Under Lock & Key

We are living our lives as captives trapped
behind this prison gate
Our bodies are tortured but our will to survive will never be
slain by this system that believes in nothing but hate.
Daily we’re patronized ridiculed with our hearts filled with pain,
Ever so fearlessly we fight so that our hearts and souls will remain.
We rebel against our captors tooth and nail,
Refusing that the numbers we’ve become won’t be our only tale to tell.
We retaliate by planning, dreaming, and persuing our goals,
We’re accustomed to the system’s hard knocks and low blows.
When our lives became no longer our own we vowed to fight and win our struggle.
Never to surrender our individuality at any cost or the respect thereof,
for it is everything during our struggle inside this concrete jungle.
We have the right to keep our bodies, minds, and souls safe
from the pollution inside this hell.
Regardless what our captors think while we’re caged like
animals inside these cells.
This battle we fight has been going on for decades of years.
A war fought for humanity by many good soldiers
through blood, sweat, and tears.
Year after year we continue to fight against a system that
believes in nothing but wrong.
Our powers take aim towards helping those who have fallen and are less strong.
A healing must take place for the oppressed, the beaten,
the battered and abused.
Cease movement I say to racism, sexism, and all of the hate
that is used.
Our fight shall never end until Power to our People shall
be granted again.
May our fight touch many lives Peace, Love, and Solidarity
to all from our hearts deep within.

Illusion of justice tried
to convict me
I can’t tell a lie for
you to believe me
Perjure my dignity
Alienate my self respect
truth isn’t a coward, truth
sets me free, respect that
Give me liberty or give me death
Truth is I’m still being me

I look to Africa when
I’ve lost my determination
across the oceans depths my
history
within the bloody waves my
ancestry

Reflections raindrops of
emancipation ripple through
to the currents of life
the spirit of my people struggle
break chains
Alive in my eyes I find strength to fight

big money deals
involving big wheels
backed by the law
leave you in awe

But you didn’t know
that by chasing the gold
they trampled the rights
for which America fights

State prisons abound
and still breaking ground
across this great land
to feed the demand

The feds are right there
getting their share
partners in crime
without doing time

Then there are prison for profit
who would have thought it
not me and you
it’s sad but it’s true

Justice for sale
will only fail
to deal with crime
but hey…it’s your dime

Still I Rise… not for myself but for my nation. I’m blinded by justice -n- deaf from oppression. All I hear is freedom, all I see is liberty…

Still I Rise… not for love but for equality. I’m armed for war -n- scarr’d from tragedies. All I feel is pain, all I see is shame…

Still I Rise… not for a reason but for a cause. A tongue sharp as a sword a heart as solid as a rock. I speak the truth -n- love every bit of it…

Still I Rise… no turning back when you motioning forward. Yesterday struggles is in the past but the memories of the pain still flow violently thru my veins.

The heart of Nat Turner, the tears of Corretta Scott King, the blood of every Ethiopian king -n- dreams of my fallen soldiers to let me know it’s never over because… Still I Rise

Askari

In the state of California
They say 3 strikes you’re out
If you don’t know what that means
Let me explain what the game is about
Now strikes are known as felonies
and they can cause some strife
with 2 you’re going to prison
with 3 you’re going for life
This law will break up families
and uncover societies fears
The streets will fill with blood
and little children’s tears
I say the streets will fill with blood
with this law you choose
A two strike prisoner facing life
has nothing left to lose
If you’ve ever been to prison
I’m sure you understand
A person without their freedom
is like a person without their hands
And what about all the children
and the parents they have lost?
Suicide and welfare lines
are just a fragment of the cost
and what about the prisons
filled beyond their max
it’s those who voted for this law
the government will tax
this law was passed in ignorance
by the people of this states
I hope that it is corrected
before it is too late.

It is the exposure of the capitalistic heart, and the imperialistic mind,
that has me fine with the destruction of its total system.
Fill up the clip for my gun and place its barrel in its rectum.
The revolutionary trigger is pulled, and at best there’s a mess,
For its original insides will no longer exist
No longer resist,
The strong temptation to fin a deep dug black hole like a rabbit confined.
Hide in it like a snake on decline
From the troops on their fast paced way to demolish your lines
Class struggle with submission to time.
Off the break when admitting the crime?
Hell no!
I’ve committed the mind, and have purchased a nine for your conviction.
No Petition.
You are found guilty and will visit a mortician.
Get out the kitchen.
The people have spoke and for this is their mission.
Death to the oppressor and all its ways of oppression.

Inraged by the blaze that’s been set by the states.
I have ingraved a personal aid in the fight against the snakes.
Yes against the Fakes and all its stragglers of the game.
I pledge the help of all myself from feet to full round brain.
Although Id like to skip the range and go straight to the field,
To skip the class would be my ass and that’s just keeping it real.
How can one dismantle the tank when one can’t assemble a gun?
I must learn true strategy, before attending true made fun.
A rise and true made revolution is destined in this land
As the turning of a power where the peasants take command
The winds blow a sharpness clearing smoke from Peoples War
with the sun high and smiling full of knowledge of what’s in store.
Nations come together baring arms to feed the starved
While also giving up the shots to cure all AIDS scared
No more injustice killings, or the kiling of true troops
No more miseducating or the raping of our youth
For I have inlisted

People power is derived directly from and through the unification
of those in dire need, tired of false promises, so they take it upon themselves for its manifestation

United Struggle from Within is a par excellent example
so long as we comrades strive hard and fight on, our work will be ample

People power is a scientific revolutionary term
In that it speaks to the masses to apply and earn

Earn what’s rightfully theirs, such as justice, freedom, liberation and equality
For when we outline our objectives, we do not say it modesty

Striking at the core cause of the problems
takes a deep look at capitalism before we can solve them

The socialist theory, better yet, the pathway to communism
Is the road, for the people, to stomp out oppression and imperialism

People Power is obtainable, visualize and please believe
For without people power we shall never achieve

As far as my eyes can see,
Not just the flesh
But our minds are under lock and key.
For hundreds of years
Behind “Justice” as an illusion,
Blindfolded by “Liberty” 2 cause confusion.
Founded by forefathers who slaughtered our mothers,
Established by “men” who slayed our brothers,
Our true names covered and denied,
Lashes handed 2 those who tried.
Something needs 2 be done,
2 change history about those who won,
Determination, Dedication, Revolution
in my eyes,
From the roots 2 the crest
Still I rise,
As far as my eyes can see,
Not just the flesh
But our minds are “under lock and key.”