Outside Looking In

The "real Hip-Hop" is a popular myth
Ideas have their power when they are not fixed
Grace Lee Boggs knows what it is
It goes purpose, people, places...

My city blew up but I don't see myself
Why?
I still make music to free myself
I exist
Without your permission
Foundational to the buildings you live in
Laid over Black folks bones
Historical omission
The styles went mainstream
But somehow it's different
A poisonous mix of music and business
These new pop stars used to watch us and mimic
Younger rappers want to be them
And don't get it
It's like the new Hip-Hop is just attracting attention
For the sake of attention
If this is what we built, I don't want to be in it
I'm not here to fit in
Or to sell you an image
My ability to write has made more than a living
It has kept me alive through times when I didn't
Think I'd survive the night
Music gave me a vision
Strength to overcome
Even when no one listened

I didn't see myself, why? I still made music to free myself
Looked at the whole industry and didn't see myself
I still make music to free myself
And I'll do it even if it never feeds myself
I'll still make music to free myself
We're only someone, in relation to everyone else
We still make music to free ourselves

Everything we were ridiculed for then
Somehow, one day, became a new trend
How are we now on the outside looking in
To something that wouldn't exist
Without what we did
I used to be proud
But seen fame change friends
These films about our scene
I can't relate to them
They just blah blah blah on about making it
It's no different, they only think as capitalists
As if only in an industry does culture exist
Disconnected
"Conscious" when the radio played that
Those same rappers now do coke and sell crack
Asian kids say the n-word and get a pat on their back
Claiming "POC" and staying anti-Black
My whole city doesn't seem to care that it's gotten wack
I got love for a few
Who clearly stay true
Even when what you've made no longer includes you

And you find strength in self
To still make music to free yourself
On the underground railroad escaping hell
They were making music so they could free themselves
Slavery got abolished now except for jails
Private prisons and media giants fill cells
Popular rap music brings us back to hell
How do we make music now that can free ourselves

I only want to make music to free myself
How do we all make music to free ourselves
I only want to make music to free myself
How do we all make music to free ourselves
I only want to make music to free myself
How do we all make music to free ourselves