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Rock Bottom
Rasheed Chappell & Buckwild
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๐ฌ๐ง English ยท Original
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Lyrics
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The majority of millions of African youth in this country
Are dying mentally, dying spiritually
Dying emotionally, dying academically
Dying, dying, dying
From quarter waters in corner stores to corner wars
The gun applause with no awards, it's coroners
As one of theirs for one of yours, and so it goes
The table's set, we fed death and want more
Far as law, we had none, was had young
Mama barely nineteen when she had son
And daddy in the streets followin' his steps
Like lookin' in the mirror, now he swallowin' regret
'Cause life can hit you harder than the hollow out a TEC
And livin' check to check tryna hollow out this debt
And all this overhead make a nigga risk his neck
These empty kitchen cupboards, smell of hunger on my breath
Wasn't lookin' for no charity, just tryna find a meal
But rock bottom what they use to sharpen steel
Always darkest when you reachin' for the sun
Like that bullet fragment in you still reachin' for your lungs
Life is what you make it tryna make it out alive
Pride'll build you up just to break you down to size
Breakin' down inside tryna cover up the cries
Even from the ashes, the heat still rise
What you'll find, in due time
Every story that's told has two sides
Between a sinner and saint, a cross line
And pray to your Lord you never cross mine
And isn't it sad
That we who have been the victims of so much violence
Now whites fear violence from us
We do not have a history of killing white people
White people have a history of killing us
They say we violent, we ain't violent at all
We wasn't violent 'til we got to these shores
We learned violence from you
They scream your name when you out on that court
But crucify you when they got you in court
We learned it from you
They say they love you, they don't love you at all
They sellin' dreams, nigga, fuck what you thought
They say they love you, they don't love you at all
They sellin' dreams, nigga, fuck what you thought
Nigga, fuck what you thought
Why they tryna enslave you? (Why?)
Why they look at these algorithms
Then go off what they find in the data? (It's money, boss)
What if I was your neighbor, but in your eyes I'm a stranger?
Would you call 1-5 and decide you in danger? (Come on, Cameron)
What if I was the savior? (Tell me) Would I sign to a major? (Tell me)
Would I regret all this violent behavior? (Damn)
What if your mom was a child when she raised you?
Would you decide to degrade her?
What if you was born and she died when in labor? (Wow)
I bet now you would praise her (I bet)
Let's try to think, would she have lived
If you was born even five minutes later? (Hmm)
What if Mustafa Shabazz fired and missed a shot? (Blah)
What if Puff was the target and maybe Big was not? (Damn)
Why would you watch the whole movie and almost miss the plot?
The final destination, debatin' if
We should live or not (Let me think)
Yeah, I ain't concentratin' on COVID
Been killin' us from the start, let
Me lift this weight off my shoulders
We can't equate progress with concessions
We can no longer make that mistake
See, there's no in-between
You're either free or you're a slave
There's no such thing as second-class citizenship
We're not makin' progress
You're either free or you're a slave
We're not makin' progress
We're not makin' progress
They say we violent, we ain't violent at all
We wasn't violent 'til we got to these shores
We learned violence from you
They scream your name when you out on that court
But crucify you when they got you in court
We learned it from you
They say they love you, they don't love you at all
They sellin' dreams, nigga, fuck what you thought
They say they love you, they don't love you at all
They sellin' dreams, nigga, fuck what you thought
Nigga, fuck what you thought
We must begin to develop, number one
And this is the most important thing
We must first develop an undying love for our people
Our people, our people, our people
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