Masked Laughter (Nothing's Left)

I spit cryptic, never a mystic, barely uplifting
I'll outlive most my critics
Expect for self which leaves me livid
What's yet unspoken gives hope to those who've lived it
I've shouldered burdens, still yearning
For that dawn I ain't the cynic
Best these words get printed in disposable age we're in
Darker days ahead with weight we laboring
Conviction never wavering
Meant each uttered word
Can only hope I get to spit these gutter proverbs
We kept it real when this whole world turned plastic
Y'all really thought you didn't need this brown bastard?
Every cut on blood diamonds make facets
Refract a light upon the face of bad actors
I'm trying to help but y'all got this ass-backwards
Hard to smile with all the tears that mask laughter

Don't my breath deserve respect?
With all this poison we ingest
Y'all keep saying its a test
What's to win when nothing's left?
Don't my breath deserve respect?
With all this poison we ingest
Y'all keep saying its a test
What's to win when nothing's left?

Frustration fails to veil anger
Done with petty banter
Benign lies confused for truth
Tactics 'ready standard
Which the better odds:
Scratch off cards or wearing handcuffs?
Bankers left us bankrupt
Our future held for ransom
I don't need a fucking anthem!
I need change!
Not that shit that jingles but them laws scribed to page
Y'all ever wonder why the fuck I'm enraged?
I ain't trying to bring a son to this stage
I'm trying to breathe
I'm trying to breathe
I'm trying to breathe
I'm trying to breathe
I'm trying to breathe
I'm trying to breathe
Motherfuckers let us breathe

Don't our breath deserve respect?
Wit all this poison we ingest
Y'all keep saying its a test
But what's to win when nothing's left?
Don't our breath deserve respect?
Wit all this poison we ingest
Y'all keep saying its a test
But what's to win when nothing's left?

Terrorism, terrorism, terrorism, terrorism, terrorism...