Birth of a prison
I really hate to get political
But the evil over my head is becoming much too literal
Not visceral, the rhetoric, it ain’t even subliminal
At this point in our history, this shit is going critical
Nearly three centuries, our people were enslaved
Terrorized for another one, locked up, put in graves
Segregation, Jim Crow, you already know
That’s how America goes, but we ain’t the only ones done dirty
By the law of the land, the native genocide, cultures erased
By their hand, my latino brothers being thrown in a camp
Just like the Japanese a few decades ago
Non white ethnicities turn into a threat
By those who say America is a bastion of hope
Because they reached for a rope and murder all of these people
With impunity, we ain’t getting nowhere cause there’s no unity
And it’s only getting worse thanks to president chump
Wait I meant president dump, hope fate gives him a lump
He’s the picture of cancer spreading through our country
Make America great again? How can you not see
This place was never a home for the people like me
There was never moment in time without a division
The birth of a nation? More like the birth of a prison
We’re stuck in these communities that keep breeding crime
Denied equal opportunities time after time
If you think it’s over, nah, it’s more carefully hidden
In corporations, politicians, the laws have been written
Three strikes, stand your ground, and mandatory minimums
They keep us down or dead, keep us sipping on their venoms
We’ve stayed criminalized since we got out them chains
Thrown right back in the system and corporations get paid
They’re the new masters, and prisons are fields
You’re deluding yourself if you think we are healed
They murdered our leaders, gunned down in their beds
So we couldn’t defend ourselves, our civil rights have just bled
Our people, we were wealth, whites got to keep it
Our ancestors sowed it, today we don't reap it
And one third of my brothers will have to see the inside
That’s the statistic for us, for the white boy that rides
Right next to me, it's one in seventeen
The American dream?
More like the American scheme
There’s too much of our blood on their hands
To ever come clean, so cut them the fuck off
Like the worst kind of thieves, I’m a peaceful person
But fuck my beliefs, cause if you don’t think it’s about color
Guess what it is, I don't need apologies, it’s God that forgives
The only thing I want from you is to stand for what’s right
Cause what’s wrong is wrong, be it black or white
How many unarmed black men have to die
Before we see we’re all in harms way
They put Freddie Gray in the sky
Sandra, Breonna, Trayvon and Tamir,
Too many to name here, I can’t help but feel my throat fill with disgust
And distrust seems to be all that is real
I can see the beast slicing into us like a meal
And just like Eric Garner, I can’t fucking breathe
Slip through the cracks in the screen
Filtered blacks through the sieve
How are we ‘sposed to live when they do shit like they did
To my lost brother Kalief, beaten without relief
For three years at Riker’s cause he couldn't post bail
After not taking a plea, that boy could have been you
That boy could have been me
And when the jury finally decided, the damage was done
They had already won, he hanged himself in the Bronx…
He was 22…
Just know your tales will be told
But this song’s getting old and I don’t want to sing it
To fit the mold of the angry black boy who won't be controlled
All I want to say now is that the hate doesn't scare me
And we are the solution, you can jail a revolutionary
But not the revolution, so take note, how we gonna win this with votes
When we keep playing this game by the books that they wrote?
But just so you know, it’s a promise not a threat
If my Dr. King don’t get through, my fucking Malcolm comes next
Because this is far from over, the grievance is real
And if you ain’t standing with me, frankly
Fuck how you feel
I’m done
But the evil over my head is becoming much too literal
Not visceral, the rhetoric, it ain’t even subliminal
At this point in our history, this shit is going critical
Nearly three centuries, our people were enslaved
Terrorized for another one, locked up, put in graves
Segregation, Jim Crow, you already know
That’s how America goes, but we ain’t the only ones done dirty
By the law of the land, the native genocide, cultures erased
By their hand, my latino brothers being thrown in a camp
Just like the Japanese a few decades ago
Non white ethnicities turn into a threat
By those who say America is a bastion of hope
Because they reached for a rope and murder all of these people
With impunity, we ain’t getting nowhere cause there’s no unity
And it’s only getting worse thanks to president chump
Wait I meant president dump, hope fate gives him a lump
He’s the picture of cancer spreading through our country
Make America great again? How can you not see
This place was never a home for the people like me
There was never moment in time without a division
The birth of a nation? More like the birth of a prison
We’re stuck in these communities that keep breeding crime
Denied equal opportunities time after time
If you think it’s over, nah, it’s more carefully hidden
In corporations, politicians, the laws have been written
Three strikes, stand your ground, and mandatory minimums
They keep us down or dead, keep us sipping on their venoms
We’ve stayed criminalized since we got out them chains
Thrown right back in the system and corporations get paid
They’re the new masters, and prisons are fields
You’re deluding yourself if you think we are healed
They murdered our leaders, gunned down in their beds
So we couldn’t defend ourselves, our civil rights have just bled
Our people, we were wealth, whites got to keep it
Our ancestors sowed it, today we don't reap it
And one third of my brothers will have to see the inside
That’s the statistic for us, for the white boy that rides
Right next to me, it's one in seventeen
The American dream?
More like the American scheme
There’s too much of our blood on their hands
To ever come clean, so cut them the fuck off
Like the worst kind of thieves, I’m a peaceful person
But fuck my beliefs, cause if you don’t think it’s about color
Guess what it is, I don't need apologies, it’s God that forgives
The only thing I want from you is to stand for what’s right
Cause what’s wrong is wrong, be it black or white
How many unarmed black men have to die
Before we see we’re all in harms way
They put Freddie Gray in the sky
Sandra, Breonna, Trayvon and Tamir,
Too many to name here, I can’t help but feel my throat fill with disgust
And distrust seems to be all that is real
I can see the beast slicing into us like a meal
And just like Eric Garner, I can’t fucking breathe
Slip through the cracks in the screen
Filtered blacks through the sieve
How are we ‘sposed to live when they do shit like they did
To my lost brother Kalief, beaten without relief
For three years at Riker’s cause he couldn't post bail
After not taking a plea, that boy could have been you
That boy could have been me
And when the jury finally decided, the damage was done
They had already won, he hanged himself in the Bronx…
He was 22…
Just know your tales will be told
But this song’s getting old and I don’t want to sing it
To fit the mold of the angry black boy who won't be controlled
All I want to say now is that the hate doesn't scare me
And we are the solution, you can jail a revolutionary
But not the revolution, so take note, how we gonna win this with votes
When we keep playing this game by the books that they wrote?
But just so you know, it’s a promise not a threat
If my Dr. King don’t get through, my fucking Malcolm comes next
Because this is far from over, the grievance is real
And if you ain’t standing with me, frankly
Fuck how you feel
I’m done