These Waters

[Produced by Nottz]

[Verse 1: K’Valentine]

I gotta split this honeybun in four ways

No heat because the gas is off us, it’s goin’ on four days

Depression in the corridors, pressed to the doorway

No power in my tongue, nobody cares about what the poor say

Fuck the system, Willie Lynch ‘em, what they did to us

I’m walkin’ to the cornerstore, the scenery’s ridiculous

Commercial with the old hands about how it used to be

They witness the digression but the struggle shit ain’t new to me

I’m from the place where all the money and respect is missing

Poverty stricken but the pastor still collect commission

We think we free but unknowingly we accept restrictions

I’m out the dark because my hunger sparks my scepticism

Was always taught embrace my elders and protect the wisdom

Peaceful, still neglect the victim but we give it that permission

Black girl, thick skin, woman [?]

She’s the reason we’re a diamond so I call her pressure

[Chorus: Chris Rob]

Spent a long time searching for the heart I’m feeling shy

I can feel the freedom in me; I can make it to the other side

And when my mind begins to drown

When the world’s tryna bring me down

I’ll still be keeping my head above these waters

[Verse 2: NIKO IS]

All muthafuckers afraid to speak out so they tweet out

Celebrities hashtag revolution on the rebound

My life is in rehearsal, why you think I always freestyle?

People are getting beat down, yo [?] Niko turn that beat down

Look, you wanna make history, boy, you tryna make it out?

Too many negative people in your circle you gotta take them out

See [?] paper route

Find the combinations cause I never took the safer route

I wanna see my people wealthy, in body and mind I’m healthy

But some people just wanna settle for a selfie

It’s hard to level with the devil in me

And the next man is tryna sell me a dream, in a pyramid scheme

Wake up now look, my vacation is a permanent safe haven

Man, this system isn’t game, why you think they buying PlayStations?

My people in body bags and you watch Twitter lobby gagging

And would rather spend $200 on Jordans that everybody have

[Chorus: Chris Rob]

Spent a long time searching for the heart I’m feeling shy

I can feel the freedom in me; I can make it to the other side

And when my mind begins to drown

When the world’s tryna bring me down

I’ll still be keeping my head above these waters

Spent a long time searching for the heart I’m feeling shy

I can feel the freedom in me; I can make it to the other side

And when my mind begins to drown

When the world’s tryna bring me down

I’ll still be keeping my head above these waters

[Verse 3: Jessica Care Moore]

I walk for miles and no smiles

I live for my brother who didn’t know how

I see the envy in my know-how

I know the world looking at me, the ocean so shy

The sun got my skin brown

Michael could easily be Michelle

No doubt, so foul

Being a girl is half silent, part-time loud

No Mattel, no long legs like mine to play with

I’m surrounded by magic

Put the hood in my cloud, you can’t have it

No curfews for godless bandits

This is the world I’ve been handed

Motherships and Cutlass Supremes landed

Not a fan of bandwidth

I communicate with ancient Sanskrit

Use the lead to write the life I was dealt with

Always number two to you

But I know I’m the curve of every corner

The place you gotta stop before you cross one

And it’s usually the hardest story, from the brightest smile

And the sweetest child

And you cry rape and smile

You steal the lost and found

Indigenous screams keep my mouth shut and my dreams deferred

Word, I’m a blue bird, in the jay territory

I’m my great-grandmama’s glory

These new trees wanna lynch me or whore me

While my arms keep stretching at climbing past rings of stories

My block is be more and black

My block steals horses, the hearse and fire’s back

My eyes tire from watching my back

My existence is a matter of fact

Retold this fiction, I created form, style and diction

Surviving was my first adult decision

I breathe, I love, I travel, I pray

Beyond this place, this moment, this walk from my door

To simply make to the other side of the day