Sho Baraka - Foreward, 1619 lyrics

[Intro] The devil goes to and fro Like a lion seeking someone to devour Resist him [Hook: Sho Baraka] Don't close the book, I got more to write You can change the story, that is my advice I read in color, they see black and white You just saw the cover, but there's more to life Don't close the book, I got more to write You can change the story, that is my advice I read in color, they see black and white You just saw the cover, but there's more to life [Verse 1: Sho Baraka] Yeah, hello Quick introduction before I narrate I'm from the west, between Cornel and Kanye I grew up between section eight and cloud nine During my youth I lost my sense of being colorblind In between white supremacy and black nihilism AME churches, corner stores and the prison systems Hoteps and preachers on the block, they was dropping wisdom I would pick it up and just give it a little rhythm They said my lineage had a couple of kings A couple queens, a couple thieves, a couple fiends Despite the struggle, I was teached that we are equal I fall short like a midget but I'm down for the people The people, argue I died with integration Their false liberation is really a**imilation The youth view my history with some suspicion They wanna progress past religion and tradition I say [Hook: Sho Baraka] Don't close the book, I got more to write You can change the story, that is my advice I read in color, they see black and white You just saw the cover, but there's more to life Don't close the book, I got more to write You can change the story, that is my advice I read in color, they see black and white You just saw the cover, but there's more to life [Verse 2: Sho Baraka] Hello average, let me introduce you to awesome That Harlem renaissance age had some excellent artists That miseducation, that midnight marauding That life before Eve ate that fruit in the garden They say 'You might be on the wrong side of history' Well, that depends on who's writing Who's reciting, who's typing and who likes it If we want peace somebody has to do the fighting We exit Egypt, happy to speak resistance Then turn around, and ask pharaoh for his a**istance Huh, what is logic to the ignorant? What's forgiveness to people who think they're sinless? We are those, fully exposed, Adam and Eve hiding our weakness Folks who wanna be close but the devil stands between us Who knows the dirty souls with an urgent need to be cleaned up They oppose my solution, everybody hates Jesus [Hook: Sho Baraka] Don't close the book, I got more to write You can change the story, that is my advice I read in color, they see black and white You just saw the cover, but there's more to life Don't close the book, I got more to write You can change the story, that is my advice I read in color, they see black and white You just saw the cover, but there's more to life [Verse 3: Sho Baraka] Yeah, what's protest to the law? Should I pray or should I write? Do I want peace, or do I want power so I can try it? Who's gonna give the truth when these church moms retire? When censorship gets you fired and nobody gets inspired I don't care what you look like, black, white or magenta I don't care where you come from, Africa or placenta We all desperate and broken, given the same dilemma Do I serve God, or do I make off in my agenda? I remember thinking I was Daniel with the lions I'm like Israel in hiding when it's time to fight Goliath I've been broken, I've seen d**h working I've fought doubt, I've been knocked out, I know what hurt is I run from the truth, but I know where the church is I failed doing my job but yet I know my purpose Praise Jesus I was blind but now I see But my problem is I think I see too many things [Verse 4: Adan Bean] Let us chiropractic crack open the spine of this book Turn a few pages and take a deep look This is not the Catcher in the Rye This is the African who caught the slave catcher's eye Yet an invisible man who has the whole world watching Shall we meet the protagonist? For I am the colored cog in the capitalist wheel With baby faced bronze skin and melanin appeal snatched from the craterless civilization My name is Louis Portier Arrived on these shores but I've got more to say From Bali to Barbados to Beaufort, South Carolina Sierra Leone to Sapelo, with Sugar cane on my fingertips and shackles on my feet There are limitations to a man so pity me until I sunk my tooth into Juneteenth Tastes like grandma's sweet potato pie But it goes from master's plantation to ma** incarceration As the Jim Crow flies, all of this happened, more on less This is up from slavery, meets Porgy and Bess August Wilson, and Kenya Barris James Brown and James Burr Kehinde Wiley, and Cara Walker George Carrothers, Clinton and Washington Carver, the great migration and reconstruction From black wall streets, to Harlem Artilliers This is black survival and success, put on full display Whether it's the Little Rock, or the Charleston Nine Trying to integrate, or praying to stay alive Thinking that if my work was good somehow y'all would recognize my personhood But nah, instead I had to hustle this chocolate charm This black brilliance, this ebony ingenuity I know what this nation has done, can do, and is doing to me Also what it could be and therefore still, I rise From 1619 and beyond here I stand From being three-fifths of a compromised plan Using the breath in my black lungs Shouting words from a place of black love 'I am a man'