1. |
STELLA'S GROOVE
02:20
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Aye
Hey sugar what's your sign
Was my pickup line of choice
Yet you were polite to oblige
Despite the Pluto-sized small talk
I sparked from my Honda Accord
So we contorted convos over large combos
With light ice until daylight broke
I took the notes
You sipped the coke
Then we moonwalked it all off
Traversing topics until we touched the sun
With our tongues tied to unearth purpose in plain sight
Without telescopes
Only telephones to
Tele-prompt me to propose postgrad
Of course they laughed
But our path was cemented
And your shape is as gentle
As geometry in lace lingerie with angles I aim to trace
And encompass
Considering cumbersome encounters occurred
Before life took a turn with you
Put the gal in galaxy
And love the flaccid me all the same
Even when I'm no James Harden
You unzip my Big Dipper on an interstellar quest to quiver
I beg for a sliver
You cum deliver
You think you whisper
I beg to differ
We NASA
We nasty
We holy
You hold me closely
Causing climaxes whenever backs plaster to our king mattress
You Savage
You Fenty you plenty and I'm pleased
With your bad girl RiRi alter ego but we know that
You're wholesome at heart
Embarrassed to fart
But I see art where you see flaws
So draw nigh and paint the sky with your black girl blues
Until the heavens cue our signs to align
And I'll tend to your spine in spare time until
Ten toes curl
Babygirl
You're my shooting star
Babygirl
You're my shooting star
Yes you are
Yes you are
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2. |
GLORY (ft. Bri Bryant)
03:32
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Aye
Well alright
I just wanna' take time to formally invite
Every soul under the sound of my voice
To the cookout, the kickback with my comrade, Lady Bri
You ready
Black on black skin baby what's the crime
I only came for a piece of mind
Can we make love like it's '65
Before Coretta lost her King & brotha Malcolm died
I'm so sick of this world of hate
Where premature death seems to be my fate
My God come take us away
Send a sweet chariot for me and my baby
Glory glory halleluh
I can't lose when I'm with you
The truth that surely sets me free
Love so good that I can't leave
We can take a knee, we can clinch our fists
But I'd be a fool to protest ya' kiss
Come here sugar girl give me what ya' got
Let me cast my vote in yo' ballot box
I just wanna' Bobby Seal the deal withcu
Nat turnin' you on until ya' face is blue
We can Rosa Park in the back of the lot
Sojourn our truth until the cops come knock
Glory glory halleluh
I can't lose when I'm with you
The truth that surely sets me free
Love so good that I can't leave
Glory glory halleluh
I can't lose when I'm with you
The truth that surely sets me free
Love so good that I can't leave
We gotta fight the powers that be
Breakin' us up to get in between
The love we share is heaven-sent
Everlastin'
The Lord's intent
We gotta fight the powers that be
Breakin' us up to get in between
The love we share is heaven-sent
Everlastin'
The Lord's intent
Glory glory halleluh
I can't lose when I'm with you
The truth that surely sets me free
Love so good that I can't leave
Glory glory halleluh
I can't lose when I'm with you
The truth that surely sets me free
Love so good that I can't leave
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3. |
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Good moanin' saints and welcome to Grown Folks Fellowship
Located on the historic corner of 69th and consent
Where we believe that Christ is the only safe word to save you, amen
I am the right Reverend Seven
Celebrating 30 years of ministry in this magnificent edifice today
But that's not the sole focus of this Sunday service amen
See because we have a rather special guest
Joining us on this joyous Mother's Day morning
To deliver a word of encouragement and Kama Sutra
Especially for the aunties of this beloved ministry
Now um the next A selection is arguably rated R
But please do not be alarmed
Because I've screened the content
And it's clean as collard greens and chitterlings amen
But the way this particular selection addresses food
Might heighten your appetite if you will
Now I don't want to give away all of the good news too soon
And spoil the spread
But I must say that his wife wrote me a little note which reads like this
I hereby rebuke the use of photo flash focus record
Furthermore there shall be no meets no greets autographs or small talk
After my spouse blesses this here house lest you might lose your life
What in the
What in the devil's hell did I just read
Wow I see mother Watson wants all the smoke
Anyhow, let us receive the gift that flows from the anointing of this young brotha
So where was I at
Coming in his own way
Put your hands together
For Orlando Watson
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4. |
CRAVE (ft. Brother Jon)
03:29
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Postponed at the Austin airport expecting your Texas
Scheduling sex and seeking babysitters to watch the son
So we can move beneath the moon and star in our own flick
So you send pics
Meant to tie me over
Repurposing emojis that
Toy with my emotions
Solely devoted
To plant eggplants and peaches
In a text until our thread feels more like a market
And I feel
I feel God in your garden
Whenever you pardon my mistakes with parted legs
Which lead me to still waters
That still stir my spirit
Stilettos hold your golden calves and call for worship
So I praise the pavement that you parade on
Fully persuaded
That my palette was established for your PH balance
So straddle
If you so please
And I'll proceed to paddle
While you teeter on my teeth
I'm craving you like my favorite food
We gone need silverware for two
Let me take a bite
Quench my appetite
I can be your menu
Tell me what you like
Craving you like my favorite food
We gone need silverware for two
Let me take a bite
Quench my appetite
I can be your menu
Tell me what you like
Our conversation continued in the kitchen at your convenience
Over cops of coffee that caused me to
Offer you excess sugar
Ensuring you'd cream when the time came
So I kept kisses stashed in cupboards
Forking over foreplay as we pleased
Proceeding to spoon beneath the moonlight like
Can I bite if the pressures right
Supply sauce for your breast or thighs
And we can just wing it
Until our legs cramp, eat crab and crack lobster tails until
Our hearts' content
As I sit at your table of contents and sip
With persistence
Until you spill and spread across countertops
Quicker than picker uppers
Can cover the mess we make
I'm craving you like my favorite food
We gone need silverware for two
Let me take a bite
Quench my appetite
I can be your menu
Tell me what you like
Craving you like my favorite food
We gone need silverware for two
Let me take a bite
Quench my appetite
I can be your menu
Tell me what you like
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5. |
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Things fall apart
We can't change who we are
Friends come and go
But we know
We've got our love
Your relatives ruffled your feathers
But you flew beautifully any who
Anyhow despite the devilish disavow
Conjured by first cousins who spite your demeanor
I mean ya'
Grace is taken for granted
But you still manage to maneuver despite the damage
That Pentecost your heart a loss
You bore a cross without a Calvary to support your claim
I'm saying that
I witnessed your resentment but lacked sufficient attention
To tend to ill offenses, you mentioned
My vision's so vivid
I'm sort of living in reverse
Wishing I could return the hurt
And cast a curse like Voodoo at whose who
Soon as our families acted boo-boo
Copping squats to boycott our matrimony and defalcate on our devotion
Butt their fecal didn't matter much to us
We still dealt a royal flush because
Things fall apart
We can't change who we are
Friends come and go
But we know
We've got our love
Things fall apart
We can't change who we are
Friends come and go
But we know
We've got our love
We decided to collide
Take flight at new heights and find
Some heaven on earth to serve peace to mind
Kind'a sort of
Sorting disorder whenever rumors ordered
Our attention to tend to friends who prioritized our demise
Much to my surprise
We said hello to holy hell in a hellhole well told in hindsight
Seeking some sort of silver lining in limelight over key lime pie and
Deserted by friends we figured we were deserving of
I'm so certain love
That we're lightyears away
From the Martians who alienated our space
But only you can say that UFO for a lifetime
Things fall apart
We can't change who we are
Friends come and go
But we know
We've got our love
Things fall apart
We can't change who we are
Friends come and go
But we know
We've got our love
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6. |
LALAH'S INTERLUDE
00:52
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Me and you
We will never part
Stuck together like glue
Just me and you
Me and you
Me and you
We will never part
Stuck together like glue
Just me and you
Me and you
Me and you
We will never part
Stuck together like glue
Just me and you
Me and you
Me and you
We will never part
Stuck together like glue
Just me and you
Me and you
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7. |
HINDSIGHT
02:29
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Aye yo um
Waddup Keturah
Wait wait wait wait wait
I'm not even sure if this is still Keturah's number
It's been so long
So if this isn't Keturah
I do apologize please forgive me
But if in fact this is still Keturah's number
Just know that I'm sorry
And hear me out
I still feel fowl
For setting seed on your limbs
Without any intent to ever make a nest for you
Consequently we proceeded to follow suit
Undoing designer ties and shoes just to stash them in a bundle of memories
Beside the nightstand with plans to hand dance the morning after
We composed concertos of contraceptives
Choreographing conception in counts of 8
With pills you ate
Ain't life in hindsight hard to chew
Sometimes our bodies even broke like Ezekiel bread
Crumbling from conviction whenever consummation went against the grain
Our goose bumps would raise
As a warning to repent
Or repeat
But see
My missionary work was more misery than ministry all along
But
You were certain that I was the sermon you needed
So I kept preaching
On broken promise land ya' daddy had a hand in damagin'
And I partook in fruit forbidden
Cherry-picking positions from bedroom ceilings of suspects and victims
Sealed and subdued
Plastered and glued to my memory's body bank
To be frank
Hieroglyphs still haunt this temple turned house
Where worship is washed up on a warship of praise and penetration
That provided our sanctuaries the untimely sanction to merge
I was pressed pervert
Your divinity with ill intent
Until the civil injustice I sent to cervix consumed your peace
To be brief
I truly wish I could retreat
Or retract the Numbers and Acts that
Distracted us from the glory of getting to know the true Revelation of love's revolution
I'm sincerely sorry for any confusion
Or the Lamentations I may have actuated
Essentially all I'm saying is
Umm
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8. |
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Beloved why you fronting
I know I push your buttons
Texting you parables in paragraph form
I formulate what you Similac and proceed to send it
Every sentence submitted
Don't take my words and twist it
Baby boy I ain't ya' average Yvette
I grab a toy to fill the void before I let you disrespect my vibe
But maybe I was wrong to hold you down
You let me drown without water around
Dummy I was deserted
Until I found Mr.Perfect
To crown me Queen
And push me on a puppy love swing
From an oak tree
I hope we
Don't snap another branch from all the barking
But every autumn
We free-falling for other options
Collapsing
Relapsing
Perhaps we're lacking the proper passion
To reimagine a healthy way to manage the damage
Good luck with all the baggage
You left my heart in fragments
Now I regret that you ever gave me your mathematics
I know it's been a hard drive
Since we locked I's/eyes
It's been a long time
Since we F5
To reset our system
From the beginning
Ever since we entered
Something has shifted
Is it too late to escape
Is it too late to escape
Is it too late to escape
Is it too late to escape
I'm cognizant the arguments I prompted
Put a couple commas right in between
The well intended commitment
Of our beautiful sentence
Like my grammar wasn't grand enough to reestablish trust, but
That only caused cursors to draw curse words
For emphasis, sending sentiments to push buttons, but
Keyboard wars
Didn't divide our conquer
Even when honor wasn't important
You supported
My maturation when affirmation
Lacked like
Backspace
Delete
Revise
Repeat
Align left, my life's right
When I justified you as the wife type
Word
Document our outlook so we can excel
Whenever I seek to surf your safari until
Interwebs untangle
Where we used to dangle in the cache
And grab cookies to snack
Undoing 6 packs with a 6 pack
So I pray to God that this belly fat
Is still your type
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9. |
LIFESPAN
03:44
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God bless the children
Mama said that pimpin' is relentless
Prolly 'cos my pops was part player
Double breasted blazer with the coordinated layers
Sharp as a laser with them Stacey alligators
Before untimely allegations called for cancellations
We were steady playing Robert Kelly on full blast
Around the same time Aaliyah passed in a plane crash
Gravy mash splashed on my Dame Dash collection
Back when I was yelling Roc-A-Fella from the husky section
We were dressed in
White tees and Timberlands
Chanting every line from "Many Men"
When a pack of Now and Laters only cost us 50 Cent
See I spent
Summers at my granny's
Then I was chasing panties
Hated using rubbers
I was banking on a Plan B
Ducking the company of a mini me by any means see
I was shareholding my legacy back
With a couple of silly missteps
When I was drowning in shallow decisions
And swimming in repentance
Jehovah as my witness
I pray it's all forgiven
But you know you how that go
We all got our demons
Despite the rhyme or reason
I tried to turn the page
But landed in Ephesians
I was reading how the war ain't from flesh
Turned the TV on
Devil kneeling on my neck
I tried to catch my breath
But these vices enticing
Shortening my lifespan
I tried to catch my breath
But these vices enticing
Shortening my lifespan
Look
Coochie is currency and currently her rent is later then her menstruation
Which keeps her contemplating
To make her commas from Kama Sutra with suitors in designer
Who leave the tags on just to remind her
That the power of the dollar make the hoochies holla
By any means
As long as that guap green as avocado
You can park your El Dorado to watch her swallow
The sorrow that she wallow in
Daddy issues bottled in
And bottled up
Drinking Crown Royal by the cup
But she ain't felt like a queen since the summer of '17
Graduated then it all got complicated
She was looking for her liberation
But found herself taking payments at a red light
Head'll make you bust a taillight if ya' car ain't parked
She only work after dark
To serve a spoon of the poon tang
To a dude named Raekwon no Wu-Tang
Paying for a taste of the ghost face
That he heard about from word of mouth
It's uncertain who she slurpin' now
But I bet he cum laude all on her body
Good Lordy
Good Lordy
Yea
But who are me to judge
We all got our demons
Despite the rhyme or reason
I tried to turn the page
But landed in Ephesians
I was reading how the war ain't from flesh
Turned the TV on
Devil kneeling on my neck
I tried to catch my breath
But these vices enticing
Shortening my lifespan
I tried to catch my breath
But these vices enticing
Shortening my lifespan
We all got our demons
Despite the rhyme or reason
I tried to turn the page
But landed in Ephesians
I was reading how the war ain't from flesh
Turned the TV on
Devil kneeling on my neck
I tried to catch my breath
But these vices enticing
Shortening my lifespan
I tried to catch my breath
But these vices enticing
Shortening my lifespan
Lifespan lifespan
Lifespan lifespan
Lifespan lifespan
Lifespan lifespan
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10. |
TIME (ft. Shenel Johns)
03:28
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Life is such a beautiful picture until it ain't
We wanna' live in color but death has a funny way
To dry yo' paint
Leaving the corners of yo' canvas blank
Until we stiffen like paper maché
We all gotta palette of morbid matters to try and balance
Ducking the splatter
Ain't no dodging the Reaper's capture
So we scatter to nearest liquor store
And leave it for our livers to absorb
The pain we pour by the pint or the quart
Skipping court in the morning
So I'll probably have a warrant by noon
But I'm still hungover the moon
And my eyes look like typhoons
You died sooner than I assumed
The local news at your fune holding interviews
At inopportune times
Pass me the moonshine
So I can take a swig
Petitioning for kin to resurrect like come again
Ever since you kicked the bucket I been out here cluckin'
Selling chicken dinners with a cola soda
Whatever the cost to cross you over
To the other side where the Lord resides
Or the devil dwells
If I die before I wake
Please speak well of my name
I ain't ever say that I was a saint
But I hope you see beauty in the pictures I paint
If I die before I wake
Please speak well of my name
I ain't ever say that I was a saint
But I hope you see the beauty
It's only money for our memories and some candy yams at the repass
Because the coffin cost 3 stacks
But we glad to do it
So we macaroni cheese for cameras despite the damage done
Running round the kitchen like chickens with missing heads
Pouring liq' for the dead
On the plot where they're buried
Building credit card debt
For the heck of it
Keeping up with them Jeffersons
My depression is so evident
'Cos you ain't ever coming back and I lack a lot understanding
Life is so demanding
Like why I gotta have the right reactions
When they offer condolence
In the heat of the moment
While the casket is open
I was hoping it was just another dream
Inspired by a Tarantino scene, but it seems
I'm gulping pulp fiction
A 5th of liquor sipping from a pill addiction
My God
If I die before I wake
Please speak well of my name
I ain't ever say that I was a saint
But I hope you see beauty in the pictures I paint
If I die before I wake
Please speak well of my name
I ain't ever say that I was a saint
But I hope you see the beauty
Aye
From creation to cremation
We all fallen and flawed
Creatures craving the truth before our fateful expiration
Proper nouns navigating improper places
People and things that rehash tragedy
Hoping loved ones lives happily
Ever after afterlife concludes
Therefore be sure to choose
Which of the two masters you're after
It's time
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11. |
WU
02:56
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Look look listen
I'm from a jungle with a forest of affiliations
Next generation fascinated by that life we shapin'
It's hard to make it out this hexagon in isolation
After all our father figures are constantly confiscated
It's complicated on these corners
Convenient stores full of foreigners where we place our orders
'Cos money make the world orbit
No doubt about it
Prisons make a large margin of profit
Off the back of Shawn and Marlon
Brothers Wayan OxyContin white as Seth McFarland
To push on Baltimore blocks like Johnny Ogden
Far too often cash "In Living Color" coming in
So Uncle Sam crack that whip, barely leave us with a pot to piss
Holy hippopotamus
It's murder at Metropolis
Villainous killers watching commas and dollars spent
So it's kind of common sense to keep a blower on yo' hip
With a couple clips at yo' disposal
Don't say I never told you
Protect ya' neck
Life is like a game of roulette
With 36 chambers of ill danger (WU)
Inspect the deck that your dealt
And play it well
or you'll be shuffling in hell if the method fails
Protect ya' neck
Life is like a game of roulette
With 36 chambers of ill danger (WU)
Inspect the deck that your dealt
And play it well
Or you'll be shuffling in hell if the method fails
I know a Glock gripping, pistol whipping, money flipping menace
Extorting tenants stealing Guinness from the neighbor's kitchen
Brewing havoc for the sake of status
Sparking static with a semiautomatic
Just ya average boulevard bastard
Basking in the blues of blackness
Where colors are in fact the factor that determine life thereafter
And it don't matter if it's daylight he just up the ante
And charge triple to pull the trigger on happy families
'Cos all he knows is
Clips, calibers camo and ammo
That keep a cloud of smoke in the city like Joe the Camel
'Cos it's ample opportunity to die where I reside
My city racking up a couple hundred homicides
What a bummer to spend summer inside confined
But we turned out fine without a 9 to 5
We turned out fine without a 9 to 5
Protect ya' neck
Life is like a game of roulette
With 36 chambers of ill danger (WU)
Inspect the deck that your dealt
And play it well
or you'll be shuffling in hell if the method fails
Protect ya' neck
Life is like a game of roulette
With 36 chambers of ill danger (WU)
Inspect the deck that your dealt
And play it well
Or you'll be shuffling in hell if the method fails
Cash ruins everything around me
Money hungry
Something that we kill for
Cash ruins everything around me
Money hungry
Something that we kill for
Cash ruins everything around me
Money hungry
Something that we kill for
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12. |
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Aye yo, Brad
My mic on
Dig
All praise be to the Most High
Crime sky high, but we stay fly
The journalists asking me to testify
But they just wanna vilify
The revolution televised
Storefront churches sold salvation by the boatload and casted conviction
To convince us of hell
Hoping our adolescent hearts held the cross of Christ closely
While clergy crafted us believers to stuff into Sunday service
Where prosperity sermons seemed to suit our pastor's pockets
And pad black hope with charismatic monologues and what not
So we'd opt to learn the "golden rule" by 5
Before we were ever afforded the foresight to comprehend how recess
Became recidivism so suddenly
Playpens began to resemble penitentiaries without warning
As if detention determined warrants
And caused the warden to cage us accordingly
Holding cells held winos who fought to find their footing
On the front steps of underfunded fellowships
Fixed next to liquor stores nestled in the nooks of our neighborhood
Nevertheless we tossed 10% of our income into wicker baskets
Believing our worries were weaved to worship
While we gave goods without grudge or necessity
Simply seeking to salvage our tattered habitats
With hand-me-down doctrine we adopted
After Europeans doctored our faith for profit
They said a change gone come, but we still waitin' on it to happen
All praise be to the Most High
Crime sky high, but we stay fly
Journalists asking me to testify
But they just wanna vilify
A revolution televised
They prayed that we'd squander
Every single summer on corners that catered to cold cash
And crack that impacted black families from coast to coast
See we watched pimps parade a handful of hoes like BBQ Grippo's
And grab chicks like greasy chips we'd chew on choice molars
Of course this overexposure molded our perception of women
While porn erected our expectations of relations
And positioned us to partake in "feline pie"
Intended and set aside for committed consumption
But we munched as much as possible
Proving peer pressure prompted our participation by the plateful
We arrested their innocence with coitus
Convincing countless queens that we'd protect and serve their sanctity
But our oath
Our oath was equally as crooked as the cops that profiled our pigment for profit
O-o-o-o
What have we become
Can we find another way
Yet we always sing
We shall overcome
But when will someday come our way
Police presumed that our porches full of Pookies and Peaches
Transported pockets full of "porch pollen" to people
That Clinton sentenced as super-predators with superpowers
But we were only scrumptious supper to a sick system
That sought to suck our strength from the onset
And somehow
Our consciousness simmered in assaults that called for action
Whenever cops cornered us about color-coded corner culture
Before gangs began to understand that our color was the scheme all along
Gun-governed ghettos guided our guilt to get good at being bad by the batch
But badges beat us to the punch to play stop and frisk for fun
Even outside of assigned jurisdictions
Precincts pressed their knees into our necks and left us
With sentences heavier than our hearts
However
We've learned to adjust to every injustice that jams us up
On this boulevard of broken dreams
Still we always say
We shall overcome
But when will someday come our way
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13. |
SONRISE
04:39
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I watched my wife
Push a 7 pound, 10 ounce 18 inch prince from her hips
Amidst a global pandemic
He's photogenic
Just like his mother
Posing for pictures despite a crisis
Creating a riotous resistance while society habitually dismisses
Black existence
At every turn
But the curve of his smile couldn't curb enthusiasm even if he tried
And that silver lining in his eyes
Makes my blues a bit more bearable whenever I bleed
From watching law enforcement force their knees
Into lifeless black bodies
For over 9 minutes
We the people pray for a suitable sentence
Like pretentious conversations at cotillions
But we're always expected to bow and to courtesy
Despite the disturbing reports
Don't retort, retaliate or riot
Just keep quiet and extinguish any fire you feel
From head to heal until legislative bills reach Capitol Hill
Then copy paste repeat
Copy paste repeat
But that
That choreography doesn't cut the rug how it used to
At least not this summertime
My Ancestors suffered beneath the sun for 200 summers too long
But my son won't sing that same work-song
I'm sure of it
These children of the quarantine are harvesting a newfound freedom
From farming tactics planted by millennials who
Dream of equality effective immediately
And the duality of our disposition is daunting
The consequence of our color is haunting
However
My 7 pound 10 ounce 18 inch child
Was just the riot I needed
Oddly he was even
Born in March
With perfectly arched feet
That remind me of that bloody bridge in Selma
That Martin made move some Sundays ago
I suspect my son will see more CNN than seesaw
Fully equipped to pick apart propaganda prematurely
But playgrounds tend to lose their appeal
Whenever protesters risk being killed for kids
With complexions that wage war without warning
And my beautiful
My beautiful baby boycott is in that boat
And I've been known
To unpack black pain in plain sight for public consumption
But my son
My son is something else
My son is some sort of resort
That transforms my norms every morning without fail
And for that I am thankful
No
No that government sanctioned solitude
Wasn't the summertime I had in mind
But Father Time took my tour from beneath my feet
He even drafted Kobe for keeps
I assumed that season would be a breeze
But 2020 didn't seem to understand ease
Or acknowledge the 40 million or more
White flags flying in the face of government assistance
Or the unending, global resistance we witness
On wide screens with wide eyes while the world burns
But I'll see to it that my son is set to rise
I'll see to it that my son is set to rise
On the other side
On the other side of that summertime
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14. |
MAMA KNOWS
01:18
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Adrian, my warrior
This is mom
I just wanted to encourage your heart during these uncertain times
As you know we have social unrest with the civil rights issues
And economic chaos with the Coronavirus pandemic
And political division with presidential election
Adrian, I knew you before anyone else knew you
And like me you have running through your veins
DNA that will fight to win
That is determined to survive and that will refuse defeat
Just add faith
Trust God and listen to his still, small voice
I love you and I'm proud of you, my warrior
Talk to you soon
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15. |
STRANGEST FRUIT
03:51
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Uprooted, replanted and plucked for profit
It's proven that
We are by far thee strangest fruit in this field
Where fear is the farming tool used to damage goods produced by my fruitful population
So we tend to inherit the habit to never look cops in the face
Face forward
Head down
Disguise yourself as dead
At least they can't kill you twice
Right
I've come to this conclusion from consuming news surrounding black lives
Immortalized with Instagram captions
On what seems to be a weekly basis, but
I've seen flesh flooded with shells along the shoreline of our lineage
Like blackness is a body of water where crooked cops love to campout
I've watched war commence on colored kids
Who wither like acres of daffodils
Anchored in bodies of bloody water
Where the deceased are greeted with a deep indifference
I've witnessed
I've witnessed temperamental white teens being tamed with tasers
But black babies are often times pacified with gunfire
I've even seen people pull their phones from pockets and purses like pistols
To shoot indisputable proof
But Facebook footage is never a footprint for indictment here
The reality is
Hands up or not gunshots turn our torsos into hashtags
Therefore we format tribute tweets in attempt to retract the trauma
But that trick is never a treatment for our trail of tears
Especially when our flesh floats on cement against consent
As if we ain't already considered 3/5ths a chip off the old block
Way too black to blot or bleach
We preach on platforms digital
Reposts are pivotal
To ensure that the violent visuals are visible
See how sick political climate is critical
From transatlantic missions made miserable
Meanwhile
We watch dozens of broken bodies on breaking news
Swing from the nightly noose of headlines
Head locked by journalists who dead-stock our stories with repetitious privilege
Preventing us from ever forgetting just how well our limbs make peace with pavement
Proving that we in fact drip pain by the pint
And paint with pallets of pathological poverty
From memory
From trauma
From trying to fit into this sweet home Alabama
Georgia's still on my mind
Mississippi has four eyes and is somehow blind
To all of the strangest fruit falling from Louisiana skies
And I'm supposed to act as if everything is just peachy keen
After Apple seeds of deep-seated racism have mutilated my family tree
For centuries on end
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16. |
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So I asked master splinter
What's the mass agenda
Then he disclosed the hidden figures that mutated niggas
Into turtles without a circle of ninjas to kick it after Covid transmitted
I'm sorta sensing
Evil all around me
Lucy gotta bounty on my head
Rather wish me dead than to wish me well
But show and tell me something new
Prove that pudding ain't proof and I'll choose to concede
I put that on my seed
No matter how sad you see it
I Pharisee blood on the leaves
Blackberries from trees
So peep how these sweet prophecies swing like Marquis
And Hill at will whenever I spill notes for negroes
Looking through the peephole to see my peep show
Behind the curtain of my minds circus
For all intents and purposes
Skepticism has my spidey senses tensing up
Tight as Peter Parker's leotards
So help me God
I'm in awe at the odds of my trajectory
But Lucy loves to flatter me
Rather see the sadder me
So I remove my heart from sleeve and proceed to sleep with ease
With one eye open
24/7 like 7/11 in '97
I got 99 problems
Pray for me reverend
I don't always preach the practice very accurate
I'm just a human tryna average mortal mathematics
But bad religion plus bad religion
Equals holy cataclysm
Pastor pissin' profits away without permission
So I asked master splinter what's the black man's mission
And found myself fishing for answers
I had no clue that I was even after
Until I had a candid conversation with my queen
Projecting expectations just to boost my self esteem
So before I leave
I kiss her perky Hershey's and promise that I won't linger
But behind my back are two unpackaged butterfingers
Twisted
Knowing that a cop can get me lifted any minute
And pin the wrong description on my melanin for the heck of it
No checks or balances
Only vaccines in this dirty vacuum of rats and raccoons
Steady coonin' on the gram
Will God damn us all
Sometimes I really wonder
What'll stop this hellish plunder
Maybe a plunger can push us through to see a little truth on the other side
But don't get me to lying
Sometimes my mind is overly optimistic
Just to balance the excessive pessimism encrypted
In my minds eye where I spy spirits
From a green mile away
Lord knows I'm only cool with a few Tom Hanks
Because whites like to marginalize Michael Clark as a star
But only if his function is Duncan
Donut holes into hoops
Endorsing coffee or juice to communities who
Ain't got 2 pots to piss in
2Pac we listen
Regardless of the coast association
A prophet shall be honored
Peace to Afeni and Assatta
Black mamas got more layers than cassata cake cut on holidays
So we praise the Most High for every slice of pie plated
On birthdays belated
Take 2 shots of vaccination if ya' nasty
But we all walking dead if you ask me
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Orlando Watson Cleveland, Ohio
Orlando Watson is largely recognized for his thought provoking free-verse poetry accompanied by soulful compositions. Orlando’s has shared stages with acts such as: Lalah Hathaway, Braxton Cook, Keyon Harrold, Chantae Cann, Tye Tribbett, Dominick Farinacci, and Jessica Caremoore to name a few. ... more
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