Raise The Banner

[Intro] You know, it hit me one night I was reading my daughter A bedtime story and uhm, I noticed something You know every time I read this story it never fails You know the tortoise he always wins [Hook] This ain't a game, standard-bearer Raise the banner You should demand better, homie Raise the banner Testify, rally cry, under the banner Jah Jah, King Nissi, follow the banner Uh, for your children, for your neighbours, for your communities Follow the banner! Everybody, unashamed, lock your arms, plant your feet Look around, they need you! Follow the banner [Verse 1] Eey yo, tios, tias, ates, qyas; consider your influence The little ones want to be us This ain't about ego, stop thinking so selfishly Called to be the best is what's best for our community Consistency, change the future of a family When one goes to college, it breaks the cycle of poverty I know a ex-vice lord dropped his flags And picked up the pulpit, put a price on his head We're tortoise-and-the-hare style, brave in the drought And just last week he baptized they guy who put the hit out! My cousin Era shootin' kites to aunt Carolin about how he hates his life And tell me a lil' more about Christ Well-versed in gang talk Fooled them OGs and them prison guards Now he walks a yard he owns No could-a should-a would-a's, ask all my kinfolks I read the story a million times Tortoise always wins [Hook] This ain't a game, standard-bearer Raise the banner You should demand better, homie Raise the banner Testify, rally cry, under the banner Jah Jah, King Nissi, follow the banner Uh, for your children, for your neighbours, for your communities Follow the banner! Everybody, unashamed, lock your arms, plant your feet Look around, they need you! Follow the banner [Verse 2] Better husbands, better fathers, more servants, more diligence No excuses, they are useless You can do this, follow the banner It takes discipline, to be dead to sin Can't do it alone, you need your kin Just keep the pace, understand the race You ain't gotta be fast, just don't run out of gas No honorable mentions Leave no leftovers Licked the plate of life clean and thanks to Elohim No Ponzi schemes, just excellence Just reverence, He is our banner Just look around, examine creation, it's beautiful ain't it? The pictures he painted Beeline the finish line, don't mind if you quote me Ask why we ain't hot yet? We cookin' ours slowly [Hook] This ain't a game, standard-bearer Raise the banner You should demand better, homie Raise the banner Testify, rally cry, under the banner Jah Jah, King Nissi, follow the banner Uh, for your children, for your neighbours, for your communities Follow the banner! Everybody, unashamed, lock your arms, plant your feet Look around, they need you! Follow the banner