Approximately Free

[Chorus: Shavona Antoinette] Oh, oh When we feel the greed, so close Only free approximately When we could be so close Only free approximately [Verse 1: Black Thought] Look, this American history of thuggery Put me right in the city of brotherly love where our sisters and mothers be Up on the auction block like it was Christy and Southerly's We were prized property and livestock When the king cotton was a cash crop And the red, white, and blue was backdrop But we never got to see a jackpot If I'm honest, man, the birth of this mission began with a song on the sonogram As the contraband, we worked and we waited but never quite got to the promised land And I'm speakin' the truth, regardless of what you been teachin' the youth This go to whoever still seekin' a proof We dealin' with more than a leak in the roof A glitch in the system, a chink in the armor Or just a depiction for sake of the drama Or playin' a victim, a sensitive father who charted the ships Comin' into the harbor, they did us too dirty to not be discussed Beat us until we forgot we was us, so how could our liberty not be a must? Okay, if I'm free, then I'm not free enough Black Thought [Chorus: Shavona Antoinette] Oh, oh When we feel the greed, so close Only free approximately When we could be so close Only free approximately [Verse 2: Black Thought] We in the trap like muskrats, fuck that Handcuffed where the crust and the dust at It's funny how it's only us that touch that Well, you can trust Black never get guts lack Free what's that, where that at, who's that I even think full when I gotta move back And I'm civilized, why I gotta prove that? Everything I work for, I gotta lose that? I'm in the fight like Mike with the zeitgeist One thing I never known is a nice life Tippin' on a tightrope and I don't like heights And they never let a nigga roll the dice twice We ignite like flint when the match hit I've been left for dead but I'm not yet Look at me, I'm still out chea' Boxin' with a shadow of a doubt, how I got chea' And the team that I'm rockin' with do not forget the truth Or the consequence, we not convinced by these court documents It's common sense why we the opposites of optimists Approximately short of who we are But absolutely more than mulignan These complicated times is too bizarre It's like we kinda close but no cigar [Chorus: Shavona Antoinette] Oh, oh When we feel the greed, so close Only free approximately When we could be so close Only free approximately [Interlude: Ray Angry] If you are doing your best to make things right, then go harder. To repair that damage done, the distrust built, the scars left behind, your best ain't good enough; we need more. Every day should be Juneteenth, every month should be Black History or Black Music Month. We on our way but we got a ways to go. Look, as long as black and brown people are being denied basic human rights and so-called blind justice is all but colorblind, as long as there's an agenda to ban content like The 1619 Project, other works of art that speak to the uncomfortable, ugly truth of this nation, we ain't free. We playin' free and doin' a bad impression. That's why I say approximately, almost. Round-a-bout, dance dance, not quite, listen [Outro: Shavona Antoinette] Only free Only free approximately