1. |
Black Imagination
00:58
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THE END IS NEAR!
Or the beginning
Yeah, I think it's the beginning
Yup Yup it's the beginning
I ain’t going back to normal
'Cause I’m ready for change
Rearrange the whole dynamic
People over profits
No more profits over planet
Normal was grinding
Normal was minding
My business as usual
But that’s delusional
It ain’t suitable
I like to dream like Yasiin
Let’s describe the inscrutable
I break cages in your brain
They tried to make us go insane
Said we couldn’t feel the pain
From Haiti to the JA
Worked to death - what’s a payday?
Oh that’s chocolate to rock with
In the cradle of humanity
My black imagination
Can never reach capacity
Fact is black is so rich
It's impossible mess with
That’s why I’m crying then I’m laughing
Like the griots in the Middle Passage
That's why I'm dancing then I'm resting
Gwan and tell the masses
Divided we're less strong like the Diaspora Wars
Twerk about it, dance about it, gwan and hit the floor
Our music they adore, dem naw ready to explore
Our thriving bodies and our souls so the truth gone get exposed!
'Cause I ain't going back to normal
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2. |
Enough is Enough
00:56
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I dream furious dreams
Getting free
Getting free
My dreams grow roots and blossom
I dream profound like the deepest recesses of the ocean floor
My dreams break into song they rage and shake tectonic plates
I dream urgent dreams because my dreams simply cannot wait
They fly to space to feel the highest
But our climate is in crisis
Must want us all to say your highness
And dead our dreams so we’ll be silent
It's all a form of violence
Injustice IS the virus
Enough!
Enough is enough is enough is enough
Enough!
Enough is enough is enough is enough
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3. |
Peaches
03:33
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Sucking on my titties like you wanted me
calling me all the time
Yea this pussy is divine but I ain’t rehab get yo life
haunting me, stalking me
tryna find a wife
I call that prison for a price
ya’ll don’t wanna see me fly
I almost died
I ain’t bitter I’m just wise
I got bliss between these thighs
used to ask God: why me?
now i’m begging you to try me
tongue sharp but then I speak so sweet
fall into the sheets of my queen
I’ma show you what worship means
I’ma show you what healing brings
sit back let me hold them reigns
let me know what you like – I’m game
out of body like I took some molly
swear I'm falling
promise I won't hurt nobody
Chorus
I wasn't built for the faint of heart
so let's say goodbye before we even start
before we even start
Used to love so hard
I got lost in them clouds like Amelia Earhart
and they never found my body
swear I’m here and I’m a hottie
and we in this bliss together
getting dirty, getting naughty
let’s not start what we can’t finished
light a fire we can’t extinguish
sweating bullets this is fitness
stretch
let me give you the vitamin S
the more that you lend me your flesh
the more that we can learn to forget
(chorus)
Can't tie me I defy gravity
Seen a whole lot
Still I move lightly
Can't tie me I defy gravity
Seen a whole lot
Still I move lightly
can't tie me can't tie can't tie me can't tie me down
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4. |
Wild Seed
00:52
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They call me wild seed
They call me wild seed
They call me wild seed
Face the music metaphysical
my verses can be fire can be water also known as flow
can be air cool breeze or the earth to help you grow
au natural like some vegetables
ya’ll some vegetables
in a comatose
been known to roast
been known to diagnose
make you face yourself then nurse you back to health
its like you took an L
as in lesson
why you stressin off the ego death
bet you thought that there was nothing left
take a breath and have some self respect
Doubt is merely emotional clutter
I’m a mother to you muggles
Don’t get in trouble just stay humble
Might burn you to the ground
just to see what’s growing from the rubble
Might build you up like the pyramids
I make simpleton delirious
I’m serious
bout nurturing this inner child
Like the earth I’m kinda wild
call me wild
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5. |
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He stands in one corner of a cell
in Juvenile Hall they call them rooms
not cages
guards are called counselors
not correctional officers
and you might hear words like rehabilitation
even though discipline is rule of thumb
There is nowhere to run
no way to escape demons of self-doubt
or reason with adolescent fears, seething
no mirrors to face, just corners blank
as stares from past self
this is how we “help”
some of the most traumatized children in this nation
Tears run, blood runs
but bodies rarely run
except in secret
he’ll sprints through space-time, close his eyes
he ditches dull beige, becomes cocooned in the full color spectrum
outside, where children play
he once prayed
for an end to agony
he’d skip school or pop pills to escape
greeted some mornings by the sting of a broken rib, bellyache
he was taught evil lurks is in the next room
he was taught borders are a certain kind of surgery
If he had superpowers
he’d move through concrete walls
his body composed of pure cunning
not flesh, not bone
right now he is alone
the truth is he feels safe
off chaotic streets, roof over his head, food, structure
this process is called institutionalization
the institution is no place for empathy
this is where he learns to be hard
to swallow solitude, to never crack a smile
Enter yours truly: the Teaching Artist
I visit all of the units each Friday
I share the poetic process as necessity
I ask kids to go there, to write
and they run with it, accessing ancestral magic
their pencils dance across blank pages
his restless becomes poem, becomes tangible
he makes me laugh often
he oozes of style, innovation
My incarcerated students trace their roots to the Fillmore,
the Tenderloin, Mission, HuntersPoint, Potrero Hill—
the hoods the city keeps secret from its picturesque skyline
San Francisco’s not-so-subtle systemic injustice
feels like phlegm in this Abolitionist’s throat
I’m trying to speak but I’m choking up
In a separate class,
one girl’s stomach growls, its emptiness loud as an eviction notice
when someone says she’s too sensitive
she turns herself inside out in verse
this poem is where she stores daddy issues
tumors crowding the crevasses of her ribcage
this simile is where she cries, afraid to bear children behind bars
this is where she whispers beneath her breath
a million prayers for each being locked inside the system
And after work
I run
I push buttons and go through five doors to get back out again
I breathe fresh, free air
I never turn around once I pass the corner
if I did, I’d see my enemy looming in the distance
a grey façade of grandiose
a barbed-wire giant
a stain on our psyches
this beast, the P.I.C., its wrath is a coroner’s report
I’ve heard lost hope hover on a boy’s breath
as he associates his existence with his conviction
I’m convinced there are other solutions, proven
still, our state outsources kids to group homes
and they run
we force kids to attend failing schools
and they run
we rarely invest in their innate creativity
they run
and when a child kills another child
we forget to mourn both children
the lethal violence of sentences dubbing survivors damaged
folks ask me,“ how do you manage?”
I say, “I’ve been in my feelings lately”
been tripping over triggers
I’m tethered to the way kids look up at me as I’m speaking
seeking, in my pupils, similar sorrows
they swim towards each class period
a guard handcuffs a kid
the facts tug of war with my intestines
don’t get used to this
I tell myself
don’t get used to concrete and doors
doors heavy as they slam shut
I feel myself getting closer yet farther from the source
of our collective suffering
I want to disrupt the cycle of violence
I want to laugh often
the sound is a spellbound echo
in the cavernous of my memory
California still spends six times more
to incarcerate youth than to educate them
yet, statistics have become a dull sting of antiseptic to the jaw line
pulling teeth to get anyone to pay attention
She stands in one corner of her cell
in Juvenile Hall they call them rooms
not cages
guards are called counselors
not correctional officers
and you might hear words like rehabilitation
even though discipline is rule of thumb
is there nowhere to run?
My students are unique genetic fingerprints
they trace themselves across galaxies
she used to paint her lips midnight
she shit talks the Grim Reaper into a pile of shadows
she smells Sunday dinner cooking on the stove
her face becomes warm as her abuela’s embrace
she watches her stories come to life on the page
the ceremony of letters, litanies, is like locking eyes with her first love
She’ll expand
like the tracks of the BART train as it weaves through the region
like the rap bars boys in the Bayview bust into dark closet booths
he’ll expand
like longing, like the itch to get out and back into something real, tangible
like the way our people dance through nightmares,
exquisite with our schemes, always eluding the oppressors sick dream
no sentence can untangle the intricate webs of warrior tactics
we’ve spun
so
please,
don’t ever believe,
for one second,
that there is nowhere to run
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6. |
Respect the Sacred
00:56
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This song is dedicated
To the children locked in cages
The look that paints your faces
Words can’t express my anguish
And the rage it comes in stages
Fire burning up these pages
But see your medicine is ancient
You grieve and practice patience
Like butterflies you’re weightless
And life is what you make it
These leaders are all naked
Their words are filled with hatred
In truth we’re all related
Holy cross but they degraded
The seeds now remain nameless
How could they disrespect the sacred?
Acknowledge where you stand...
This is capture land
capture land
capture land
Acknowledge where you stand...
This is capture land
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7. |
Femme Future
00:52
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Ancient as the future
Like the earth I have no ruler
Passing through on this plane of existence
No disses throw kisses like glitter
stardust - in god-dess we trust
Fierce fairies destroy the gender binary
Ain’t just a flex its a hex against the patriarchy
It's all malarkey in our bodies
Bad mouthing machismo
I’m naughty, nerdy and lethal
Mi gente, my people
Move the needle on the closed - minded
Forward movement but rewind it
Land back to the first nations I’m saying
Fires raging, smoke all up in our lungs
Why you thinking I’m banging on these war drums
Ear to the streets, favella, the slums
Empty stomachs like a punch in the gut
Hating women? why you think so stuck?
On stupid stupido I need my money rapido
I’m really rapping though
HUSH
This massive sound is in my blood
I give youth dem nothin but love
Nothing but love
Nothing but love
Femme as fuck!
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8. |
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"Revolutionaries don’t drop from the moon
we are created by our conditions."
- Assata Shakur
Species are dying!
I’m tryna find the silver lining
But they shrugging at the science
Why you think I’m so defiant?
kinda stressed but new optics
got me optimistic
a spaceship left after it landed
now I’m stranded guess I’m glad I missed it
can’t be pessimistic
can’t abandon the planet
gotta understand it
gotta respect our existence
every creature is a teacher
I’m gonna follow them as leaders!
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9. |
Bike Life
01:01
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yo yo yo
I’m just riding
gettings lifted
no emissions
I’m just riding
getting lifted
no emissions
life is like riding a bike
to keep your balance
just keep moving
don’t trip
I used to have a car but it got bipped
now I cruise
no banana seat
still I split
traveling
from the dirty thirties to the dubs
from the lake to the Golden Gate
all the drivers stop and wait
stuck in traffic
hella heated
I got legs for days - guess I”m undefeated
fellas be like, “can I ride with you?”
I’m too witchy for them to pursue
flying past when they harass
plus I wear a helmet that’s what gangstas do
watch me rolling solo I don’t need a crew
watch the sky become a crimson hue
moving my body in alignment with the truth
everything is better with a bike
they build entire cities for cars
the freeways for white flight
please no parking in the bike lane
that's that stuff I don’t like
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10. |
Solidarity Economy
00:57
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They swear it trickles down but it ain’t rained in a while
You see us dancing? I mean marching? I mean charge it
To the game its rigged against the masses
Some of y'all simping for the wealthy classes
Brainwashed with them rose colored glasses
Fact is I’m seeing RED whole nation in the RED
And the math ain’t mathin'
this song slaps it ain’t smacking
That’s food for your contemplate
I stay mad - quite irate
you can’t you see? Panoramic
billionaires stackin'
cancel student debt let's get it crackin'
This racial wealth gap ain’t a gap its a chasm
Investing in police like WE the target practice
Put your money where your mouth is
They foaming at the mouth to go to war
Our competing to explore outer space
The houseless need a space to rest their heads
STILL
ink bleed no oil spill 98’ Till
INFINITY
HONESTLY
We need a solidarity economy
honestly
we need a solidarity economy
honestly
we need a solidarity economy
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11. |
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Hate on mute so I don’t even trip
It’s like I’m kin with the bass and treble
Trouble is, nxggas always in my shit
Hate on mute and I don’t read lips
Your silence is golden
You bought getting noticed
‘Gone be hot of a moment
I burn slow shit smolderin’
I stay in the Bay, got bills to pay, ills to slay
You ain’t tryna hustle? Get out of the way
‘Cause all these techies driving up the cost of living
But its still hood—might get robbed for your equipment
Move careful might get caught slippin’
There’s no mercy not even for the children
It ain’t pretty in the dubs, in the dirty thirties
Some of these baddies is workin’ girlies—all the cops is pigs
We don’t bang just banging on the system till it feels our wrath and shit
So anyway I’m an artist eating good no more starving
I beg your pardon was you speaking on a sovereign?
I stay grindin while ya’ll dilly dally
That’s why I’m potent like the kush in Northern Cali
like the kush in Northern Cali
Aye
Aye
Aye
Cuz the mind is a terrible thing to waist
Mind ya business
why don’t you mind ya business?
(hater, hater, hater, hater)
Mind ya business
why don’t you mind ya business?
(hater, hater, hater, hater)
Yous a hater
(Repeat)
Hate on mute so I don’t even trip
Try not to slip
Too far cuz we in the ER
I’m the surgical incision
You anesthesia. How you spittin?
I’m just kidding, I’m just swimming
And the sharks is in a frenzy
ya’ll woke just cuz it’s trendy
No longer enemies with the inner me
lookin like a centerpiece
legs for days, centipede
It's that balance and achieve
see a demon…
then you better bob and weave
‘cause the mind liable to put you in a choke-hold
I seen a man get shot it was in the North Pole
Seen eyes with the light, make that soul twitch
Seen eyes vacant like a motel 6
See the mind plays tricks
So mind yo damn business!
(chorus)
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12. |
Pause
00:46
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Pause
Now flaunt your flaws like they’re in fashion
Why compete for a seat at a table lacking self compassion?
Pause
See we have seasons just like fall, winter, spring and summer
Why resist the changing tides don’t let them sink you under?
Pause
Humans are animals that like to beg to differ
Why waste away when precious days feel like they’re moving swifter?
Pause
Presence - a feeling - you can’t put a finger on it
Why not rest - you’re yawning
Besides you’ll need a good amount of sleep
A new day is dawning
Pause
A new day is dawning
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13. |
Hunger
00:54
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In our minds
Or in these streets
The fights right here in
the belly of the beast
Get free
From the belly of the beast
From the belly of the beast
Get free
From the belly of the beast
From the belly of the beast
this hunger
Is so much more
Is so much more
this hunger
Is so much more
Is so much more
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14. |
Digital Existence
01:08
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You exhausted by this digital existence?
I swipe and click and send
Or burn the candle at both ends
I feel alone? well, it depends
Since now I’m so connected
Well respected, followers just seem to grow
So?
I wanna feel the sand beneath my toes
watch some fireflies look how they glow
love sick - sycamore see how she grows
a hundred ft. towards the heavens
trees clear the air yet keep me breathless
transcending
nature IS the remedy
I wanna free-style with the clouds like doe ray me
singing praises - ya’ll ain’t hearing me
the earth can make you put your phone down
make you gaze in awe - you can’t capture
like the moon when she’s full and blooming
the grass is greener in a meadow we’ll be spooning
scoop me up like a breeze - got me moving
we should start a movement
'cause I’m exhausted
by this digital existence
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15. |
Just Transition
00:56
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"To change everything
We need everyone
To change everything
We need everyone"
Life is all organisms
Working to survive these changes
Our bodies mostly water
Still in our hearts fire rages
Burning to light our paths
So scientific that its spiritual
The earth is humming
An ancestral drumming
‘Cause we’re running OUT of time
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16. |
Gratitude
00:59
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So many activists have fought - don’t stay numb
There's a war going on outside no one is safe from
no one is safe from
no one is safe from
These carbon numbers is off the charts
I’m PARCHED
Like I’m trapped up in a food desert
Like i’m waiting on clean water in flint
Like i’m running out of breath
Heart pounding in my chest
Can’t give it a rest
I confess In never thought I was a climate warrior but the truth is it ain’t a choice
Either I join and have a voice or get drowned out by the noise
Of corporate greed
Every social justice issue is connected to the seed of an idea and it’s this:
WE EITHER PERISH OR PERSIST
Come quick
Join the movement
Cuz we HOMESICK
They polluted this precious planet I can’t stand it
I want justice
I demand it!
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17. |
Art is Alchemy
00:52
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I WILL change the world with my art
I laugh till my stomach’s in knots
Nurture my inner child unconditionally
Rest like on mother’s chest, hot cradle
heartbeat, heat rising
I WILL speak in vibrations, voice simmering
Bedtime stories spells like the people could fly
my eyelids fluttering, imagining wings beating
feathers singing generating heat
refuse to starve instead sing the blues
refuse to be tortured raw and bruised anew
generate heat
I matter, you matter
We are artists and we matter in this world
Soul shatter only to make mosaics
colorful as Langston Hughes described sunset
in the Caribbean,“God having a hemorrhage
blood coughed across the sky”
I honor those that die
father’s face is a study in Summer
mouth subtleties, mythical smile
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18. |
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19. |
Climate Activist
00:43
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Tryna stay on my monk like Shaolin
but ya’ll think I threw the towel in
I ain’t even broke a sweat
I ain’t even scratched the surface
these verses is curses to the undeserving
the way I word it there ears be hurting
they be questioning their purpose
GOOD
Babylon is burning
let the empire collapse
this is planetary struggle
we gonna get the last laugh
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20. |
Mind Trip
01:06
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MADlines Oakland, California
In a world of rude awakenings, MADlines' music soothes old wounds. She draws upon both her Seattle Grunge upbringing and her Jamaican ancestry to bring you her latest independent album, "downCHANTS." Inspired by Bob Marley and the Wailers' tune, "Chant Down Babylon" the project is composed of mostly short-form spells that highlight the urgency of the ensuing Climate Emergency. ... more
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