MOOSA

[Intro]

Hello, this is a prepaid collect call from Moosa

Who's my Lord? (How does it feel?)

Who’s my Lord? (How does it feel?)

Who's my Lord? (How does it feel?)

Who's my Lord? (How does it feel?)

[Verse 1: VIC MENSA]

I was beggin’ God for a sign, shine a beacon of light, I know I ain't livin' right

Every day is darkness in this dusty apartment

Half-empty Hennessy bottles and condoms on the carpet

Half a bag of cocaine on the counter by my Smith & Wesson

Misdirected, I gripped the weapon, connect it to my temple

Resentful to be so sinful, demons on my mental (Can it be that it was all so simple then?)

Dreamin' of when things werе simple

On SNL with Kanye, poppin' Ace at thе 40/40 next to Beyoncé

Now I felt like Michelle and Kelly

As if my destiny wasn't manifested for me

At the same time, my dog James fightin' an attempted class X felony

Rottin' in Cook County with rapists, facin’ forty years

He’d be lucky to get a twenty-piece

My conversations with him were therapy

Imaginin' how he could be so optimistic

Prayin’ in front of a toilet with no pot to piss in

He told me, "Stop and listen

Allah gives me my freedom

If I keep him inside, these devils could never hold my mind in my prison

And you outside bitchin'

You need to practice some gratitude

Take heed to the blessings that he granted you"

[Bridge: Vic Mensa & Wyatt Waddell]

Waitin' by this phone (This phone)

Better days are comin' (Comin’, I know)

I know you've been gone so long (So long)

But one day you'll be home again (Home again)

Just waitin' by that jail phone (By that jail phone)

Better days are comin' (Comin', I know)

I know you've been gone so long (You've been gone so long)

But one day you'll be home again

[Verse 2: VIC MENSA & King Moosa]

Before long, I'm introduced on the phone to a brother named Moosa

See, Moosa been in Dixon prison since he was a junior

Sentenced to twenty-five years at fourteen, as an adolescent shooter, uh

I knew him through my sister Aja Monet

She asked me if I can help to shed some light on his case

We hop on the horn, knowledge is born

Rapping 'bout criminalization of the Black boy

Conversation moved forward, then James asked what's the chance he'd be sent to Dixon

He said, "Slim to none, Illinois got fifty prisons

I got a clemency petition, you could help me pitch it

Hold on, let me call you back, the C.O.'s bitchin'" (Oh, get the fuck up)

As James' trial date approached fruition

I'm goin' through my own trials, caught a gun possession for the .40 cal'

All this positive shit and, really, I'm hardly different

Thinkin' I might end up in a cell right by these niggas

My mind started flippin' when I heard the judge's decision

A decade and a half

They don't want him home 'til 2035

That's that shit'll make you spazz

Grab a C.O. and slit his throat with a broken glass

Last but not least, in the feat of serendipity

This nigga got sent to the same penitentiary

I kid you not, on the same cell block

So close to this nigga Moosa that they could share a cot

James start goin' to Jumu'ah

He puttin' me on the Quran

I'm takin' fruit from the faith of Islam

Meditatin' on my burdens as I pray to Allah

To keep my head high through the hoopla

He's surrounded by the wolves in a pool of sharks

Fightin' over phone time (Come on, man, motherfuckers got kids, too)

Wrong place, wrong time

Moosa got into an altercation, on some petty shit

Wasn't even really his beef, it was his celly's shit

Blood everywhere, teeth knocked out (Goofy ass nigga)

Busted his mouth, somebody shout

Next thing you know the C.O.'s is stomping 'em out (Hey, break it up, assholes)

Last hope of freedom cast in the shadow of doubt

All the classes and the programs, dirty toilet bowl hands

Hopin' it wasn't all for nothin'

Fast forward to our next discussion

He still stressin' over the repercussions

He told me he came across an initiative

Surroundin' the COVID concernin' clemency prisoners

I doubted the significance, I mean shit, how could it be?

He ain't supposed to see the streets until 2033

I sent a note to the governor's desk, I knew he wouldn't read

I got the call from his lady, three days later, he's home free

[Outro: Jeremih, Eryn Allen Kane & Wyatt Waddell]

We passed through great arches

Fortress of stone

Hands and hair as coarse as wool

Feet like burnished bronze as we march through the sea

In all of your glory (In all of your glory)

You need not fear

For the tides are turning

There's a wind in your sails (Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh)

Keep on dreaming, keep on loving

Keep on moving, keep on discovering, yeah, yeah

Keep on existing, keep on resisting

Keep on fighting, yeah, yeah (Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Simmer down, simmer down, simmer down, simmer down

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, ooh, ooh

Ooh, ooh

Ooh, yeah