Six Million Not in Vain

Six million Jews
were killed
in the Holocaust.

My Grandparents all survived
being targets
of the putrid
Nazi regime.
They survived
and so I live.

Today
it is said that
thirty wars
rage all over the world.

Answers, in midst
of lost answers,
in mysteries that will never be solved,
with atrocities unspoken,
leave me only to imagine
the fates of those six million Jews;
of those 1.5 million children.

60 years ago
I would either be dead
or in a concentration camp,
and still today there are children
locked up in sweat shops,
wrongfully imprisoned,
in cells, in cages.

Nazis with different faces,
different skin colours,
but all of their minds
are the same:
infected with lies,
protected by guns and money,
shadowed and driven by hate.

The walls are bloody
and closing in.
The ceiling is weak
and soon will fall.

I drift
and remember what my grandparents
told me about the concentration camps.

Somewhere in 1942
Jews were forced to build
giant crematoriums
where their families’ and friends’
bodies would be burned.

When my Zaidy Ziggy
was in his third concentration camp,
he was given the inhuman task
of loading rotting
dead bodies
into the giant ovens.

My Zaidy John
had the horrendous job
of sweeping away the ashes.
The Nazi tyrants
told him to be careful
not to sweep away any
gold teeth.

“Lest we forget,”
people say,
“what happened in the Holocaust,”
but by saying that alone
we do not truly remember.

We do not remember
each of those unlived lives;
each of the horrible atrocities
that befell the Jewish people.

Lest we forget
that six million Jews
did not die in vain.

Lest we forget
that if not for the tremendous amount
of Germany’s war resources
being used to build gas ovens
and concentration camps,
if not for the Nazi “final solution” of genocide
to wipe out all fifteen million
Jews in Europe,
if not for all his racism,
malice and hate,
Hitler may have won the war.

Bonus Track verses

MC FÜBB sensation coming right across your nation
I surpass assimilation, lyrical assassination
of the bullshit conversation seeking annihilation
and death and desecration to my verbal transformation
I developed it through patience, through my wilful dedication
bring emancipation to the soul incarceration
to people of races I will make association,
grow a plantation to the enforce the foundation,
this rapping federation isn’t basing on the hating
or sedation of elation to the vocal elevation
here’s the demonstration, you don’t like it, change the station
this is not a connotation, feel the intonation, what I’m saying:
we don’t need to bring our own destruction,
meeting at the junction to get the brain suction,
lose the mind function so the game can’t operate,
turn hip hop to a mockery? this I can’t tolerate

It’s no upside-down kingdom or a castle in the sky,
I’m laying the foundations for the future here’s why:
without a foundation, your house will collapse
likewise, with no foundation, most these rappers are spitting crap!
been through hell and I’m not going back
I’ma stay on my track
mind sober, can’t afford to relapse
so if I hear ‘em spit wacks, I’ma melt ‘em like wax
turn the heat up on these iced-out rappers, their bound to crack

writing like a titan, like a sniper I be sighting
the words that I’m reciting gonna tell you why I’m fighting
for the greater wrong to righten, yo the cause is so inviting
clench my verbal fist, make the dark world brighten
I penetrate to infiltrate, through the cracks I percolate
rhyming start to circulate, never to impersonate
hating isn’t worth the hate, they violate to compensate
violence come to bring the fate, silence to emancipate
the symptoms of another state that dealers wanna instigate
I descend through the valley-great so rappers can retaliate
eliminate the bitter taste dictating the race
to sit and wait until the date that we will pass through golden gates
unto a place you never heard, make your life swerve
talking shit like you the man, but you do not deserve
to even be called a rapper, you just get on people’s nerves
might not like the taste, but your dinner is served

couldn’t wait for fate cuz I surpassed passed that mind-state
had to create, like De La Soul set a grind-date
sometimes when I rap, I sound irate
but that’s only because I think that society tries to dictate
the way we livin’, way we’re raising our children
the way we’re driven, all of this just to prevent us from building
a new foundation, here’s a new revelation,
conversation some don’t want us to have,
yo I start getting mad
it’s like that mic., they don’t want me to grab
sharp with the vocab, hours spent in the lab
just so I could get my message across,
so many lost, thinking that ice to floss is the endgame?
ha! a platinum chain around your neck is still a chain
even free physically, we’re locked down inside our brains
it’s a crying shame, man I’m sick of the crying game
gone through the growing pains, passed through the glowing flame
despite it all, yo, I overcame
now you’ve gotta know the name

I don’t have time to listen to the criticism
my mission requires precision, I got a vision
I can grip it in my hand, it’s unmistakable ‘cause
I’ve seen images of what we are capable of
the potential force pounds like my heart ventricle
possibilities wrap my brain like a tentacle
try not to be cynical, believe in the miraculous
but negative states of mind are constantly attacking us
smacking us, telling us that we’re insufficient
but the myth of self-worth has got us trapped in a prison
so that’s why I’ve risen up, to get ya’ll to listen up
hittin’ up your ears with the message that’s it’s enough
of sitting and waiting for the world to get better
while we’re hating on each other instead of building together
acting like we’ll be living forever
but we only live forever through our deeds
we satisfy our needs, then we drink and smoke weed
succumbing to greed, yes indeed
it’s a sad state of affairs
but no-one seems to care, content to just stare
out our skulls, we’re drifting like ships with no hull
in shark infested water, like lambs to the slaughter
sometimes I wonder about our sons and daughters
all these little kids, boys and girls
it’s for THEM that we gotta make a difference in the world

F.U.B.B.

There were times in my life only the beat could comfort me
I meditate and wait for the lyrics to come to me
like 1, 2, 3…I start writing
in a world of clenched fists, the poet with his pen fighting, reciting
raps from the depth of his soul
through a hole in his flesh, he spits the vocals
dice rolls, switching flow from ordinary to bold
like the difference in lustre from bronze to gold
cuz what’s sold and on the radio, not biting of those
with a pen in my hand, I be fighting my foes
sprouting life from a desolate landscape
God transforms a small part of himself into a man’s shape
and manifests in the rhythm
saying “FÜBB, hit ‘em!”
shift their minds to an alternate position
so the rhymes get written,
subsequently I’m spittin’
to the beat,
vocals fittin’ with heat to bend iron wills into submission

Chorus:
Let me tell you about the self you can’t see
let me tell you why this emcee’s F-U-B-B
Foundations of Understanding Based on Benevolence
a lot of kats be talking shit but lacking any relevance
Let me tell you about the self you can’t see
let me tell you why this emcee’s F-U-B-B
Foundations of Understanding Based on Benevolence
show me reverence, I’m taking rap back to its elements

The rhetoric’s pathetic
I’m real, never synthetic
I’ma spit the truth just one time, so don't forget it
through struggles, I came from days of spitting with a muzzle
no words could escape from society’s bubble
fuck the trouble it brings, I got songs, not to sing
but to rap, I rep the mic. not the “bling-bling”
or the claps of guns, people fucking with the funds
tryna make a living? hell nah, yo, they tryna run
this whole rap game and dominate the industry
they look like grown men but their minds are in their infancy
and literally lyrics are stretched like ductility
in the heart of the facility, they have no stability
mental infertility, they can’t see my ability
I would try to reason but they have no civility
so I’m left with this responsibility:
I got a destiny to fill ‘cause it won’t be fulfilling me

Chorus:
Let me tell you about the self you can’t see
let me tell you why this emcee’s F-U-B-B
Foundations of Understanding Based on Benevolence
a lot of kats be talking shit but lacking any relevance
Let me tell you about the self you can’t see
let me tell you why this emcee’s F-U-B-B
Foundations of Understanding Based on Benevolence
show me reverence, I’m taking rap back to its elements

Check the way I put it up when I come up to set it up
make them look impotent like men who can’t get it up
got a federation, you best believe I’m setting up
rap: my occupation, I’m sure the fuck not letting up
the mic. is like an empty bottle, with my spit I’m filling it
not at all sadistic yo, but on the mic I’m killing it
people sit in shadows or they dwelling in the dust
when everybody cowers, tell me, who can you trust?
so I get up and I bust, pick up the mic. and thrust it
to the air, ‘cause I care, phony emcees should beware
got the skill to make the competition stop and stare
elevating mental stairs, getting grizzly like a bear
this is my dream, I’d be damned not to follow it
my rhyme is revolution in a pill, can you swallow it?
it’s not about the killing or the dawn of the apocalypse
the message that I’m sending you is that you won’t be stopping this!

Chorus:
Let me tell you about the self you can’t see
let me tell you why this emcee’s F-U-B-B
Foundations of Understanding Based on Benevolence
a lot of kats be talking shit but lacking any relevance
Let me tell you about the self you can’t see
let me tell you why this emcee’s F-U-B-B
Foundations of Understanding Based on Benevolence
show me reverence, I’m taking rap back to its elements

God Shines Through

God shines through

when we least expect him to.
At times when all seems
desolate and cold,
in times of despair and strife,
in times when we squeeze all we can
out of this life.

God shines through like
the sun beams through the clouds.
When all is black
there emerges white
and makes this life
to be shades of gray.

God shines through
pity, guilt, depression and shame
and shows us wiser ways to think.

Life is not a mere game to be played,
nor is it to be taken as seriously as death.
God shines through,
God shines through,
in every pulse, in every breath.

Eyes Wide Open

Little girls and boys
with once gleaming faces
who looked to the world
with eyes wide open.

Locked up in cells
with older men,
with dirty men,
with dirt walls.

Somewhere,
someone miscalculated
and decided that a cubic room
four meters by
four meters
accommodates
eighteen people.

A tin can shitter
sits in the corner.
A tin can
if you’re lucky.

Cold spaghetti in
dirty shopping bags
for dinner again
and again...

Locked up for years
from a world of closed ears
and eyes focused
on lesser, material things.

Locked up
and beaten and molested,
for theft,
for smoking,
or for nothing at all.
Judge and jury nonexistent,
the executioner:
time.

And still they sit,
now,
still they cry
with salty tears
that will never be seen,
still they look,
out of hellish cells
through hellish bars
at a world
that has forgotten them
and their constant nightmares.

Still,
with emotions that have
lost their meaning,
with fears that consume them,
without faith,
without friends,
without the basic fundamentals
of a human life.
Still they sit,
still they wait,
bearing pains that no one
should ever feel.
Still they are there
staring at the dark sky.

With eyes wide open.

Love and Hate

There once existed a world
of lost souls.
These souls would drift aimlessly,
no purpose, no emotions;
nothing.

One day there emerged
two strange entities,
unlike all the others.
These beings had purpose.
One was named, “Hate,”
the other was named, “Love.”
Hate’s purpose was to spread
all that is evil
and corrupt the innocent souls.
Love’s purpose was to share
all that is good
and give the souls happiness.

Some souls found Hate
and became demons of hell.
Some found Love
and became angels of heaven.
A small fraction of the souls
found both Love and Hate,
and they became
human.

Foundations blurb

Post-apocalyptic warzone. The earth is covered with craters, the trees are shattered into shards of burnt wood, garbage is strewn across the ground as far as the eye can see. The radio stations, buildings of record labels and commercial distributors, promotion headquarters and luxury mansions have all been reduced to rubble. And beneath all the rubble of all these buildings lay cracked and broken foundations.

Under the ground, under the layers of trash, dirt and filth, there lay piles of scratched CDs, warped records, busted tapes ranging from 8-track to cassette to DAT, snapped turntable needles, broken canvases and soiled sketch pads, empty aerosol-paint cans, melted linoleum and pulverized cardboard, soaked oversized T-shirts and ripped baggy jeans, pages upon lined pages of torn, forgotten rhyme books, and a plethora of destroyed microphones.

But all is not lost. At the corner of one of the dilapidated structures, a graffiti artist begins to paint, making use of the dozens of nearly empty aerosol cans he has managed to scrounge together. A DJ is spinning a scratched record on an old monograph with the needle from an addict’s syringe. A b-boy and a b-girl start breaking over layers of cardboard gathered from the surrounding area. An old man sitting on a lawn chair begins to beat-box. And in the center of it all stands an MC with a shovel in his hands.

His name is MC FÜBB. The words of dead and forgotten MCs and poets ring loudly in his mind and he drives the shovel into the ground and begins to dig. His goal: to journey through the rubble, reach the underground, and once there to lay new foundations in order to materialize an idea called, Hip Hop...

I Start to Think

“I start to think, and then I sink into the paper, like I was ink…” –Rakim

Fill the pen with blood
and pump ink through my veins.

Through fatigued eyes,
a mind looks out
in a brain that begs
for sleep.

Blowing of a cold breeze
pierces the skin,
embraces the spirit,
while the welcomed rain
chills the body
and frees the mind.

When will I dance again
in the roaring sounds
of a thunder storm?

Life is a Blessing

It’s undisputable;
there’s something about this world that’s inherently beautiful
so I try to express it through rhymes suitable
to explain
how I can see the sun through the rain
how I can find God’s love in the midst of the pain
but there’s an essence even poets can seldom touch
the unexpected rush of God’s presence
it’s a universal beauty that’s perceived by millions
like the innocence reflected in the eyes of children
or the force that flows through my pen when I’m building
these rhymes, to make my words etched in time, still I’m
searching for solidarity in broken glass
‘cause the material shatters so fast
and I won’t pretend to know what the future holds
so I’m living for today ‘till the days that I’m old
and I refuse to take life for granted
even with my head in the clouds, I keep my feet firmly planted

CHORUS:
Because life is blessing
and I’m learning through its lessons
asking the right questions
realizing that my life is my most valuable possession
yeah – because life is a blessing
Yeah, life is blessing
and I’m learning through its lessons
asking the right questions
realizing that my life is my most valuable possession
yeah, baby – because life is a blessing

Sometimes I tune out the world, put my headphones on
‘cause I get cynical, hearing all the shit that goes on
if all men are really created equal
then why’s there so much slander directed against my people?
represent .02 percent the world population
but get 80 percent of media discrimination
realities like this, make me insist
that utopia cannot exist
and it’s easy to get pissed
spitting rhymes is my form of clenching of fist
I ain’t endorsing the violence
in the chill of the breeze, I feel my soul in the silence
praying that God gives me guidance
so I can move mountains inside of myself and maybe become
the type of man that someday might raise a son
but for now I just strive to enjoy what I’ve been given
I’m living for today so I don’t need to be forgiven

CHORUS:
Because life is blessing
and I’m learning through its lessons
asking the right questions
realizing that my life is my most valuable possession
yeah – because life is a blessing
Yeah, life is blessing
and I’m learning through its lessons
asking the right questions
realizing that my life is my most valuable possession
yeah, baby – because life is a blessing

Piece of Mind

I’m not Superman, Spiderman or Batman
hold a microphone instead of holding a gat, man
understand, that I got this phat plan
to blast through industry brains like splat! man
now that I’ve got your attention,
let me mention
the way my rhymes relieve tension
similar to distension in the stomach,
these kats stretch wacks on tracks, but can’t run it
a lot of ya’ll talk that bullshit
about busting off with a full-clip
but one thing you’ve gotta realize
that’s the reason Biggie and Pac died
time to reflect that inward eye
locate the truth, dispel the lies
realize what’s been circumscribed
in your mind are signs to coincide with the times
no it’s not fine, and I’m not ok with it
am I sincere? yes, check the cadences
so many profess that banal faithlessness
won’t talk about a dream, let alone go chasing it
a glorious life, most folks ain’t tasting it
truth defacing it, love erasing it
running from life instead of embracing it
lost true faith so we try replacing it
with drinks and drugs, props and hugs
timbs and lugz
gold chains, fake tits and thugs
I fit you with the truth like a hand to glove
in tryna act cool, we lost the love

HOOK:
I hear these people talking all this bullshit on the daily
I think if I keep listening to it I might go crazy
I try to silence all the voices echoing in my mind
no wonder why this peace of mind I seek is so hard to find

Without the love, what you got to live for?
If it’s all about me, what I got to give for?
Like I’ma take mine, you can take yours
and if I’m stronger, you take a loss
and while I get richer, you can get poor
you can just rot while I’m rockin’ on tour
that’s an attitude I refuse to adopt
refuse to cop, like Q-Tip Breathe and Stop—
and show me what you got
if you follow so far, I can thicken the plot
we’re consumed by selfishness,
lost in senselessness,
straight defencelessness
to the censorship
locked down like we serving life sentences
pleading to the lord for our repentances
wonder ‘bout my lifestyle, was I meant for this?
should I enter this, or put an end to this?
topic I rock it, you can knock it or cop it
I’ma hold it I got it, hands out of my pockets
mic. grippin, no bitchin, heavy hitting I pop it
out the park, while I trench thru the dark section
taking bold strides cuz ain’t no half-steppin’
some give me daps but still disrespectin’
I don't really care, stay my learning my lessons
know-it-all kats can burn in mic sessions
I’m guessing, sophistry they professin’
instead of just talking, try asking the question
two eyes and ears, what’s that about?
look and listen before that shit comes out your mouth!

HOOK:
I hear these people talking all this bullshit on the daily
I think if I keep listening to it I might go crazy
I try to silence all the voices echoing in my mind
no wonder why this peace of mind I seek is so hard to find
(2x)

peace of mind I seek, thru these rhymes I speak
right on time with beats, for mics. I’m a freak
I keep droppin shit, they keep talkin shit
say one thing and do the opposite
I don’t got time for that, bullshit lying crap
I find the truth where my brain fibres at
I hear one more wack track, I’ma snap
mission in rap’s to put T-dot on the map
most don’t capitalize, time, they fraternize
rap, they patronize, rhymes, they bastardize,
hip hop, scandalized, sex, tantalized,
meanwhile, with these skills I maximize
my potential, dent you with rhythm I sent you
if I bent you with the force message I meant to
not offend you, but to mend you, whether or not you consent to
with the pencil, I wrote down, barriers I broke down
rap about hope now, people get choked up
sleeping in misery? time that we woke up
people rather smoke up, drink and get doped up
instead of smelling flowers they be sniffing the coke up
noose around our own necks as we pull the rope up
time bombs ticking in our chests to blow up
still I rhyme so sick that you could throw up
it’s time for rappers on the mic to grow up
instead of rapping ‘bout how you’re so fly
talking that you can dress better than I
look into the mirror into your own eyes
and ask yourself where your true self lies
my appeal, is simply to keep it real
cuz most headz won’t just say what they feel
it’s not about sense, it’s ego and nonsense
slaves to our pride, we should listen to our conscience

HOOK:
I hear these people talking all this bullshit on the daily
I think if I keep listening to it I might go crazy
I try to silence all the voices echoing in my mind
no wonder why this peace of mind I seek is so hard to find
(2x)

Metamorphosis

CHORUS:
Rock with me, if you’ve had enough sorrow
Walk with me, and believe in a better tomorrow
Talk to me,
if you wanna face the truth and won’t resist
when it’s time to experience the metamorphosis

Don’t tell me people can’t change
I’ve seen change occur with my own eyes
experienced my own ties severed,
done things that I once swore never would I do—
I guess I thought I was clever
In my endeavours pursued my desires
without paying my dues, wanted to be admired,
walked through fire
emerged on the other side, scathed and burned,
had to learn, there’s reasons to be showing concern
when you dance with devil, best not to get close
cuz the poison that you love can also hurt you the most
I learned that the hard way, believe me there’s a better way
saw my share of pain, but prayed for a better day
I believe that we find what we’re looking for
and if we’re looking for trouble, that’s what’s in store
operating from a theory that we gotta prove
and if we’re open to love, then we can have it too
we all do what we gotta do to get by
years ago, I would do anything to get high
but then I, opened my eyes, I realized
that I didn’t have to live that way, I metamorphosized

CHORUS:
Rock with me, if you’ve had enough sorrow
Walk with me, and believe in a better tomorrow
Talk to me,
if you wanna face the truth and won’t resist
when it’s time to experience the metamorphosis

I metamorphosize dreams into reality
It seems today to do that’s an abnormality
Although rocking mics doesn’t pay a salary
it’ll take more than financial fears to rattle me
and shake me off the path that I’m determined to
walk upon, regardless of the topics that I talk upon
stalking on, these beats, ain’t got time for toking chron
spoken on, truths sharp like the pain of broken arms
now we can face our fears or just run from ‘em
so many dreams go up in smoke, get done from ‘em
that’s the virtue in being courageous
to act despite fear is a force that amazes
with the wisdom of sages, to do it at the right time
gotta make the picture clear, I guess that’s why I write rhymes
I hear some of ya’ll claim that you’re never scared
you’re either lying through your teeth or you’re unaware
of the world that you’re living in, without a care
which makes you crazier than a schizo in a rocking chair
this whole egocentric way of life has gotta stop
I metamorphosize in every single line I drop

CHORUS:
Rock with me, if you’ve had enough sorrow
Walk with me, and believe in a better tomorrow
Talk to me,
if you wanna face the truth and won’t resist
when it’s time to experience the metamorphosis

metamorphosizing, cuz I’m rising to a better day
I’ma walk this path, regardless what the weather say
rain, hail, or snow, I’ma still go,
I’ma bust my flow,
and given the chance, then I’ma blow
up, like a mushroom cloud that is atomic
so sick, I make these pussy MC’s straight vomit
like gin with no tonic, burning suckas like chronic
I’ma hit you with the rhythm ‘till you staring catatonic
I rock it, over ranges of topics, mastering my ebonics,
while these dumb rappers hooked on phonics
my flow, they can’t stop it or block it,
even at the end of my rope,
I still cope, dope, like narcotics
so you can take in your vein,
just to ease the pain
ya’ll can get aboard the train,
of thought inside my brain
I’m not just here to entertain,
or spit a lot of game
I’m here to send a message in the hopes that some of ya’ll will gain
some perspective and insight
so you can ignite the light inside your soul and shine it bright
love, hope and faith aren’t weak, that’s all lies
we can learn the truth if we learn to metamorphosize

CHORUS:
Rock with me, if you’ve had enough sorrow
Walk with me, and believe in a better tomorrow
Talk to me,
if you wanna face the truth and won’t resist
when it’s time to experience the metamorphosis

Foundations Intro. verse

Foundations, because they are the basis of creation
and all I hear is bullshit on the radio station!
it’s all about drugs, ice, and carrying fire-arms
if rappers spit flames on tracks, this is a fire-bomb
wack emcees get me vexed, that’s why I hittin’ you
and everyone I talk to says that they’re sick of you
best rhymes are pitiful, intellectually minuscule
in a world full of pretense, consider this an interlude
(that) ya’ll can just listen to
ya’ll can just move to and groove to
(and) learn something from it if you choose to
(while) most hustle aimlessly, tryna get paid
right here, this is where the Foundations get laid

Devoted

my pen touch the paper, I explode with emotion
rise like the tide carries waves in the ocean
don’t care about clout, can’t doubt my devotion
boom-baps with original rap, catch my notion?
I’m floating, high above the limits that were dictated to me
refuse to be jaded, conveying what was related to me
state it how I create it, impossible to see through me
predictable high quality, this ain’t no B-movie
shifting gears, similar to a Ferrari Testarosa
hours spent writing these rhymes, what I devote-ta
the art, yes I’m playing my part
by expressing the truth that’s inside of my heart
thru the light and the dark, I use the mic. as my spark
to light the torch for the quest upon which I embark
and I don’t take life for granted
cuz sure as I’m living on this planet,
any day, in any way, I could dearly depart
though it’s hard, I refuse to let the raps be corroded
raise your fist in the air if your heart is devoted!

Chorus:
I’M DEVOTED; in every single line I compose
I’M DEVOTED; that’s why I write these poetry and prose
I’M DEVOTED; every time I pick up the mic.
I’M DEVOTED; every single day of my life
I’M DEVOTED; that’s why I pray to God when I rise
I’M DEVOTED; that’s why I can’t believe all the lies
I’M DEVOTED; to surpass societal norms
I’M DEVOTED; to hip hop, in all of its forms

I stay devoted
duly noted, let me quote it:
“with this art we can’t compromise,” like Shad wrote it
I been broken
been tokin’, been chokin’
but after all the pain that I’ve been thru, I’m still hopin’
well spoken, so I stick with the rappin’
I refuse to get pissed without taking some action
put the core of my essence on the track, no actin’
get attention of the masses without the gun clappin’
it’s hard to motivate and relate, when being faced with hate
ignorance spreads across human-kind like a plague,
to this date
it’s not a matter of fate
our reality’s dictated by choices we make
so I choose to committed, refuse the counterfeited
falsities repulsing me, lusting me like adultery
tryna put the fault on me, but I stand solidly
cuz I’m a man of God, regardless of what they’re calling me
vandals of hip hop owe the culture an apology
nod if you identify, you don’t gotta follow me
if you spit real raps and your own hand wrote it,
raise your fist in the air cuz your heart is devoted!

Chorus:
I’M DEVOTED; in every single line I compose/
I’M DEVOTED; that’s why I write these poetry and prose/
I’M DEVOTED; every time I pick up the mic./
I’M DEVOTED; every single day of my life/
I’M DEVOTED; that’s why I pray to God when I rise/
I’M DEVOTED; that’s why I can’t believe all the lies/
I’M DEVOTED; to surpass societal norms/
I’M DEVOTED; to hip hop, in all of its forms/