SHELTER

(album: I TAPE - 2021)

There's a war going on outside
That nobody's safe from
But here in my arms
I'll keep you from harm
There's no guarantee tonight
That we will wake up
When night takes the morning
But if no alarm rings
You can count on one thing

I'll be your shelter
Emergency
Please count on me (Yeah I)
I'll be your superhero
When danger arrives
I'll be by your side (Uh)
You're my lucky dime (Uh)

Wyclef told me call 911
But who do you call when the ambulances don't come
Or watch as the ones sworn by law protect us
Wrongfully convict us then call it corrections
Next, they bail the banks out when we in recession
And hang us in the jail cell so they can swing the elections
I walk Chicago streets where pot holes is deep and Tahoes creep like TLC
Hospital workers in scrubs with no PPE
But they got money for riot gear, my nigga, we dying here, yeah
You tell me not to move with my gun
But we got more funeral homes than schools where I'm from
And on the news all you view is homicides
Tell me why it ain't no trauma units when everybody traumatized
Tryna get on your feet, playing the hand they dealt ya
If your house is not a home let this song be your shelter

I'll be your shelter
Emergency
Please count on me (Yeah I)
I'll be your superhero
When danger arrives
I'll be by your side
You're my lucky dime

It's a hundred bags under the underpass
Rumbling stomachs, cups jingle when Hummers pass
Brisk winds, summer's done, winter is coming fast
And then they Zoom teacher wonder why they don't come to class
The internet been out, the hot water been out
She moved to her aunt's house, then to her friend's couch
Abuser went to jail but that nigga been out
Producer was in house, they closer then pen pals
Homeless in the home of the slaves, I wonder how that would feel
The manifested destiny a bunch of land they could steal
Think about Kenneth Walker and Philando Castile
How they only wanted to protect their family
While it's niggas out here that make it worse for they folks
It's a deeper, hotter hell for the worst of these folks
It's a mystery, we never heard the murder she wrote
If we finally paid her back the whole earth would be broke

I'll be your shelter
Emergency
Please count on me (Yeah I)
I'll be your superhero
When danger arrives
I'll be by your side (Uh)

I write for my niggas doing life with no possibility of parole
You playing Fortnite, that's how long you spent in a hole
Live from Death Row, free my nigga Julius Jones
I had a dream that Mumia was home, I speak freedom in songs
'Cause all I see is racist faces
Where hate lives and they rape kids in cages
What kinda nation lynch Elijah McClain?
Then send us to the Middle East to die for the flag
They drive us insane to sell us medication
We demand reparations and they tell us have patience
Instead of cash payments, we get minimum wages
They give us the black plague, then send us a white savior
I found faith when I lost hope
That's when Julius reminded me of a bar I wrote
Behind bars on the yard where they dream of the street
On death row singing we could be free (We could be free)

I know you'll be my shelter from the storm
I know you'll be my shelter from the storm