We Could Be Free

Yeah, we could be free

If we only knew

We were slaves to the pains of each other

One thing, I believe I could learn

To see my enemy as my brother

Then we could be free, truly

And love could wash away our sorrows

I'm not afraid to bleed

If it means

We'll make a better today not tomorrow

One day I dream of telling my momma

"You ain't gotta work no more"

Same for my father, born in Ghana

Down on that dirt road floor

Far as he came I can't complain

But pain is so subjective

Spend so much time countin' issues

I forget to count

My blessings

Watch my cousins back at home

Getting water out a well

While I watch my brother stacking stone

Whippin' water by the scale

Tryna' get a mill' on the other side

They ain't got a meal

We don't recognize we in heaven

So we think we live in hell

It's been getting kinda hard to tell

But

Sometimes I wake up and I look up at the sky

Asking why I'm alive when the realest niggas died

And my pride won't let me give up

Lord as hard as I try

In those times I try to remember

That we could be free

If we only knew

We were slaves to the pains of each other

One thing, I believe if I could learn

To see my enemy as my brother

Then we could be free, truly

And love could wash away our sorrows

I'm not afraid to bleed

If it means

We'll make a better today not tomorrow

'Nough, 'nough, 'nough

We'll make a better today not tomorrow

I don't want to wait for the afterlife

I don't want a vigil by candle light

I don't want to be the new sacrifice

I don't want to turn into a poltergeist

Be a ghost at night full of broken dreams

Momma cryin' at an open casket

Cold as ice in a suit, 3 piece

All dressed up for Sunday masses

Pastor said put faith in God

But faith alone can't make things right

Fuck is you to patronize

Somebody's son whose daddy died?

Why they flood Baton Rouge?

Why the city singing Alton's blues?

Why, why, why, why?

I feel like Jadakiss every time I watch the news

What the fuck I got to lose?

So I'm down to bleed if it means things improve

You fools, saying "all lives matter"

But it's black lives you refuse include

Blocked from the polls

Locked in the hood, trying to stop you

From voting and stop you from growing

And cops keep blowing and blowing

Keep black people locked into cotton

They don't want you to own, but

Sometimes I wake up and I look up in the sky

Asking why I survived all the days

That I could've died

Who am I in my place

To contemplate suicide?

In those times I try to remember

That we could be free, truly

If we'd only knew

We were slaves to the pains of each other

One thing, I believe I could learn

To see my enemy as my brother

Then we could be free, usually

And love could wash away our sorrows

I'm not afraid to bleed, if it means

Some better todays than tomorrow

'Cause only love (tear somebody)

Love (make my enemies my brothers)

Love (woah woah woah)

Make a better today not tomorrow

Oh, yeah, oh oh oh, yeah, oh oh oh, yeah

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, yeah yeah yeah

Make my enemies my brothers

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, yeah yeah yeah