Twofifteen

(album: Streams Of Thought, Vol. 1 - 2018)

Two fifteen

Yo, the big wheel keep turning like Ike's and Anna Mae's
The church kitchen hustling dinners every Saturday
Pull over, let me grab a plate, I tend to gravitate
Towards how fish dinners from a styrofoam platter taste
My granddaddy sported plaid Donny Hathaway's
Hustling for everything we had 'til he passed away
When I would ask about what path to take
He used to laugh and say, "No man is an island but I'm a castaway"
Casualties, I seen 'em like the French Foreign Legion
On the streets, they used to carry out bizarre procedures
In jean jackets and Jabbar, Adidas
Back when local R&B was just as soulful as orthopedics
Me and my man twisting up some reefer and wishing
We knew On The Town, hitman in the likes of Sam Christian
On the edge of existence, man, listen
Understand, respect and fear was the all-American ambition
For badass kids in the laundromat, folding a load
Well lo' and behold, a whole 'nother fork in the road
My wish for them is that the truth is eventually told
Out on the corner, where whatever you can sell is sold
I heard murder ran, as vast as deserted land
Since back when Burning Man was blacks in Birmingham
Before the presidential election diversion scam
Matter fact, before they clapped Franz Ferdinand
You gossip on Jay and Beyoncé or Kim and Kanye
But keep rising to the top, what my mind say
Picture my daughter drinking water with a sign
Say, "For colored girls," I ain't talking Ntozake Shange
Who said it's cynical? I was a king and general
Rich in every resource, precious metal and mineral
Before the devil entered the land of the plentiful
With that Jamaican funk, gotta get it into who
For generations under God, indivisible
Psych ward patience, vampires in a interview
Become institutionalized, what a nigga do
But what we had to do to survive, none of them could do
Who the technical culprit? I don't mess with no vultures
I'm electrical voltage, not the regular dosage
Too obsessive compulsive, I'm a fucking explosive
Mixed message in a bottle, I left with the postman
I'm that arachnophobia, black petroleum
Ceremoniously holy when at the podium
Even though it's hotter than weapons-grade plutonium
The people tryna check for the return of the Ichiban
Obi-Wan, universe, you owe me one solid
My homie Gonzalez, only know gun violence
On the corner where they probably on they 21 Savage
Catch two in your cabbage, Young Cesar Chavez
Division one, yo, when and where we get our rhythm from?
Continuum, still swinging like a pendulum
Here the women come, sing it like Sarah Vaughan
Heard 9th up in a house from North Carilon'
Ain't no mannequin challenge, but y'all paralyzed
It's getting cold outside, a word from the wise
Y'all niggas better bundle up
But I bet it be a hotter summer, not for nothing
Yo, the cops get down, especially when it come to us
Nigga better be a Rockefeller
Get that out your pocket fella, saying in acapella
Ain't a damn thing really changed as far as I can tell it
Another soul with no name, the helicopters hunted
Look like a couple of days before the doctor coming
But that's my little cousin, watch him for me
I think the world tryna sock it to me
It kinda feel like everything is out of pocket for me
Who keep it a hundred when everything's partial?
Dignity and sanity is what the game cost you
Wake up to the paddles on your chest, we had lost you
I'm just painting a picture like Kerry James Marshall
I'm just taking a picture like Carrie Mae Weems
So smile and say cheese, we in 2018
In a pyramid scheme, nightmares and day dreams
From the runaway slave to a modern day king