Thirteen

If we were to go by stats;
Prison is a goldmine camp
With no buy backs
N***a is a wizard in the system holding all my blacks
It started in 1640, shackles around my ankles
Melanin meant that I can’t go to schools, or read, ‘cause who's gonna serve my master
Also, the pastor described all my people as
The sheep who exist to upkeep the land
We feed the economy, creep all the crops but then feed on it modestly
Consciously knowing you're lesser than
And lighter skin means that you’re better now
So you in the house taking whips, and probably dick, ‘cause well, you a fetish now
Meanwhile, I’m grateful for all that I’m given, I’m picking this cotton in rhythm
I pray for a lot of the living, escaping is probably a sin
And if God ever finds out that I want my freedom, well damn
Then Gods gonna call in the wrath
Two horses with opposite maps
Those nooses they up in the trees and I’m hanging but I’ll never fall like my pants
Then came the 13th amendment
Written in 1865
It said slavery is over, except it’s pay for doing crime
And then the things that they made illegal
Are things you associate with people
Who now, education isn’t equal
And ain’t getting paid enough to eat so
We stealing and juggin and shit
We need to be fully equipped
The system, the new slave master, brought in to stop us and bully and shit
Cause before we was stealing and jugging the laws we was breaking was ‘loitering’
We go to the bin then we can’t pay the fine, now the jail is who your employer is
This voyage is super intentional
You used to be students in medical
The moors and indigenous blacks were the smartest and honestly truest professionals, literally teaching you about chemicals
My history isn’t viewed on a pedestal
Try to tell me only few of my ancestors had anything to offer
If we wasn’t strong, you would never bother
If we wasn’t awesome, you’d never put all of your resources in just to get to conquer
If we ain’t a problem, then why would you want all the youngins who black not to have a father
Cause slavery showed black youth, for mad years, that whiteness is right
Your ma getting fucked, your dad getting whipped - but white is the light
And sometimes master blesses you for being a good slave
And kills you off if you a bad one
So black mothers tell their daughters fuck the master and they tell their sons they can’t run
Mama raise the girls independent, and she raise her boys out of fear
These days black women representing the struggle that these black boys trying to clear
Man, we have so much work to do