[Intro] Click... click... Truth hurts... But silence kills... [Verse 1] Man in a suit with a pen, that's the realest crime Stealin' from our pockets while they call it "policy" and "time" Send our kids to school, pray they make it through the day Knives talk louder than the laws that y'all be tryna say I'm a father, heart be shakin' when that door lock clicks 'Cause the streets don't sleep and y'all be playin' politics Used to be the block had rules, now it's just fear and lies And y'all up in the tower wonderin' why the people rise [Chorus - Male + Kids] [Male] We the ones who look in mirrors, see the dirt, see the pain [Kids] We paid for it... [Male] Did the time behind the walls for every wrong we made [Kids] But y'all ain't never full... [Male] Y'all eatin' off gold plates while we scrapin' for a crumb [Kids] Countin' cents... [Male] Y'all count millions in the hills, we count coins from what we done [All] Hold the mirror up... and y'all can't take what you see [Verse 2] Write laws to break the weak while you get bonuses and checks Talk about morality with a suit and a smirk on deck Double life with briefcases, lies with a perfect speech Call us "thugs" when we speak up, tell us "shut up" and "just eat" My son ask me: "Dad, why they runnin' with a blade?" I got no answer but: "Cause y'all up there let it fade" Y'all scared of what we did, we scared of what you won't do You got everything and want more, we got nothin' but the truth [Verse 3] News talk numbers, never faces, never names Cut the schools, cut the safety, then act shocked at all the pain We did wrong, we own that, did the time and felt the shame Nights in cages, facin' demons, callin' out our own name But y'all do the same shit daily with a signature and a pen Call it "reform", call it "progress" while the city burns again Y'all the arsonists then sell us water for the flames And wonder why the anger and the fire stay the same [Bridge] Want security? Start with you, that's the only way Take less, give more, or watch it all decay But mirrors scare y'all, so you point fingers at the ground Who protects the children when the night is the loudest sound? [Breakdown] [Kids - whisper] Dad... I'm scared... [Kids - whisper] The walk... [Male - low] I know son... I got you... [Piano only] [Verse 4] See the blood on the concrete or y'all just turn away? Talk integration while you build the walls higher every day We was wrong, we admit it, paid our debt in time and tears But who the fuck are y'all to act like you don't see the fear? Y'all the new gangsters, ties instead of hoodies and the mask Your weapons are the paper, ours was ignorance, that's facts And the victims? Y'all be silencing 'em till today [Chorus - Male + Kids] [Male] We looked in the mirror, seen the devil and the man [Kids] We bled for it... [Male] Learned from what we broke, now we tryna make a plan [Kids] Gangsters in suits... [Male] But y'all worse, 'cause y'all do it legal and call it "the brand" [Kids] Call it progress... [Male] Robbin' with a fountain pen and clap for your own hand [All] Hold the mirror up... y'all break it out of shame [Verse 5 - Hope] But listen son, we don't quit, we don't break, we don't fall We build it back up brick by brick, we answer to the call Talk to neighbors, hold the line, bring light to where it's dark Walk you to school every morning, hand in hand, leave a mark Show 'em fear is real but courage hit harder than the pain We more than our mistakes, more than the names that they say We the ones who rise up even when they try to bury We the ones who change it, watch us turn the story [Final Chorus - Hope] [Male] Hold the mirror up, make 'em see it gotta change [Kids] We the future... [Male] Rose up out the ashes, from the pain and from the chains [Kids] We won't stop... [Male] And our kids gon' be free, no fear and no more hate [All] Hold the mirror up... and build a better state [Outro - Long] [Male] We paid... and we learned... [Kids] We learning... [Male] Now we share... instead of burn... [Kids] We sharing... [Male] And our kids don't walk alone... [Kids] Hand in hand... [Male - whispered] Turn the rage into power... [Kids] Into power... [Piano + Kids choir fade]
