[Verse 1] Family law that no one asked for Case three The Commonwealth versus Sibelo Coercive control conditional affection Weaponized sacrifice and possession Disguised as parenting She gave me a roof she gave me a school Horses and coaches all the right tools Me and her against the world that was how it felt Two of us one team until I learned every kindness came attached to a belt Be pretty be pretty Be quiet be quiet Be grateful behave Look what I've given you Look what I've done Look how much I've sacrificed after everything I've done So be good be grateful Don't make me regret it I gave you everything don't you dare forget it [Verse 2] So I became impressive Perfect grades perfect manners perfect little representative of the life we built I learned how to smile when I wanted to scream I became the daughter who made the story look good and somewhere between being praised for being good and punished forgetting it wrong I stopped knowing where the performance ended and I began Because the rules were never written down You just learned them by breaking them Don't argue Don't embarrass me Don't disappoint me Don't make me look bad Don't make me regret everything I've done and never never make me choose between loving you and controlling you When you're a kid you don't call it control you call it love when that's the only name you're told There were days I could feel the weather change before she said a word My freedom came measured in how well I obeyed A look across the room and suddenly I knew I'd done something wrong I could read a room faster than I could read myself And if keeping up peacement cutting pieces off myself Well chop chop chop Look what I've given you Look what I've done Look how much I've sacrificed after everything I've done So be good be grateful Don't make me regret it I gave you everything don't you dare forget it And this is where the story gets complicated Because I loved her She was my mother she wasn't a monster Every minute of every day that's what makes it harder There were good days There were memories I still don't want to throw away There was a version of us I would have fought the world for But love doesn't erase fear and good memories don't put the bad ones back where they belong That's what control does It doesn't build walls Sometimes it teaches you to build them yourself Me and you against the world slowly changed its shape It started meaning I'll protect you It started meaning you better stay on my side This isn't their testimony It's mine So here is what I know now I don't know obedience for being raised Providing for me doesn't mean you get to provide my identity and I don't have to hate everything you gave me to name what you took Be silent Be grateful Behave I learned the lesson I just learned it wrong I thought love meant becoming whatever someone needed so they would keep choosing you I thought being good and being easy being useful being yours But I'm not a little girl Waiting to be chosen anymore Look what I've given you I remember Look what I've done I remember Look how much I've sacrificed I remember all of it And I remember what it cost [Outro] Verdict Guilty
