Nigga

(album: Kaleidoscope - 2014)

I was sprinting through the woods down in Alabama
Only me and the crickets' violins, my footsteps slamming violent, like hammers
I'd been running since like four am

Sweat pouring from my pores and blood pouring from the sores on my feet
Ignoring it, I would escape the prison I was born in and be free
Even if it's through death from pushing my body, we
Have to keep running
What's that? the dog's comin'?
C'mon, legs, bring me to my freedom before these dogs snuff it
Before these wicked man catch up
And strip my life from me
Before the chains are once again
Rubbing blisters into my skin
God, they're closing in
Fuck my black, charcoaled skin
The curse that wraps my bones
Why was I born with this?
Was it my sins?
Am I paying for a life I lived
Before this one, and in it, I mimicked my captors wickedness?
Well, could you delay that punishment?
And forgive what I have done in lives before and after this one?
And if it does not reflect some type of karma
I can imagine God is wicked
As those who chase me, and thus my villain
And if I'm caught before the sun is up
Know my freedom will be won
And it will echo through millennia
Even if I die
You heard it right
You'll know that I'm a fucking man
And not your nigga

We chased him through the woods down in Alabama
My dogs barked as they ran toward the smell of the man
He'd ran since about four am
Blacker than petroleum
I said he'd blend into the night, into the shadows it afforded him
Where you running to my nigga?
I gave you whips and chains so you'd stay my nigga
And if you escape, you'll remain a nigga
Even if you're free
Society will cage you, nigga
The dogs kept barking, we're closer
I can hear your feet stomping
In the dark like the animal you are
You can't run from that
You can't change your stripes
You don't know where your home is and your last name's mine
And any job that you get will be the bile left behind
By us whites and we'll pay you in pennies to be patronizing
Yeah, run into that future
Knowing your skin will make your shackles when the world views you as human
And you'll be tethered to the bottom until you find a dye to use
That can turn your skin a fucking lighter hue
And now I find myself alone
The dogs, chasing a ghost
I'll come back and find you when the sun's exposed
But if you made it to the river
Just know you'll always be a motherfuckin'

I've dropped some eves from in this brush
I've listened in, now tell me, what have I become
Am I your nigga or the angel, Gabriel
I could have run
But instead I'll choke the life out from your lungs
And yes, your dogs will hear it
And your men will come and find me
But you'll be dead below my feet as I'm hanging from this pine
Like our fates are intertwined
Like the day is to the night or the moon is to the ocean's tide

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm going home