RikersIslandRedux

作曲 : Raphael Saadiq

作词 : Raphael Saadiq

America America

Purveyor of mass hysteria

Mass production

And mass incarceration

The epitome of huddled masses yearning to breathe free

The masses

Mass is the property of matter regardless of the state

But it seems we don't matter until we're properties of the state en mass

And Massuh's still trying to trick himself into believing he picked the cotton too

No matter how much I cow tow tap dance and jump through a bunch of hoops

I'll still be the one who winds up in a jumpsuit

I'll still be the one who winds up with the gun wounds

King had one dream that won't seem to come true

X had necessary means and a gun too

Though there's always more than one truth

Even on cloudy days sun rays still come through

I mask feelings of pain and ask healing we got the same

Glass ceiling but I'm sposed to be thankful for my sun roof

And Massuh's still trying to trick himself into believing he picked the cotton too

It's Complex

how being born with this complexion ups the likelihood of dying in a prison complex and orange ain't the new black

Black is the same

Same black

This ain't just for black folks

Just ask those backward folks

Who stay intolerant like lactose

We bout to blast blowing

Like Miles, Coltrane, and Satchmo

You can act slow

But we want our civil rights in fast forward

Ain't we asking for it

This is the beginning of a long list of demands bro

This the last chance

This is the optimum time and just like Optimus Prime we gon' transform

This gift of gab is God given, and it's given this man (has) a knack for it

So let's stand for 'em

In New York, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Charlotte, ATL, Charleston,

San Fran, Oakland, LA, B-more, Detroit, DC, Chicago and Ferguson

Time for turning up, time to turning tables, turning heads and it's time to plan

Take a line from my man Lin-Man who wrote Ham, revolution is messy but now it's time to stand

So stand up

Stand up

Word to the words of the police hands up

Word to the folks in jail copping pleas, puh-lease people copy me, no misogyny we gotta man up

We gotta open that can up

I'm not worried bout becoming worms meat

what concerns me

is my people learning the difference between earning our own keep and working another man's land for free

One's just the same slavery

The other unlocks chains, turn key

I hate that this deferred dream keeps recurring

Wake up America, and hurry