When we gonna let my people go? Maybe gotta burn some bridges, bridges, bridges... Some of y’all got me nervous to visit Your words keep serving the wicked They’re determined to hurt us and - shit, you’d’a heard, if you listened Surely you’ve witnessed some shit you could learn from Perched at the tip, still purposely missing the message Ignorance is bliss, I guess When the innocent resist, best stir up division with questions “Is it legitimate?” “My friend says ‘Statistic: arrests get worse when you give em aggression’” “Systemic oppression’s been negligible ever since X quit disturbing the village” Reckless Feckless Obscuring assertions of victims Insistent to further diminish respect in your perspective Really gotta question your direction You’re making me not wanna cross Shit’s obviously wrong And your threads are disconnected Decrepit foundations Neglected and ancient Way past when shoulda been inspected Way back then shit was less than epic Now it’s payback sent for the debt collection We know we owe these folks a few flaming arrows Keep hold of each bow and stay aiming careful Be bold We can blow these police drone b-holes to pieces - sorta like Tacoma Narrows And those of us close to Pharaoh know there’ll be hope If we dare to revolt and share each resource available To thwart these terrible sorts that enforce the barriers When we gonna let my people go? Maybe gotta burn some bridges, bridges, bridges... When we gonna let my people go? Maybe gotta burn some bridges, bridges, bridges... When we gonna let my people go? Maybe gotta burn some bridges Might gotta learn sum’n different Might gotta spurn chums if’n they can’t turn some interest to the stern sumbitches That ensure some kids live in absurd conditions Where your surface skin means you deserve to be stricken or worse They’re committing frickin murder You sit and don’t listen, you’re encouraging the system Aw shit, it’s infrastructure week Look at all them things we’re gonna need Look at all them bridges crumbling Pillars tumbling to the river underneath At least everybody’s drinking something clean Flint’s recovering, isn’t it? Whatchu mean, sinking trust in these dicks in governing positions'd be akin to leaving the lid undid in a submarine? Wh-what, what? Shit, I think we done sprung a leak, huh What’s this stuff that keeps bubbling up? What does it mean that it’s underneath us? If we dug deep, would we overcome, or get stuck? No one’s gonna let up Get fucked if you go against what’s gonna float the most boats When the flowing gets rough, get to showing up in shoulder pads Don’t try to act like you don’t know enough and no one tried to show your ass We’re over that Told that joke, and nope, no one laughed Here’s hoping that the holding-back role’s a whole boner-bag Here’s hoping that you choke and gag on a bowl of maggots with broken fragments of glass in it That’s if you don’t go and close the gash below your nose when you don’t know the half of what’s happening This blast from the past is past “almost fascist” If you don’t smack it back, you’re almost as bad And no, I won’t relax We were gaslit The facts were redacted from class We were sold a fat pile of crap while these bastards patrol the map Hiding attacks behind their badges, like they’re supposed to crack bones with bats And snatch phones that capture black holes they have where souls go Oh, it’s so sad My bow’s packed for those showing no compassion to folks blasted at home, choked, thrown and gassed When we gonna let my people go? Maybe gotta burn some bridges, bridges, bridges... When we gonna let my people go? Maybe gotta burn some bridges, bridges, bridges... When we gonna let my people go? Maybe gotta burn some bridges Might gotta learn sum’n different Might gotta spurn chums if’n they can’t turn some interest to the stern sumbitches That ensure some kids live in absurd conditions Where your surface skin means you deserve to be stricken or worse They’re committing frickin murder You sit and don’t listen, you’re encouraging the system

Let us get some respect from them that come when some red rum’s been done And when mental stress is testing someone’s mettle Them drugs are no threat compared to stepping on necks, bruh, get fucked You just can’t rep the Punisher and protect us What’s up with the motherfucking skull y’all got on everything, what’s it about? Why is it I can’t ask that question without you threatening a punch in the mouth? There’s something about these government thugs running ‘round With the fucking decal of the Punisher up on the front of the Crown Vic Intercepting innocent citizens Got me wondering how they expect us to think they really give a shit enough to protect us It’s a setup, they bring all these motherfucking bricks to spots they might get chucked And they let chuds that hit the folks protesting smoke a cig and not get cuffed But you get struck just because someone’s yelling “fuck twelve” Shit’s messed up Would you let us get some fucking respect from them that come when some red rum’s been done And when mental stress is testing someone’s mettle Them drugs are no threat compared to stepping on necks What the everloving fuck Your “protection” sucks Quit defending corruption while emptying guns At the unarmed suspect of some little crumb-theft, running away What does it say, that they're coming in blazing? All us afraid, not one of us safe Isn’t punishment s’posed be some kind of justice? Not some fucker holding a grudge ‘cause of race All smug, ‘cause he knows that he’ll plum get away with it Whole damn orchard’s been so overcome with decay And I don’t know how the fuck we’re s’posed to go and live with that From coast to coast, the power structure’s so focused on killing black folks Oh, it's hopeless, it's really bad The shit's so broken We already banned those chokeholds But they barely care As our throats close and we beg for air Would you let us live, please Vigilante justice isn’t what we want from our police Go peep what anti-hero means No need for most of these folks to patrol streets When we protest those that beat people, they repeat it We see the shit and go retweet it Some people listen, some delete it Some keep thinking “must be a reason” Well, there is, dummy, come dip your feet in this history that still bleeds It isn’t unique, what they did to Greenwood We really shoulda been taught that in school Instead, we pretended it never happened “Relax, that’s all in the past, and shit’s cool” “Don’t do drugs and the cops won’t bug you” “Don’t you run ‘less you wanna catch a slug or two” “Won’t you stop, give a thought, what they’re going through?” Cop car’s got a skull on it, we know the truth Hold the blue line like a motherfucking gang Notice who climbs up the motherfucking ranks Notice who’s pouring out potables Breaking shit Rolling through riding on a motherfucking tank Y’all are fucking insane Just let us get some respect from them that come when some red rum’s been done And when mental stress is testing someone’s mettle Them drugs are no threat compared to stepping on necks, bruh, get fucked You just can’t rep the Punisher and protect us

How many times I gotta tell you not to bother me? Why you always bringing up this stuff that I don’t wanna see? Yo honestly, you make it hard to sleep when you keep constantly accosting me with nonsense Leave your problems at the beep And you can be another call I have to screen Crawling at the feet of ennui and apathy You’re wrong, but have to speak, and cause cacophony Distracting me Y’all could at the least stop all the posturing and blathering Go on and have a seat It be like: What the fuck is this shit, I’m just really tryna chill I don’t see the need to stop and grieve each time some guy gets killed I don’t fill my mind with images of violence I can still be building bridges We’re all kindred Why y’all dying on this hill? Isn’t this the world we live in? How it is is how it’s been Power shifts, power’s spent Power lifts empowered men And now and then we catch a glimpse of foul business If it isn’t our friends that’s getting pounded, you don’t get to get upset at how I’m spending my attention Stop pretending that there’s anything a guy in my position can affect or be expected to I left my effin’ vestments in the vestibule Try fetching ’em ‘fore the wrecking crew is through, but I think it’s best they’re never used One hand claps, other hand stands still One man blabs on and on until he’s not real How many times I gotta tell you not to bother me? Why you always bringing up this stuff that I don’t wanna see? Yo honestly, you make it hard to sleep when you keep constantly accosting me with nonsense Leave your garbage at the beep And you can be another call I have to screen Crawling at the feet of ennui and apathy You’re wrong, but have to speak, and cause cacophony Distracting me from all these bastards treating these catastrophes like “common people problems” As for me, I be like: What the fuck is this shit, I’m just tryna keep it real Why’s it every second feels like time you need to kill? Killing mine if I allow it Why you proud of lying down? We’re nigh surrounded by white power guys that quietly concealed The type of shit that’s since been violently revealed Amidst a mix of big ol’ threats to our existence It’s a festival of ignorance Insisting that I better get in on this lil bit of cultural excrement y’all been obsessing with gets me upset 'cause I wanna be spending attention on better things Y’all can all keep watching Watchmen while I wallow with what knowledge I already swallowed up from some Akala songs in college Thought I taught you not to bother All this talk is nothing solid If it’s not gonna help me comprehend my context, I don’t want it One hand claps, other hand stands still One man blabs on and on until he’s not real How many times I gotta tell you not to bother me? Why you always bringing up this stuff that I don’t wanna see? Yo honestly, you make it hard to sleep when you keep constantly accosting me with nonsense Leave your problems at the beep And you can be another call I have to screen Crawling at the feet of ennui and apathy You’re wrong, but have to speak, and cause cacophony Distracting me Y’all could at the least stop the cacophony The apathy C’mon, I’m asking, please Just stop the bothering Just please don’t bother me

I was born about two weeks late, in reflection of natural state Procrastination’s the name of the game I was playing ‘fore eventually snapping awake Back in the day, I was A-OK with some shit that’s making me grimace as I think about it now But I think I better think about it How did I end up with a head full of memories of massive mistakes The town I was raised in was named for the natives that came before Maybe as a baby, no blame can be placed But it’s way too late I started contemplating where’d they go And how’d it end up that a face with a feather would be gracing so many of the State’s athletic endeavors The things that escaped my attention raise questions Like, maybe I was never that clever But I kept getting praise for the letters and the numbers Impressing ‘em by counting to a hundred I was special Never doubted it was something innate in my brain that would make me not make mistakes My straight A’s reflected how I’m up above ‘em Not the fact I never had a growl in my stomach Never ran afoul of the powerful assumptions of so-called instructors telling how I’ll never amount to nothing I was so proud of stuff that one could think was just luck Or one could think at least some of it’s a system fucked up And what’s troublesome is, in the midst of privilege, it was difficult to see The system worked perfectly for me I was impertinent Undeservedly assured In deep breach of purpose An incomplete person History burdened with certain chance circumstance of birth Facts averted in the fit-to-teach version So I listened these slurs heard in class Maybe cast the same aspersions for a laugh But it’s not, like, THAT racist Surely, since we lack hatred Classmates assure me that a splash of black face paint is purely out of admiration for Eddie Murphy It’s said in earnest As if the shit wouldn’t make us plenty worthy of a stern lecture Guess we never learn ‘less we’re turned a more nurturing direction, but it never occurred Me and my friends would refer to each other as “n-word” so often in certain contexts, it was almost default No thought of not belonging Just a lot of dope songs that I so wanted to imitate and quote when I talk Started obsessing with the flow, it was awesome Always looking for something I could go rap along with Managed to absorb a little knowledge But I also joined a whole lot of co-opters making a whole joke out of culture What I authored followed shock-rap doctrine Lotta cock-ass nonsense that I really shoulda known was a problem In a weird way I needed it, or Dro wouldn’t’ve blossomed I was flossin, thought no one could stop me Thought no one’d be bothered by the open misogyny If you’d asked I’d say I’m joking, it’s obvious Didn’t fathom just how broken that part of our society was I was dumb Now I know, I’m so sorry I know I can hardly scratch the surface in a verse But still I think it’s worth it for the search If we can see the person that we were Then we can see what’s teaching us to learn Pieces earned at each rebirth’s turn To be sure is deeper than belief in the preferred Feeling hurt and shame is aimed to deter With these words, I besmirch myself Mindful that I used to be worse Improving earth by improving me first I was born about two weeks late I ain’t staying that way to the grave Won’t go back to lack of awareness and caring I know that was making my nature degrade Back in the day, it was growth at acceptable pace It keeps going at accelerating rates As long as I stay open with my traits And show myself what’s really taking place I have hope I’ll help pave roads to change