Under Lock & Key

Laud and honor the martyrs! Even those who weren’t warriors.
The unconscious brother enjoys a guilty comfort.
Not from inheritance, but rather he lives in a First World
Settled by invaders and tomb raiders, capitalist traders
raping the earth. Governments promise prosperity if only
you kneel. Can Third World tragedies find any appeal?
Or does bourgeois culture supply you with unlimited hope?
Like oppression, crime and dope. Faith in religion tickles
your conscience but that doesn’t make it science.
We struggle together: The People - equal. The chains of
slavery rattle like tambourines to a new upheaval.
So laud and honor the martyrs! Even those who weren’t warriors.
Flies swarm around the dung of capitalism, invoking disgust
at its chauvanisms and material greed.
Don’t be part of the problem.

I’m revolutionary,
So in other words
I’m evolutionary.
Molded by Larry Hoover
So that makes me visionary.
To some,
This would actually seem scary.

I’m revolutionary,
So I stress it to my family.
I tell them the time is near
For me to be.
To become the living prodigy
So I must not be weak.

I’m revolutionary,
So it’s the youth whom I guide.
Within closed walls
for that youth,
I cry.
Knowing that to open their eyes
I’ll most likely have to die.
Die so that they
May live free.

Like the Messiah
Is how I shall approach thee.
Fist held high
And it shall stand for
PEACE.
As I march through the fire,
A Revolutionary Soulja I shall be.

Where did I come from you ask?
I came from a great civilization
A people who knew what day it was
While the rest of the world did not.

I come from a people who knew
Where the Earth fit in relation to the universe
While the rest of the world knew not.

I come from a civilization
Of great art and rich culture.
A people advanced in mathematics and building structures
Which were symmetrical to the sun.

I come from a people that fought
For its independence
From three foreign nations
In one century alone!

I continue to survive this bloody annexation
And to this day
I maintain my identity
Against pressure to assimilate.

I come from a civilization
Which has been here since the beginning of time.
I am heir to traditions of Cuauhtemoc,
Benito Juarez, and Emiliano Zapata.

I am indigenous to this land
And now I hear these ignorant voices
Telling me to go back where “I” come from?
“I” am from here!
My civilization was founded on the very earth we stand on!
You and your people go back to where you come from!

You have both parents. I have one.
We are both better off than those who have none.
You were given everything. I stayed on my feet.
We both had it better than those raised in the streets.
What about the one that just needed some new kicks?
I don’t condone stealing, but I don’t judge him one bit.

And you say you know what it’s like.

Have you ever been pulled over and feared for your life?
Covered the wound of a person stabbed with a knife?
Gunshots ring past you filling you with fright?
Or decades and decades of fighting for your rights?

And you say you know what it’s like.

You have four siblings. With mine I had fun.
My friend’s whole family was mowed down by the gun.
You inherited love. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I just want you to see that you’ve never been where we’re at.

And you say you know what it’s like.

You ever been homeless living under a bridge?
You ever been to prison with the thought of losing your kids?
What about prison in general for something you didn’t do?
Oh wait, nevermind. Because you have always been you.

Well I’ve always been me. Is it money that I lack?
If Amerika’s mostly white why are the prisons mostly Black?
You went to a great school. I went to one in the hood.
Despite the school’s limitations, I think I turned out really good.
You had a good upbringing. Many envy that.
I just want you to see that you’ve never been where we’re at.

And you say you know what it’s like.

When you lock us away, it’s usually for years.
You say it’s justice, but you just create more tears.
Our families are victims too, of mass incarceration.
Your jury isn’t our peers. They convict without hesitation.
You think you do us a favor when we’re forced to take a deal.
It’s still too much time for a crime that’s not real.
You’ve been to court, too, but you sat where the public sat.
That still doesn’t show you that you’ve been where we’re at.

And you say you know what it’s like.

When cops kill us, we must have did something bad.
Now we’re taking back something we forgot we had.
Our love for each other will bring you to your knees.
And show you what it feels like with your hands up and you can’t breathe.
Your lack of care for our lives will never be without fuss.
My people can see that it’s not justice, it’s just us.
Even some of your people join in our strides.
Because they see the truth of your bigotry and lies.

Times are steady changing, please remember that.
Even on your worst day you’ve never been where we’re at.

With your head held high standing strong and firm, with
the energy to move the nation.
Your voice screaming loud and clear, equality, justice and peace.
And with hope, our people pump their fist screaming, “right on!”
Right on! Right on! Right on!
Manifesting a universal movement, that was bold and strong.
Installing the mind-frame that “I am my people, and my people are me,”
Providing strength, love and unity.
Showing we don’t need their food programs, community control nor schools.
No more, shall we be their fools.
You sought out for nothing they themselves wouldn’t have covet,
sick of oppression, it’s not as though we’ve chose it.
Fearing we will no longer bow and scrape our knees, they strategized
a plan, for you with ease.
So being vindictive and rageful they labeled you a hate group,
Targeted for extermination, because they could not control you.
It wouldn’t have made a difference being mild and fervent.
You did what you suppose, giving mind, body and soul as hard as storm currents.
For the people you lived and for the people you dived, head first into a
revolutionary suicide.

Dedicated to the Black Panther Party

Rise up, rise up, it’s time to rise up against the system
One that has many young brothers and sisters missing
Stuck behind walls gated in a warehouse
Amerikkka’s criminal injustice system
full of brothers and sisters they won’t let out
Rise up, rise up, it’s time to rise up against the system
Hurry you must hurry you can easily become the next victim
Another nameless soul thrown into the pen turned into a number
All in the goal of breaking you and making your spirit crumble
Rise up, rise up, it’s time to rise up against the system
Revolution we must demand to overthrow these people’s trippin
Planting evidence, misconduct, lies all for political motivation
We must band together, Revolutionaries for freedom of our nation
Rise up, rise up, it’s time to rise up against the system
Power to the freedom fighters through means of resistance
Rise up, rise up, it’s time to rise up against the system!

Interest of the wealthy always precedes those who aren’t heard.
Power to the people who stand their ground.
No more broken promises and we won’t back down.
The fruits of our labor will be handed around.
What must it mean to be truly free?
Should we settle for something less, fuck it don’t agree.
This war scattered us into refugees, blame those in power
Who claim to represent you and me.
No matter what you say and claim to be, dig your roots
And nourish what you seek.
Be part of the solution, organize and fight together.
We have to devise a plan, a common ground in which
A idea won’t fall into one hand.
No doubt freedom fighters will get gunned down.
The rebel with the knowledge is the child born in the trenches.
Who will carry the torch of resistance for the next seven generation.
Learn from mistakes and apply to the whole.
We can never separate the people from the struggle.

Stop – freeze
Pig get on your knees
You can hate me
But you can’t stop thee
Movement in progress
Socialism rises,
Like the Phoenix –
All shapes and sizes,
Walk of life
Will walk to town
We stop until
Capitalist trash falls down

Starlight, star bright
We the people
Learn to fight
Against the pigs
But that’s not all
Eventually imperialism will fall.
Who are we?
Maoist Ministries.
You can bark
But we won’t flee
Down with the pig and imperialist trash.

That’s the way they wanna be,
That’s the way they wanna be,
That’s the way they wanna be,

They do things that society can’t see.
Lock mass numbers away from being free.
Destroy lives, “but they’re not the enemy”.

Imperialism trying to keep us down.
Governments oppression and greed makes us frown.
TV says we’re fine, messages from a clown.

They strike out in fear when they see us becoming strong.
Holding us down cruelly and say WE are in the wrong.
We’re modern day gladiators thrown into the throng.

We’re judged evil for becoming the monsters they created.
No matter how unjust, we’re the ones who are always hated.
Wanting a reaction, don’t fall into the trap they’ve baited.

That’s the way they wanna be,
That’s the way they wanna be,
Thats the way they wanna be,

Revolutionary minds will be our saviors.
Far too many wrongs done to us by our oppressors.
It has been building up like a bomb, too much pressure.

Government’s looting money hand over fist.
Looking at their offenses, its one hell of a list.
Not to worry, it isn’t their loved ones who’s missed.
But WE’RE the bad guys who’s mass incarcerated.
Acting like they don’t understand why we’re frustrated.
They just warehouse us, we’re not rehabilitated.

Unless we’re united they’ll lock us all from sight.
They’re in the wrong, time to stand up for what’s right.
We got to be strong, stay together and fight.