It's been a long time
And y'all never heard of us, that's fine
I've been Vibin' since Tribe was Marauding through Midnights
A follower of Styles of the Fellowship, Free
To create me through mixtape spacing
And I remember when a Resurrection saved me
My Sense was in Common with this fool I never seen
From a city that I swear I know I've never been to
But it rained plus he felt the pain like me
Influenced by PE & BDP
Ice Cube, Roy Ayers, to Bob Marley
My headphones then, were my only company
I was awkward socially, never fit into a peer group
Imagine growing up with only music there to hear you
It's only there to heal you, piercing to the root
It can hurt while it moves you and shock you to life
What else would I do ya'll, if I didn't write, record & perform songs?
Options are long gone and far out of sight
Cuz I remember back what? 1995, "it's a suicide"
Felt like it's Me Against The World plus I was Ready To Die
Scribing with my first pad, pen
Listening to Pac when they sniped him
Damn
Now I'm still fighting, reciting & rocking with a mic in palm
It's like seven years gone and I can't stay calm
They still got me feeling Trapped like a walking time bomb
And I need this now more than I ever have
Call it hip-hop, rock, soul, blues or the jazz
Or music of the future
Fuck bringing it back
We heart chasing
From mixtape making
To basement cathedrals
We drew sacred texts on these walls
And respond whenever, wherever the spirit calls
They talk to us then walk through us
They talk to us then walk through us
They talk to us then walk through us
They talk to us then walk through us
And I don't even have a minute to hate
There's too much to do for justice now
So I dedicate this one for love
Like Mamie Till-Bradley did for her son
Knowing that these lynchings are still going on
And on me, I can't even fathom that focused calmness just yet
Like a single mother gets when poverty tightens it's grip
And her kids don't understand what having no money is
When a reflex to live is all that you know you got
Dancing cuz your spirits caught
You'd rather body rock til your body rots
Than to feel a world without music
The blues don't stop
Another child gets shot, and the cops are the culprits
A woman gets raped
And the number one suspect could be her best friend
Many men don't comprehend
We didn't start the fire
This violence created us
Yet we still perpetuate it
And I don't know who to trust
I don't believe in no fantasy R&B kind of love
I don't need to helplessly fall in to fear of what?
Life what be like without limits, empty traditions
Out of date definitions from a colonizer's tongue
Dig it?
I'm building here, specifically, Northwest Pacific speech
Southend to CD regions, reaching peeps
Wake from they sleep singing this melody, like yo
God believes in me, do I believe in me?
Yes I believe in me, nobody else could set me free
Set em free
God believes in me, do I believe in me?
Yes I believe in me, nobody else could set me free
Set em free
Heart chasing
From mixtape making
To basement cathedrals
We drew sacred texts on these walls
And respond whenever, wherever the spirit calls
They talk to us then walk through us
They talk to us then walk through us
They talk to us then walk through us
They talk to us then walk through us
How could I love you?
How could I love you?