[Verse 1: J. Cole]
And I'm in denial
And it don't take no x-ray to see right through my smile
I know, I be on the go
And there ain't no drink out there that can numb my soul
Oh no
[Chorus: J. Cole x2]
All we wanna do is take the chains off
All we wanna do is break the chains off
All we wanna do is be free
All we wanna do is be free
[Verse 2: PhoniK]
Is it too much to ask?
Is it that hard to see?
I'm here pleadin, this is what God gave me!
But your black heart bleeding bullets into the seeds of your own father
Why bother pour these tears in your bottle?
Just to quench your thirst?
So you could drag my little son in a hearse?
And bring darkness to Earth?
Cause we don't look like you, it means we're victims by birth
I'll just bottle up my hurt..
I'll just bottle up my hurt. Curse you but curse the system first!
Designed as a cage for my kind and the kind that is not your kind
You playing kind like we blind and we don't see through it
You came through with your sirens and your pledge to leave our bodies contoured with a chalk
Is it ever gonna stop? We just wanna live
But too bad we're equal - the k**ers and the kids
Now what? You ran out of handcuffs?
Is that how you conclude that he's 'armed' - cause his hands' up?!
[Verse 3: J. Cole]
Can you tell me why
Every time I step outside I see my n***as die
I'm lettin' you know
That there ain't no gun they make that can k** my soul
Oh no
[Chorus x2]
[Eyewitness account from Dorian Johnson]
So now it was like the officer is pulling him inside the car and he's trying to pull away
At no time the officer said that he was going to do anything until he pulled out his weapon
His weapon was drawn and he said, "I'll shoot you" or, "I'm going to shoot"
and in the same moment, the first shot went off
We looked down and he was shot and there was blood coming from him
Then we took off running
Are we all alone, fighting on our own
Please give me a chance, I don't wanna dance
Somethings got me down, I will stand my ground
Don't just stand around, don't just stand around
[Eyewitness account from Dorian Johnson]
As we took off running I ducked and hid for my life, because I was fearing for my life
I hid behind the first car I saw
My friend, he kept running, and he told me to keep running because he feared for me too
So as he was running the officer was trying to get out of the car
and once he got out the car he pursued my friend but his weapon was drawn
Now he didn't see any weapon drawn at him or anything like that, us going for no weapon
His weapon was already drawn when he got out the car
He shot again, and once my friend felt that shot
he turned around and put his hands in the air, and started to get down
but the officer still approached with his weapon drawn
and he fired 7 more shots and my friend died
[Chorus x2]