Before They Let Me SaveYou

They would see me dead before they let me save you,
break you out of the spell of those that enslave you.
They would literally send me to my grave
before they let my words inspire you
but I still chose to be brave.
Speak thoughts of mine
from the mind
of the Creator
guide you to the right path
make you walk a little straighter.
They will fill your head with garbage
before they let me set you free
vilify my image
to keep you struggling and pillaging
They would literally see to it
that they continue the abuse
before they allow for my words
to untangle your noose.
Keep you waiting on a ghost
to avenge you with his rapture
keep you captured and obtuse
keep you confused.
They will keep you sedated
a zombie or robot
slander my name before you take heed
and place my body in a plot.
Shit, I'm telling you man
understand and be sure
you see they did it to Huey Newton
Tupac Shakur
they killed a King
JFK
Malcolm X
I mean the list can fill nations
They'd put a bullet in my head
before I could give you the information
before I could push you so we could get ahead
they would leave me breathless
before I could resurrect you from the dead.
acknowledge you
give you knowledge and truth
plug your ears
straighten your hair
lighten your skin
till you look like them!
They would like to change my vision
before I could snatch you out of their cave.
They will see me to my grave
before they ever let me save you.

Hatshepsut Amun Re

Like Sheep

Thou hast given us like sheep
appointed for meat
and hast scattered us amongst the heathen
breathing in lies like oxygen
Oxymoronic, living dead
dry bones in the valley
probably never come to life
But I
am Ezekiel prophesying
Hear the words and rise!
Crucified
like the one risen
Horus, Krishna,
Osirus, Mithra, Jesus!
Hear the words and rise!
disguised in flesh
yet I attest
You are God,
children of the Most High
open your eyes
I see,
you're asleep at the wheel
playing follow the leader
lead into the slaughter like sheep
Reaping
the consequences
Quenched thirsts are momentary
monetary delights replace
knowledge unsought
truth untaught
equals history repeated
Kings defeated
and Queens dethroned
They said the Lamb of God
is the light of the world
while young girls bear
children
still seeking in the wilder-
ness
just
follow the Sheppard
follow the leader
unconscious deceiver
for the keeper of the gate
burned at the stake
our sons our daughters
while we're being led
like sheep to slaughter
where are all the
fathers?
to bitter some to be one
to blind to see
that the Son is the Sun.
deaf dumb and blind
and a game's being played
on the conditioned minds
and survivors of the slain.
Remaining silent and
confusing it with peace of mind
but the silence is so loud
and the soul is confined.
deaf dumb and blind
just walking asleep
sweep the dirt under the rug
following like sheep.

Hatshepsut Amun Re

Do You Know What It's Like?

You say you understand,
you feel the pain
have immense remorse for all the lives slain
you want to stand beside us
fight for the cause
but it could be your guilt
looking for an applause.
You say damned if you do
and damned if you dismiss
so if you speak the truth
then answer me this...
do you know what's like
to travel across seas
far from home but your not feeling the breeze
and your stomach won't hold because you don't travel like this often
trapped in a space no bigger than a coffin?
Can you feel the oxygen leaving
the pain just from breathing
to your left, a corpse
to your right a body seizing?
Scraps for food
forced to fight to live
and the only thoughts you have
are of those of your kids?
You can't understand the language
but they force you to listen
taught you're cursed because your black
but in the sun you glisten
Do you feel the pain of the whip on your back
cuts like glass
and you better not react
when they're raping your wife
while she carries your child
strange fruit on the trees
while your son screams loud
a last memory haunting you
your wife kneels down to pray
to the same force that
embedded hate in your dna
And here we are centuries passed
Do you know what it's like
to have the memories passed down
like they've stolen the lives
of those who have yet to come
a reminder like memorabilia
subjected to genocide,
mentacide and pedophilia
I want you to imagine
that you no longer remember
the sound of your native tongue
and it gets cold like December
on hay with rags to keep the baby from crying
left with scraps from the pigs
and wonder why we are dying
in numbers off the chart
they care not to jot
and no I wasn't there
but my dna never forgot
all the things my mothers
had to do to survive
imagine teaching your child
to stay dumb to survive
can't risk selling him off
to a place I can't protect him
trying to trace the blood back
so that I can connect him
to something he had
before the chains were shackled
teach him how to act
when the cops come to hassle
the same boys that wore sheets
in the streets at night
do you know what's it like
to not be able to fight
because the drugs have numbed
everyone surronding you
and it's no surprise
because they're just as brown as you?
Do you know what's it's like to
be told that you don't belong?
Just trying to make a way
but they singing the same song?
And you try to explain but
they just don't feel yah
and the face of the beast
looks so familiar
same look in the eyes
and they don't hesitate or pause
when they're shaking your hand
say they down for the cause.
Do you know what's like
to have your babies
hate their skin
hate the very mirror
they're looking in?
Taught that black is a curse
and I swear I could've died
told me it was my fault
it was ordained by God.
You know the same white man
picture hanging in my mother's home
so frightened by the face as a child
I couldn't be left alone.
And now centuries later
the souls still weep
Do you know what it's like to have
your children murdered in the streets?
For a crime no bigger than
the melanin God gave em
and He gave it not to oppress them
but gave it to save em!
Can you feel the attention
when you're downtown?
Feel the energy of those
who don't want you around? like
When your blood built the city
from rubble and dust
Can you understand why your
complexion I can't trust!
And you reap the benefits
of my grandfather's sweat
it's like you live in his house
and you're getting his check!
And do you know what it's like
to have dreams at night
nearly 500 years later
getting stopped at the light
for a tail light out ended up
in a loss of life
and a few forgotten marches
that didn't mean shit
he was cleared of the charges!
And I can't find employment
better chance of being killed
when the companies I apply for
are the ones my grandfathers built
but you reap the benefits
and say you standing with me
stolen birthrights the reason
the descendants can't be free
so if you really against
this thing called oppression
if you need a explanation
for all my aggression
and you wanna do good
you wanna come to the light
you wanna stand front line
if it comes to fight
willing to lose everything you have
just so you can make it right
Close your eyes and imagine...
Do you know what it's like?

-Hatshepsut Amun Re

Drinking From One Cup

The night is still

quiet

all except the rain beating against my window

sound of the breeze

whistling through the trees

yes the night is calm

only missing one thing...

Fresh from the shower

water beading off my skin

peanut butter brown

Shea buttered down

the smell of jasmine and eucalyptus leaves

no radio no TV for me

tonight

on this calm night

I can feel the wind has found its way

through the window slightly cracked

and the smell of the rain

has got me slightly relaxed

just chillin

in an old t-shirt

in my room

where

I have no use for panties

Shea buttered down

on this peanut butter brown skin

of mine

feeling so divine

in a candlelit room

I reach over to grab

my glass of red wine

and realize

there is only one cup.

Only one glass sitting beside the bed

on this still night in March

rain beating against the window

and the breeze tickles my skin

and I think of him

the man I have yet to meet

yet to converse with

laugh at

flirt with

tease

a touch of warm skin

to combat the cool breeze

no baritone voice

or rough hands with tender touches

just me

laying here alone

in an old t-shirt

drinking from one cup.

Hatshepsut Amun Re

City Hall

I can hear it,
walking down the streets filled with the bodies of the slain.
Nameless
we should be put to shame.
The ancestors' blood flows aimlessly in City Hall.
Past the skyscrapers and vendors
lenders that won't loan love
and I can see the sweat dripping from the building up high
built on bones of those who passed
blood excreting from the grass.
I can hear the voices crying,
for their childrens' lives stolen
stomping up spirits until feet are swollen.
And the trees they speak,
and weep for justice
strange fruit indeed
and the branches still bleed.
The roots they drink from a pond of tears
cried from fatherless children
just look at the buildings!
I hear the whispers
and the energy is thick
energy sucked from my mothers embedded in every brick.
No wonder why I have this connection
windows when I passed bear a different reflection.
And I can see clearly from head to feet
The spirits of the slain
who won't claim defeat.
In City Hall
where the ancestors call
where their blood flows thick in the middle of the street.
The nameless ones
who died for me
who built this town
and died defiantly.
And they shun me daily, and have the gall
to say I'm not welcomed in City Hall.