Little Jermaine Doe, born on the fourth of July Terror to the suburbs by way of bed stuy Daddy was a preacher and Momma was a dentist Kept a tool packed under the sorcerer’s apprentice 6 in the van keeping it authentic Black rat pack with back packs we all in it Sack taps and backwards hats we all winning Lads mags and skinemax we all sinning And blending in Nod along to a song “everybody’s heard” Certain it’s curtains if you’ve never heard a single word Try to be chameleon But there’s no concealing Exotic to chicks, bourgeoisie That’s a black ceiling feeling Desperate to be like the ones you momma warned you from But calling yourself a hard r ain’t never made you one Who taught your fingers to twist round little brown boy who taught you? Who taught you the words? Did you find them on your own? Jermaine fell into the wrong crew South side of 919 how the gangs do Black man from a good fam Just tryna fit in With a culture that preys on misfits That won’t benefit I heard dogs throw it up and then go back to it They called us dogs but we throw it up too ain’t that stupid? Truth is its Ruthless How they try screw us Unfair, pegged as squares this culture that never knew us Tryna funnel us all into the same classes To live on their own dime, like addicts Here’s the condition description ignorance and ambition minus contrition No contradiction between license and inhibition Bombs blastin, who’s asking? Police captain Purse snatching, bill stashing? Feud caskets, flag flashing, gas ashes Jermaine never even broke free First round KO, bloated in the heat Who taught your fingers to twist round little brown boy who taught you? Who taught you the words? Did you find them on your own? It seems our African American community suffers from a strange malady, a tragedy even… to glorify the same things that put them underground Death, violence, drugs, sex

My father raised me to never consider it But to the rules of the game I was ignorant/ innocent Took the event to see the benefit the struggle the puzzle existence in my own skin I’m hearing click at the stop light squares is nervous Girl with equal sign only give lip service Rainbow flag ain’t never held even black Guess these the only stripes slavery never held back Allies? I’m certain But I can’t complain can I? Or I’m just ungrateful am I? Black enough to fit any description I know Jet and Ebony but my magazines? No subscription Statistically significant ignorance is still ignorance Indignant interventions of good intentions plus indifference… Pray to our father he’ll deliver like UPS What can brown do for you? Die in the street God bless I’m black enough I’m black enough I’m black enough Am I still a threat? Hands up Hands up Hands up Hands up YEAH There is no second verse I’m black enough I’m black enough I’m black enough Am I still a threat? Hands up Hands up Hands up Hands up YEAH Hey Hey Ho Ho LEO’s and GO PRO’s

This is the picture as true as scripture We’ve watered the weeds and the bad blood is thicker Sick morn like cheap liquor I surveyed the catastrophe from the academy Poor strategy to combat my apathy So I decided to walk the streets, I see Capital Hill filled with pigs that only look like men Put us all out to pasture to serve them Take money to gain office Use office to gain profits Use profits to line pockets in office Makes me nauseous And it’s the revolving Lobby door Same empty suits just different shoes to scuff the eagle on the floors Obey your masters behind the nameplate Same template for 50 states, same innate red tape The vision of the chosen and the holy anointed, atheists believing in divine appointment, The view of the cocksure, the insulated secure behind their high gates and blue states estates they were born to rule Wisdom of the ages, finds few places when attention rages from sensation to sensation it’s Outrageous! Are we drones? They kick down the anti hill and we rebuild it? Nah it’s animal farm let the pigs till it And I’m tired of just going along but I don’t know where to start How did we let it all fall apart? Nobody is happy but everybody is rich Some things verboten, unspoken some celebrated but who picks I contemplate concepts of conscience in congress The context of congressional conference On drones overhead Simply said it’s the complex The Walls have ears But Justice is blind Lynch mobs and heartthrobs are two of the same kind Soak the rich because the poor are thirsty Indict me because your mind is dirty Can’t eat from my neighbors labor I got two rounds in the upper chamber for anybody only Sharron Angles Such a tease, can’t read the tea leaves if you only read Cowboy poetry Reid Appropriate cheek bones and get off scot free No puppet masters behind the scenes, no need for unwarranted beliefs That world’s Orwell, this is Huxley Lulled to sleep together by the opiate of pleasure The middle class splinters fast Now it’s the have less and the still haves No bailout because the families too big to fail and there’s no photo ops to beh ad No punchline just true facts Now watch the gap, it widens Who minds it til its violence and crisis priceless Chorus? And I’m tired of just going along but I don’t know where to start How did we all let it all fall apart? Is it my fault? Is it my fault? I did as I was taught I pledge allegiance to the fad And to myself the only true religion I ever had To float in unison downstream Without question, no matter where the current affairs leads One nation under the mob Grasping the hashtag for another cause Applaud, applaud, applause I only do what I want, applause I pledge allegiance to the fast And to myself the only true religion I ever had To float in unison downstream Without question, no matter where the current affairs leads One nation under the mob Grasping the hashtag for another cause Applaud, applaud, applause I do what you want for your applause

You will love him or You will learn to You You swam shallow You You hid shadows I'm feeling worthless today simmer down I'm feeling worthless today For the last time Me? I'm suspect Me? I trust less since you Me? I'm flustered and awkward Not like you I'm feeling worthless today simmer down I'm feeling worthless today But not for the last time I'm feeling worthless for the last time I'm feeling useless since last time I'm feeling paltry since last night I’m feeling worthless I'm feeling worthless since last night I'm feeling useless since you died I’m feeling paltry since you fried I’m feeling worthles

And, She opened up my throat to thorns and found they had choked all the life from me Planted in the ripening earth bursting forth and cracking at the seams Wasted, fingers grasp she slips away I cannot let it penetrate beneath I sprang up the touch of warmth revealed a seed I let it flee, let it free Writhe – spread my lips on your account Slide – guide me in and spill me out Rise – pull me past the brink Die – to make something of me Slipping, beyond the grasp of reasoning to make her feel as if it were a dream Writhing, always toward the source and sensing their company Tested, trampled underfoot I bent down underneath their feet Flung out, hurtling through the void sent to prosper with the weeds Writhe – spread my lips on your account Slide – guide me in and spill me out Rise – pull me past the brink Die – to make something of me And on and on and on you go Swallows know the seeds I’ve sown To die alone, I was bone dry on my own Then you flung me out and with an open mouth I found my new home/ Now I cracked a meal on the half shell/ rotten to the core, repulsed by the smell/ oh the fertile eyes of hers… but I’d heard the lies of hers and I could tell/ between a rock and boot heel, I’ll lay down n doubt he will, for a hundred fold/ he said be bold, breathe release and breed Writhe – spread my lips on your account Slide – guide me in and spill me out Rise – pull me past the brink Die – to make something of me

This is silence broken by violent choking If you only burned the bridge then why is my carcass smoking You overcome me all of a sudden Tough I wasn't bluffing We both came to nothing; no you came to love him Now this x marks the spot where I buried this hatchet Through the fabric and your chest I’m robbing the cradle leaving the nest, Recovering slowly after a fashion, What we did like rabbits I'll kick like a habit, I'll abort this pregnant pause Because you were my plan b, Cut you off before you started like IUD, You're spasming in my grasp, Sitting in my lap, Wondering if I have the strength for the rubber match, Nothing lasts and I didn't, I get it, forget it. You split faster than I split you what time limit? Speak your own mind why you inclined to this movie line gimmick? I'm tempted you're scripted, You're shifting I'm shiftless, I'm fishing for privilege And asking permission. We shifted the linen I tickled your fancy, I tended to hear vows in the heat of your panting. You're inflamed by my thin skin Now suffocate in your twin skins. Sic Semper to my sick temper, Dismembered by the last pretender, remember? I’m two toned and big boned, unknown never condoned, All alone and half stoned, on thoughts of leaving my home I’ll never pull off pulling away, I’m too attached to your face. What I thought was saving you Was a mirage never intended to Do more than blind, I needed you I thought I was cleaning out my closet, insisting that you play fair Believe me I bought it, it was just dirty laundry to blackmail you to stay there And if I’ve never measured up to your yardstick… Just wait a year for the full length