i try to show the earth
something different
my constitution
is something different
than what you’re used to
like the 23rd amendment
except i have no representatives
now that i think about it
neither do our residents
the electoral college
polishing laws off for breakfast
consensus about the census
is it doesn’t represent us at all
but nah, i digress
that shit’s more boring than the president
but it takes away our rights like
if it ain’t right, it’s left?
up to them?
or maybe it’s wrong,
how should i know?
i’m just a songwriter
too light-skinned to matter
unless i have an opinion about this fucking war?
then i’m black enough to hear the guns clatter
beneath the sounds of shrapnel scattering i hear
nervous chatter, i got books on cointel
up in the attic, from back when
it was known as gestapo
somebody call a doctor, before you dial 911
because they coming with guns drawn
pointed at my man bun
cause i had the nerve to quote a 2pac song?
yo, how did our country get so wrong?
was it back in 1492, when columbus
sailed the ocean blue?
& then he turned it into the red sea?
my country ’tis of thee still bleeding
from all the bodies unacknowledged
they float back up to the surface
like ghosts haunting the merchants
i try to part the sea,
but i’m shedding so many tears
it’s like the pathway keeps filling back in
i ask the pharaoh, “hey yo,
could you let my people go?”
but my mouth is underwater & all my people
seem to think i’m just another mumble rapper…
(“hey yo, could you let my people go?” 4x)
contemplate, should i just let myself drown
or maybe try my luck with a tunnel underground?
i look to my lady, and she frowns,
then she looks up to see the pharoah’s crown
i’m thinking like, if she’s wondering
should she go down with the ship,
or look around at other options…
her gaze softens…
like she can tell what i’m thinking,
her eyes say psychicly to me, “stop it!”
that’s when i realize we’re under a spelll
slandering whispering a secret hell
into our ears, our fears inter-fearing with reality
casually, she grabs my hand and we rise up
now we walking on water, all our people,
rise up…
while pharaoh’s down below, gurgling…
“let me go, let me go, let me go…”
she says to him, “come on, son,
you can do it too…”
but he can’t hear her,
she looks at me to say,
“leave him here…” & i shed another tear
as we walk away from his pleading, she say…
“someday eventually, he’ll be free from hell,
but only he can break his own spell…”
i forgot to tell you
i’m not like the 23rd amendment at all,
somebody put out a call to hip hop
& i heeded it, because i need this shit too
i’ve been at war all my life,
i’m not red or blue, but i’m white
as the crazy kike who fled for her life
& guided me here where i…
fight for my life like charles wallace
with the mitochondria, like XX, i’m XY
on the 23rd chromosome, trying to keep
maddog branzillo from inheriting the throne
i’m not an actor, but i tesseract
like a nun from sister act
kything with my students
so prudish, we need to learn
to use our dangerous minds
& then take our learning higher
you can single me out like it’s poetic justice
or burn me down like universal records
but just know that i bust back til the day
we bust out of these cages…
& i’ll see you when i free you,
if not when they shove me in…
i’ve been to heaven &…
i’ve got the akashic records
of every artist they tried to suppress
& i’ll be remembered forever
as the uncontested champion of all our peoples
don’t picture me, picture muhammad ali,
haile selassie, harriet tubman
i’m sylvia plath on dub man
i give it up to rosa parks
& take a back seat…
i owe it all to my sources
& the source of it all is us…
they buried the ark of our covenant
& keep us divided, because together
we’re unstoppable
international & unfuckwitable
in every nook & cranny until these walls crumble
i’m like dumbledoor, phoenix rising,
because even if i die, i multiply
so dry your eyes, or feel free to cry
if you want to…
imma do what i gotta do: