Same Earth
They teach a child to border Before they teach 'em what a body worth Yeah First thing we learned wasn't love It was when not to stand What color got you looked at What block made you a man What church said you clean What cop said you fit the description What teacher loved your silence What hunger killed your attention At home it was lights off early Sync full, bill folded twice Mama counting coins at the table Like prayer might lower the price Men on the steps talk low County debt, God, probation Kids on the curb catch all that smoke And call it education Uh, one cousin banged blue One cousin banged red, both poor Same cracked wall, same bad pipes, same roaches By the door, uh, yeah But they told us that line meant something Like the street got blood in it Like a child supposed to inherit a side And find his love in it Corner store eyes on our hands School had flags on the wall News called it gang related every time One of us fall Nobody said design back then Nobody said control Just stay in your lane, watch your mouth And harden your soul Yo, pops got reduced to a room of county code Some folded paper Auntie said mind how you carry your tone They build cages from behavior By thirteen we could read a siren different Knew when it meant us Knew how grief move, not loud at first Just people standing in yards They gave us words and they gave us walls Gave us a side to die inside And call that choice for us all Same dirt under all of us Same sky over the valley Whole world one block And they built it on our silence They sold us flags, sold us fear Sold us heaven by the page Sold us money with a muzzle on it Sold us manhood like a cage Everybody wear a label 'til it sink into the skin Same earth under all of us That's where the trouble been, yeah Now I'm older I can see the rig better than I did then Poor folks guarding poor blocks while the top count what it gives Book in one hand, badge in one hand Screen in the other room Same lie, change clothes every year And still decide who get consumed Green light make a villain, suit make a wound sound clean Pain leave the block, come back priced up on the screen I watch broke men swing on broke men while the top stay still Watch pride get dressed as freedom, watch fear pass for will Still, I can't kill hope, though I tried that too Seen too much tenderness survive where the air stay cruel Seen one woman break one meal six ways and call that dinner Seen one tired old head stop a fight just by looking at the trigger So no I won't preach clean peace like blood forgets its route I just know every lie taught young still pays somebody out Hell sons not mine when the blood still warm Hell mothers upright while the men went numb Wash school shirts clean with the sirens outside Her girls learn fear 'fore they ever learn pride Don't tell me that's a lie like this shit came natural I seen hate get taught in a kitchen real casual Seen babies getting named after men in the grave Seen women keep peace while the whole block cave You say pick your side, I say who drew the line? Who made pain profitable? Who made loss divine? If the world want street then the womb run through it And every time we split ourselves they make money off stupid They gave us words and they gave us walls Gave us a side to die inside and call that choice for us all Same dirt under all of us Same sky over the valley Whole world one block And they built it on our silence They sold us flags, sold us fear Sold us heaven by the page Sold us money with a muzzle on it Sold us manhood like a cage Everybody wear a label 'til it sink into the skin Same earth under all of us That's where the trouble been Who profit when the school go broke? Who eat when the set go you? Who profit when the school go broke? Who eat when the set go you?
