Anthony lived in the suburbs
And drove in to public school in the gutter
Ever since an infant, he felt a little different
Felt a little distant, till he felt the rhythm
Through the crates he found the hip hop classics
Wu Tang, Illmatic, Ready to Die, Tragic
He spun the vinyl and listened through the static
His mom came knocking he hid em in the attic
He fell in love with the way the words and beats
Would perfectly adjust his brain’s circuitry
One night he opened up a diary
Where he acquired the firey flows but kept it quietly
He kept his verses beached like hasslehoff
Till one day there was a school wide talent off
He performed under the alias sir rap a lot
But the fans wrote him off as another Asher Roth
They called him cracker, wanna be, wigger
As the whole room got suddenly bigger
And All the criticsm was internalized
And the self doubt stung through his burning eyes
The beats, obsolete, the verses aversive
And he smoked weed cuz his passion was worthless
He sold his records on the street of third
A certain amount of distance in a dream deferred

Alejandra immigrated at age 9
To avoid the cartels and escape crime
A family of Mexican illegals
America seemed true as an Elegant Eagle
Their inherited freedom was as Precious as Sme agal
Affectionate people who were questioned as equal
See they moved to phoenix Arizona
Where they couldn’t escape the people’s stares like Mona
“No good aliens, drinking our Corona”
On her quest for diploma, Alejandra met Jonah
At Arizona State they had the same professor
And they’d sit next to each other at every lecture
They evolved from study buddies to buddy buddies to
Lovy dovies to keep it cuddy buddies
Cuz every step they wondered who would Discriminate
Whether Chevy’s or Max’s on a dinner date
A Jew and a Latina? One has to assimilate
But they just took their love and energy and would reciprocate
Then Arizona had a new law instated
And a reborn woman was alienated
And he whispered goodbye in her ear
Frozen; watching her train disappear
The last time she was seen or heard
A certain amount of loss in a dream deferred

Emery always loved arguing
As he debated with the confidence of parliament
Giving his parents responses that were bottomless
To be a lawyer was his goal for accomplishment
He was special in defending the innocent
And mending the system with agendas of the quickest wit
And he found that opportunity in Hungary
Where he was a lawyer and he made a lot of money
But they called his educated family dummies
Enough that he had to find a way out of the Country
See Hungary was invaded by communists
Whose politics emptied its esophagus
The hate and agony was absolutely foolish
Hard to explain to a loving wife and two kids
They escaped in the darkness of night
Abandoning success for an Austrian life
A camp of exhausted families and refugees
Waiting for America to bless them free
And 2 years later they moved to New York City
Where he bathed in poverty and self pity
Cultural idiosyncrasies, he wasn’t a box carrier
But it’s hard to be a lawyer with the language barrier
But his wife needed rest and his kids needed food
So he sucked up his pride and got boxes to move
Working hour after hour, losing his patience
Saving penny after penny for his kids education
They understood the struggle of a Hungarian
So his kids became a teacher and a librarian
And his son had me, a wordsmith of verses
I never met Emery but I channel his purpose
Cuz were both soldiers in a field of words
A certain amount of hope in a dream deferred