Beginning Of A New Era

Four:44 AM

Feds flock to the front yard again

Guns to the heads of my friends

That was me back then

In zero-10

Only been waiting for something to take me

Away from the cycle of violence

Look in my brain there is infinite dread

And I'm living inside of a riot

Four:44 AM

Shaking in my bed

Drenched in sweat

Am I gonna get out of the life I lead

Am I gonna have my body filled with lead

I have been running away from my fears for too long

Now I'm ready to face them

Freedom is something so beautiful

But it's difficult to navigate within

New Haven Connecticut

They got him in the street

10 shots by the cowardly police

They don't gotta do time

Just paid leave

Worst case they're gonna retire early

OG told me this the life we chose

No sleep

Sometimes we get heaters to the dome

Don't weep

You on fleek

Shut your lip

Petty little puppets

But they claiming to be free

What I gotta do to make a mufucka listen

What I gotta do to make a mufucka listen

What I gotta do to make a mufucka listen

Say bitch

Call em a bitch

What I gotta do to make a mufucka listen

What I gotta do to make a mufucka listen

What I gotta do to make a mufucka listen

Say bitch

This is the beginning of a new era

I can feel it

I wanna believe again

I mean it

This is the beginning of a new era

I can feel it

I wanna live again

I mean it

Four:44 AM

Just found out about another dead friend

Is it suicide or heroin

Wondering if I am next

Four:44 AM

Shaking in my bed

Drenched in sweat

Am I gonna get out of the life I lead

Am I gonna have my body filled with lead

My brain is stuck between trying to kill me

Or take me away from the violence

Cacophony is still surrounding me

So I'm sitting here praying for silence

They don't like my spit

Never fit their image

They forgot that I was here since the beginning

Black and white world

With some black and white critics

I was never either

So I never quite slid in

The game don't love you

Can't catch feelings

All I ever wanted was to smash glass ceilings

They don't like the fact I don't look like I rap

Never looked like I trapped

That put money in the bank

Fucked over so many times

Point blank

Hard to even put it in a rhyme that's frank

False motherfuckers

Gotta have a lot of balls

To forgive another killer

Trying to catch you in his jaws

Pathetic the ways that they try to rip us all apart

It's a class war out there

Don't get lost

Still believing in possibilities we got

But survival can cost

In my teens I read some Zinn

Then Bookchin

High school scholarship then

College scholarship then

Education is or isn't privilege

Hip hop is

Take it back from big biz

Old money men never really gave a shit

They just wanna sell poverty to the rich

They just wanna sell pain for profit

Fuck them hard and quick

On this dick they can sit

I will slit rulers' necks

Let them wear brick anklets

Sleep with fish

Temples get torn to the ground

Bambaataa gone now

Seems that they forgot about Boricua

Boricua kids with big mouths

Since Kool Herc been down

Acting like we never been around

This my blood too

Melt down plastic crowns

Acting like we've never been around

This my blood too

Melt down plastic crowns now

When I was a kid outside Oaktown

Watched the hills all burning down

'89 earthquake

Battle of Bay Bridge

Berkeley

Watched my family drown

Ashby flea market

Drum circles

Malcolm X is what I found

Ice T BD PE

Kill at Will tape

Digital Underground

Respect art you clowns

This ain't acting fashion

Rainbow mouths

This ain't shocking

Only honest

Fake Four hip hop for right now

Temples get torn to the ground

Bambaataa gone now

Seems that they forgot about Boricua kids with big mouths

Since Kool Herc been down

Acting like we never been around

This my blood too

Melt down plastic crowns

How anyone in they right mind

Ever gonna think that they're rapping better than me

Own this fucking sound now

This is the beginning of a new era

This is the beginning of a new era

I can feel it

I wanna live again

I mean it

Never made out with death

Never had a year when you lost seven friends

Never had to serve a mandatory minimum

Your opinion's invalid

Never got fucked by death

Never had a cop put a gun to your head

Never had to serve a mandatory minimum

Your opinion ain't shit then

Trick