Another Year

[Intro: Shad]

So in the end I guess the moral of the story is

That the war continues within us

Everyday

[Verse 1: Shad]

Another year in Toronto

Another drunk in a bar

Barf in a parkette

Another dunk for Demar

More junk of the hearts

Beats in the trunk of the car

On a hard drive

I'm talking from The Junction to Scarbs

Trump is in charge

And they trump up the charges

Told my man that maybe he should move up here

But we get bumped to the margins

Marved:

Many kids starved

Mumbling bars

We're numb to the numbers

Of people sleeping under the stars

Can't argue that the lump isn't large now

Greed is a sickness

Far worse than that lung full of SARS

We're number 1 in the charts

Only one in the pews

Planes and clouds in the skies

Cranes downing the highs

Crowding the views

I wonder how much housing is used

Downtown under construction

Sounding loud and confused

Down tempo and woozy

Hard techno and trap

Had—

(Forgot the last line)

[Verse 2: Ian Kamau]

Another night in Toronto

An autumn walk through the park

Another heart fills with sorrow

From another shot in the dark

And yet, another tomorrow that we both didn't see

A disagreement turned argument that we both didn't need

I say you never consider

You say that I never cared

Your arms are crossed on the couch

I'm gonna go get some air

Beyond the park I cross Jarvis and Front until Yonge

We're young, somewhat undone by the city we're from

An empty plate with no meal

A shining knife and a fork

The smartest artists all jump on a plane to New York

You tell me that I should settle

As if staying's a choice

But I've been using my music

So you've been losing your voice

I feel the constant control

You feel the constant neglect

You're scared of developers aiming at our neighborhood next

And I feel the same people tasked with serve and protect

How do we walk in the city where the police are a threat?

If we object to the mention of being pushed to the edge

They politely ignore us, say we're driving a wedge

But our rent, it soars higher like the gulls by the lake

They either build or destroy

We either give or we take

I get a text on my phone

I see your name with a face

With a wink and a smile

When I arrive we embrace

Your arms closed over my shoulder

My hands woven on your waist

Sweet and sour September

Bitter moments to taste

I hope that we never scar

Though we are licking the wounds

Sweet and sour, our city

A thousand flowers in bloom

In a glass covered garden

Downtown in the park

Your sweet and sour Toronto

Helped me see in the dark

[Interlude: Eternia]

Dufferin Street

Tandridge Crescent

34th Avenue

3rd and Windner

Rugby Boulevard

Bergen Line

Jarvis and Gerrard

[Verse 3: Eternia]

Yo

The tide rises in me

When the moon is full

I feel these lines bubble up and overflow in my soul

I watch the wind when it caresses the limbs and tree branches Older than me

The city chopped them down last week

I could've cried

My view from my window

It kinda died

Now I'm mourning at the altar of these days gone by

I fill my glass up with could've been, should've been wine

And got drunk off the illusion of time

Entitled in the worst way

Living like my life is my own

We all thirsty, wonder why we don't feel whole

Slowly emerging, the evidence we out of control

It is our children that inherit this all

I want children in the worst way

Feel I should apologize though

Like I'm selfish or small-minded for not wanting much more

Or maybe it's too much to ask

Broken, walking on glass

Soaking up the curses and blessings of ancestors past

A legacy that can last

We don't see that too often

All my thirty-somethin' peoples look around and feel lost

And why is that?

I had a thought but the beat came back

I lost it, found in the music my senses get lost in

Often

Rambling with wisdom that's older than all your logic

Words are not the ultimate

Feelings distort the optics

Spiritually led to follow wherever my heart is

And it took me on some detours

I still stay on topic

You wanna hear something relevant, something obvious

I'll tell you how my life got started

Aborted options

And this life ain't all there is

There's more to this than trending topics

I promise

You ain't hear me though, right?

Let me get off this

Train I'm riding on

I missed my stop

Just so I rocked this

Let my thoughts flow where the train go

Dundas to Bloor and Royal York to the bus—73C

Where my parents rest ain't the best

But that's the option

And everywhere I nest it feel like home when I get lost in this

Thank you for listening, my spirit can rest now

[Interlude: Eternia]

Rectory Street

Trafalgar Court

Ewing Street

Churchhill Street

Bayshore Drive

Baseline

Her Womb

[Verse 4: Shad]

I remembered the—

That last line just came back

It was "Had snow before Snow could rap"

That's where I'm at

And I'll wrap the track

Still feel a couple joints by him by the way

Bottom of that playlist that I hide away

OK, what was I trying to say?

On the inside been making big strides: Giannis

See the kid fly

Not just making the Bucks or the big time

Some give time

Pour their hearts out

Then sit and sip wine from this vine

By the way I miss Vine

Anyways, this is what it means to me to live

Every day

Guess I'm still singing the same song

The one about trying

The only thing I can say without lying

I wish I knew a seed that could grow without dying

I wish that I could

Look you in the eyes and smile without crying

Funny things is, I was trying to tell a joke this whole time

I think that I've been trying to say goodbye

Well I'm open to surprise

Even open to demise

Feet planted in the city

Hands open to the skies

Once I was baptized in the ocean in a storm

In front of every force that wants to see me conform

And in front of every crowd that wants to see me perform

Every night, every morning I'm reborn

Transformed in this war-torn

Soul, mind, city, globe

Before we all explode