[Verse 1: Sa-Roc]
Black skin will get you caught up like duchess is brought up
The street's is hungry and dummies live and die for other people's money
Crack is the business, the snitches go missing
And Mrs is spreading and moping and hoping for what they been missing
Brothers is funny now, sipping on purple huggies
And rocking designer labels with hags calling them honey
Them wicked cops with itchy trigger fingers on the beat
And for P protect their neck or spill blood on concrete
You wanted real, well son you got it
It's DOA, the Death of Africa, family stinking rotten
And plotted from carcass rooms down to the valley
Where folks got all excited
In front of the cameras flashing them like they name was Kardashian
The poor getting poorer while the rich getting richer
And street cleaner sweeping dusting up your Obama stickers
Listen, this ain't no Apocalypto this just a change of season
How much you willing yo ante-up for your freedom? Yup

[Chorus: Sa-Roc]
The soul of my people keep rising
Peace to the kings and the queens, they surviving
Watch for the truth and the lives they conniving
The cyphers, the stains, all chains look alive
The soul of my people keep rising
Peace to the kings and the queens, they surviving
Watch for the truth and the lives they conniving
The cyphers, the stains, all chains look alive
[Verse 2: Boog Brown]
You can feel the city breathing, chest heavy wheezing
Pushed beyond capacity, the streets team with stories full of glory and pain
Rain drops never wash the blood completely away
Every corner warring sort of is the price that we pay
Red lines still define the brown trees of a dream
Liquor shops and the blocks occupied by the fiends
Everything is as it seems, even tragedy feeds
Behind the beauty there's a wretchedness
Evidence a life worth living, skyline shine limitless
Eyes seeks forgiveness with a soul that's as cold as the winter
Most n***as thrive and praying on vengeance
I hit the ground, close my eyes and pray to God for deliverance
For a city swallowed, guttered, hallow, broken bottles
Line the walkway where kids play, everyday brings the prospect of change
Every place can show you not to take your blessings in vain
Or diss the brain, hold your head and maintain

[Chorus: Sa-Roc]
The soul of my people keep rising
Peace to the kings and the queens, stay surviving
Watch for the truth and the lives they conniving
The cyphers, the stains, all chains look alive
The soul of my people keep rising
Peace to the kings and the queens, stay surviving
Watch for the truth and the lives they conniving
The cyphers, the stains, all chains look alive
[Verse 2: Boog Brown & Sa-Roc]
I know you was hoping to stay inside your homes
Keep your doors and your windows closed
Blind eye to calamity, that's rampant in the street
Whole families be rancid in the fragrance of defeat
Unconscious to the royal blood they bleed
Hold promise for the seeds, got no choice but to believe, things changed
Release the mental chains, gain freedom in its place
The power of your mindstate determines the pace
360 degrees, rotating like a spoke
We keep it moving like chronic vibrating through your throat
120 Knowledge and Wisdom beget the Overstanding
So do the math and the science, with hope expand your skull
Black like radiant and can't stop the shining
Check the cloud for stormy [?] the silver lining
They can't defeat the god, I laugh 'em out for even trying
If they say that things remain the same, I know them devils lying

[Break: Maya Angelou poem]
You can shoot me with your words
You may cut me with your lies
You may kill me with your hatefulness
But just like life, I’ll rise

[Chorus: Sa-Roc]
The soul of my people keep rising
Peace to the kings and the queens, stay surviving
Watch for the truth and the lives they conniving
The cyphers, the stains, all chains look alive
The soul of my people keep rising
Peace to the kings and the queens, stay surviving
Watch for the truth and the lives they conniving
The cyphers, the stains, all chains look alive