[Verse 1]

Do you remember how you look without your makeup on?
or (meaning) how your heart felt before your break-up?
…on life goes.
The cover-up is worse than the crime.
Why we all use artificial light when we shine so bright
with the lights off?…
run so fast with the Nikes off…
throw away the keys, take the bikes off-road…
and roll to places we never show
take back everything we ever stole from ourselves and
stowed up on the higher shelves, hiding from our higher selves,
we’re wandering under wand-less spells,
it dwells in a place so deep where we speak with
no insecurities
no impurities
pure are these thoughts but they like dirty talk
words doing the dutty-wine, heads-spinnin
it’s fine.
we’ll find level-headedness gets nowhere
we’re all too busy not being beings to care
so we won’t let it go to our heads
let the head push it back down instead
we’re sippin on the same Kool-Aid we’ve bled
put on our best shoes just to be misled
it seems everybody’s singin bout ‘get bread’
but you don’t even see cuz of how it gets said
we’re sleeping on ourselves–we are our own beds
never live up to potential we were fed, we won’t let it go to our heads

[Verse 2]

I’m in a room full of people everybody’s looking down
conversation is nowhere to be found…
cuz everybody’s on their phone
might as well have just stayed home
why come out in public for what you could do alone?
and it’s tv’s everywhere. what’s on we don’t care.
just stand there and mindlessly stare
buy a couple drinks to remind us we there
in a couple weeks you’ll find us, we there
back there–same spot–more Facebook friends
but less to depend on if ever Facebook ends
the topic that trends
is changing every second
wonder as we get connected, real connections are we wrecking
are we stepping closer to each other or moving apart?
seeing more light or making more dark?
you my Ace, but I don’t know your number by heart
I feel lonelier and dumber
but my phone’s so smart
with a lot of numbers in it
most of em wouldn’t call
pick me up from the airport
or catch me if I fall

so I guess that’s all
I guess that’s all

I won’t let it go to my head, let the head push it back down instead
am I sippin on the same Kool-Aid I’ve bled
puttin on my best shoes just to be misled

and if everybody’s singing bout ‘get bread’
will they listen to me when my words get said?
or am I sleeping on myself?–maybe I’m my own bed
will I live up to potential I was fed…will I let it go to my head?

hard to put into words how I feel at this moment recognizin that me, myself is my only opponent
silencing your heart is like silencing God and you should never do that even though at times it’s hard
so here it is, moonlight revolution it’s a light in the dark it’s transformin this biz
it’s a foundation, but it’s like levitation it’s no b*tches, it’s a queen’s celebration
a fully-clothed sister, fully-raised middle finger to this bullsh*t system got some herbs, don’t twist ’em
get high offa this here come and raise your fist here
no spittin, mics only get kissed here
no bullsh*ttin life’s always a b*tch, yeah but we gon make it, aint we? though it seems dead lately
it’s a beautiful struggle and hip-hop will never die
i was rappin wit her yesterday, i looked her in the eye
told her she should get up off her knees, quit the fellatio
on that wild-ass, pimp-ass nigga called the radio
she said that she be tryin but starts missin the money and besides,
her own people look at her funny
i told her “look, they own people, but we’re gonna be free”
we field way more power than we think, so me,
i’mma use it, run wit it, gun wit it, take my shots
come wit it, straight freeform, no robots and no games
we in control, our hands on the wheel
ask Terrence How words got the power to heal
you can tell our words ain’t strikin no deals
so you ain’t gotta ask Aretha for somethin to feel
you can feel it when the beat strikes
you can plant your feet like
you settin the pick or Dominique Dawes stick-
ing the landing, meaning get comfortable what we handing to you feels like home
take your shoes off, rest your dome
it’s so grown, but it feels like rebirth
it’s oh so fresh, but it’s still been reworked
like been there, done that, got the t-shirt
cut the sleeves off it and rocked it, stop it
your doubts and your fears got no place here, we here to make a change, everyday’s a new year
new aims do you hear us say it so clear
ignore your negativity, your campaign smears we steer
the spaceship straight up, 5th gear, we gon make it to the sun
with or without you we come
bearin all of the knowledge you can fit into your bag
and if you wanna run wit us, best your feet don’t drag
let’s go.

[Verse 1]
With your hands full of bags as you walk out the mall, do you feel six, seven, eight–ten feet tall, like now you’re worth lovin, like life is worth livin, like what you was, you wasn’t/ like all’s been forgiven/ It’s wild, thinkin they could sell all that at the store/ she looked me in my eyes, smiled, and she said “for sure”/ I sure wish that I could show her that she’s so much more/ but the glare from the mirror would say more/

It said you’re beautiful when you put that on/ and you drop it like it’s hot when they play that song/ and all the players make it rain and the clouds are gone (ironic, they make it rain, but the clouds are gone) / It said you’re lovely when you make that face/ with your Mac eye shadow, fake lashes in place / I sure wish that I could show her all the beauty she wastes/she said “they sell beauty at the store next to the plates/ and these fools ain’t forkin’ wit’ me I afford more of it/my religion is Christian / Dior / I love it—what of it?/give the haters more than they can stomach/and I buy it brand new, not when the price plummet…”

[Chorus]

we don’t like it unless it’s brand new, we don’t like it unless it’s brand new, brand new, we don’t like it unless it’s brand new, but brand new was so true when they told you you need to slow down, down They said you need to slow down down, slow, slow down, down

[Verse 2]

the I-phone in your hand as you make that call, do you feel six, seven, eight–ten feet tall, like now you’re worth lovin, like life is worth livin, like what you was, you wasn’t/ like all’s been forgiven?/it’s wild, thinkin they could sell all that at the store/he looked me in my eyes, smiled, and he said “for sure”/ I sure wish that I could show him that he’s so much more/but the glare from the stares would say more/ they said you’re so sexy when you turn that on/in something that my man could never afford to have worn/ so what u doin later? call me up, we can get it on/ you lookin like a good father for my next born/ he’s worn out runnin track next to the Joneses/ always with the latest in accessories and phones, it’s/ so perpetual, they runnin in place/he said “so what if I’m a rat, at least I’m in the race”

[Chorus]

I said your car too fast/let off the gas/be-before you know it/your life done passed/cuz you spent it at the mall/lived it at the store/you’ve never really known what life is for / I said you’re too (too) fast/ let off the gas/be-before you know it, your life done passed/cuz you spent it at the mall/lived it at the store/you never really knew what life was for/ Slow down Slow Down Down Down Slow down Slow Down Down down With your hands full of bags as you walk out the mall, do you feel 6,7,8—10 feet tall, like now you’re worth lovin, like life is worth livin, like what you was, you wasn’t/ like all’s been forgiven? . . .

[Verse 1]

we hula hoop with the rings of Saturn
our earrings are almost bigger, so you know we get at em.
the atoms in the atmosphere are same as those in our bodies
and so we’ll always feel connected, even as we hear shotties,
as we lay up at night and be prayin for our babies,
pray they really grow up to respect themselves, be ladies, be men
it’s crazy–cuz the images don’t show that,
but I know that ain’t reality
somebody’s twisted vision of me, clouding me
it’s crowding me
I feel it closin in on all sides
my periphery is filled with big white lies
I wrote this on white paper with light blue lines
and I did it to get high like I was doin white lines
write lines in my head, that way they ain’t hard to find I
close my eyes and just feel sometimes
hear the music in my head, when I rock, when I rhyme
It is not a front step
I climb
I chime:

[Hook]
won’t somebody, anybody, please
sing a black girl song
cuz our stories, they getting em all wrong all wrong
and we’ve been trodded on this press too long (too long)
sing a black girl song.

won’t somebody, anybody,
please
sing a black girl song
cuz our stories, they getting, all wrong, all wrong
and we’ve been trodded on this press too long (too long)
sing a black girl song

[Verse 2]

we daydreamin’ when they say that we frontin
just fantasize we can afford everything that we stuntin
it makes us feel as if we’re just a little more of somethin
and in the end we’ll recognize that it’s in US what we huntin
a hundred different ways they wade through us,
only graze the surface
and it betrays our depth on purpose, and we be nervous
as they givin paper bag tests with hair grades
you would think that we were still slaves, it’s depraved
it deprives us of seein who we are
exactly how light do you have to be to be a star?
and here’s another riddle: how much weave do you need?
how many pictures of your back, you lookin back over your sleeve?
how much time does it take, for you to cure self-hate when you’ve seen nothing but these images since you was like eight
months . . . ?
yo it should be a throne for us.
but for now, that’s a whole different zone from us,
so won’t
somebody, anybody, please
sing a black girl song
cuz our stories, they getting ‘em all wrong – all wrong
and we’ve been trodded on this press too long (too long)
sing a black girl song
won’t somebody, anybody, please
sing a black girl song
cuz our stories, they getting ‘em all wrong – all wrong
and we’ve been trodded on this press too long (too long)
sing a black girl song

[Verse 3]

we double-dutch by the light of the moon
and hang our attitudes up like posters in rooms
cuz we supposed to be hard, but we’re readin a script
and just deliverin the lines with emphasis
the emphasis is on our asses too much
is it asking too much
that we be seen as people, not just body parts to touch
. . . but that’s a touchy subject, guess it doesn’t matter, does it?
they just want us to dance . . .
shake what’s in our pants.

I feel like how a girl gon owe you sex?
I feel like y’all dudes need to show respect
be rappin bout us women like we are objects
and I can’t believe y’all ain’t grown out that yet

and y’all put on for a city that you don’t own
they’re snatchin rights out from under you while you stay home
playin your video games
watching BET
and imitatin them thangs
I just be – e – me
and on the real I’m lookin for a K.I.N.G.
so if you know that you ain’t that you shouldn’t step to me
I’m on a high-er plane now I’m flyin so free
and I don’t need octane–that is plain to see

cuz I roll on dream dust
my engine take Star Oil
got these voices in my head
and they make my blood boil
so I’ll always be hot
always rise above the toil
shine like aluminum foil–your plans get foiled
that was a homynym
I be bumpin Com and n’em
and by and them I mean Mos Def and Talib Kweli and the rest who don’t
disrespect women when they’re recitin their lyrics
we all know the little children is listenin and they hear it
so why we keepin it up? could it be that we’re stuck?…
that we’re lacking creativity,
or just don’t give a fu**?
yo either way I’m so sick of it, it’s all so monotonous
was there ever evolution? where has it gotten us?

I’ve gotten this off of my chest, I guess I’m gone
right or wrong, here’s a song my sisters can PUT ON!

main topics are boring,
I’m off subject often.
the subject of my lines be whatever I’m offerin at the time
based on creative visions I find
so sometimes
I ramble with no particular punchline
punch lines is easy.
punchin systems is hard.
politicians bein greedy got the boulevard
like a war zone.
war’s on tv,
but nobody covers the wars that WE see,
believe me
where dimes get locked behind they man’s dimes
and a dime is a little bit of time
compared to the bids they givin to little kids these days
they run around crazy their minds in a haze
they think if they can’t ball or rhyme they gotta sell to shine
so they sellin the hardest stuff they can find.
the hardest lies I find are the least concealed
you just open your eyes and they’re revealed
like there is no such thing as a drug deal
the hustla’s getting over on the fiend
the government’s getting over on the hustla.
still we hustle
chasin those dreams
some of us of havin fancy things
others just fastening
loose ends
the noose ends
get tighter ‘round our necks
still all we respect is the dollar.
take a scholar if he’s standin next to a millionaire
the world acts like he ain’t even there
like they don’t even care
for the poor
they just put more laws on the books
to let ‘em lock ‘em up without takin second looks
the first son in a family of crooks
stole the white house
now he’s stealin food right out the babies’ mouths
to write-out checks that go to the military
I swear this world is so scary right now
I don’t know if I would want to bring a child into it
and make him or her go through it
I just wanna calm my spirit
call on God
and know she’ll hear it
whether times are good or they hard
and I wanna kick back, write my rhymes
and not feel like I’m wastin my breath
or wastin my time
and I wanna feel something when I hear the beat
and give the pieces to the cipher that’ll make it complete
and tonight when I lay down and close my eyes,
I wanna know I’ll see another beautiful sunrise
but none of that’s guaranteed
that ain’t God’s speed
so all that I can do is be myself and stay true in
deed and heart
and in spirit and mind
and keep searchin for the Truth
tho it’s hard to find
and stop lookin for the proof and just feel sometimes because
all that I wish to know will be revealed in time
sometimes I rhyme to keep myself from feelin like I’m already crazy
when I feel I’m goin crazy
and I always say the
only thing I ever want in my veins gettin me high is these rhymes,
risin like flames
I could shoot ‘em up like rockets
and then have ink flowin out of my sockets and no tears
drop
all the bullsh*t, especially the fears
and put things beautiful into the soul by way of the ears
I never wished the record labels was here
I don’t know what for
cuz you know what? … for real there’s
no such thing as a record deal
the label’s getting over on the artist
when we the ones who be workin the hardest
and putting all this
love and pain into it
and puttin stories of our losses and our gains into it
they have stories that disparage our names and through it
we second-guessin ourselves
putting our real talent up on the shelves
I hope I never end up like that
too scared to talk about the way I feel when I rap
man, if you ever hear me rockin and it’s only an act, I beg of you,
please
snatch my mic back
man, if you ever hear me rockin and it’s only an act, I beg of you,
please
snatch my mic back
might
back-track
to a simpler time
when I painted these pictures only in my mind
[used] cocoa butter to shine
much better now and gettin better with time
bet her flows stay embedded in minds
like reporters without spines
ridin ‘round West Banks in tanks
it’s a wonder they can even sit up straight
how much can we take?

I’m takin extra plates to the system’s supper
tupperware
to share
with my folks who ain’t there

ain’t their game vicious? It’ll never be fair

the music revolution’s here, tho

beware!

and I’m only suspicious cuz it’s never been fair
I make this revolution music cuz I care.

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