[Intro — Dark Synths] Yeah… War done—but the war ain’t gone. Reconstruction. Run it. [Chorus] Thirteen—freedom, Fourteen—citizens, Fifteen—vote, But hate come back again. Freedom! Citizens! Ballot in hand! Three amendments—fight for the land. Freedom! Citizens! Vote—defend! But hate come back again. [Verse 1 — Sparse Flow] Eighteen sixty-eight—pick a side, Johnson rejected, Grant gon’ ride. Civil War hero, Union name, Black voters backed him—Grant won the game. Seymour fell, Radicals rose, Reconstruction still had votes. Ballot box booming, power unlocked, New voice rising—watch that clock. [Pre-Chorus] One more move—Congress proposed, One more right—that door swung closed On race-based rules at the voting line: Fifteenth Amendment—sign that sign. [Chorus] Thirteen—freedom, Fourteen—citizens, Fifteen—vote, But hate come back again. Freedom! Citizens! Ballot in hand! Three amendments—fight for the land. Freedom! Citizens! Vote—defend! But hate come back again. [Verse 2 — Floating Flow] Race—no. Color—no. Once enslaved? Still can’t block that vote. State government, federal too, Couldn’t deny that right to you. Male citizens—law made clear, Ratified in eighteen-seventy year. Republicans said, “Our work complete.” Power in the ballot, protection in reach. But hope ran high—truth ran cold: A right on paper could still get stole. [Beat Stops] Wait… They wrote the right. They passed the vote. But what happens when the rules get rigged? [BEAT SWITCH — CYPHER] [North] Fifteenth written—clear as day, Race can’t take your vote away. Law in the land, line in the sand, Ballot brings power right to your hand. [South] Can’t say “race”? Then change the route. Put a price on the vote—price ’em out. Poll tax posted, payment demanded, No cash ready? Ballot abandoned. [North] That’s a fee on freedom—facts! Voting rights shouldn’t come with tax. You bend the rule, but the words remain: Equal protection—not rigged-up games. [South] Literacy test—read this page. Hard constitution, legal maze. Twist each question, change each key— Pass who we want, block who we please. [North] Tests made tricky, traps in text, Different questions—who gets checked? Education denied, then used as a wall— That isn’t justice, that’s fixing the call. [South] Poor white voters caught there too? Grandfather clause gonna pull them through. If granddad voted before the change, Step right up—get in the game. [North] Before Reconstruction? Think that through: Black men had no vote to point back to. A family loophole, crooked and cold— Old discrimination dressed up bold. [South] Taxes. Tests. Threats in the night. [North] Rights on paper—still gotta fight. [South] Cut their numbers, silence their voice. [North] A vote ain’t power without real choice! [Final Chorus — Both Voices] Thirteen—freedom, Fourteen—citizens, Fifteen—vote, But hate come back again. Freedom! Citizens! Ballot in hand! Three amendments—fight for the land. Laws got passed, but the fight didn’t end— When hate came back, they fought again. Thirteen—chains fall. Fourteen—we belong. Fifteen—voices. Let the vote live on. [Outro] Fifteenth. Written in law. Blocked in practice. Still— a promise worth protecting.
