damn what you got in terms of melanin
Don't pop sh** about a continent if you've never been!
The song needs to be sung clear
Cuz it's the motherland, that's how it's done here