If It Wasn't for Freedom

Punch record man
Cause I'm in the booth right now making songs and (explicative)
And I'm thinking Freedom is a mother (explicative)
I sit back and think sometimes

If It Wasn't for Freedom

I would still be picking cotton
Instead of picking out which cotton I'd like to buy
For the t-shirts, I design, in my own clothing line
By the name of Birdgang feeling free as a bird mane
One hundred percent, fifty-fifty, dry-fit, ringspun, tri-blend
Aw Naw my friends
Ima pick combed cotton
We went from boll weevils and cotton gins
To shipping codes for shopping binges
Sold to young and old women and men
We make clothes no matter your color of skin

But, If It Wasn't for Freedom

I would still be humming hymns for another four hundred years
Being chased through the fields with the dogs on my heels
By the law, now I know how the roadrunner feels
Went from Negro Spirituals to Hip-hop Quotables cuz he's more lyrical
Looking at all these plaques on my walls like little negro miracles
We own our own masters now not the other way around
They used to steal the music until we got our Rights
Now all our songs have copyrights
Y'all feel me now, you copy, right? That's why I be like

If It Wasn't for Freedom

I would continue pretending I could not read
The Deep South never surrendering the North secedes
And Slavery succeeds no chance in giving us free
America's titled the United Confederacy
Can't expect to be somebody when you decrease our knowledge
With no high school diplomas or no degrees from college
I would pray every day that Slavery's abolished
Then celebrate and be grateful I'm free from bondage
Imagine me not being able to spend time at a table in the library
Cause a primary education is secondary for brown babies
Brown vs. Board, both Michael Brown and Plessy vs. Ferguson

Boy, If It Wasn't for Freedom

See I wouldn't've got that offer to play football for the Toppers
And on TV, we'd just be watching hockey, golf, or soccer
What if Jackie never made it to first base
See none of us could've played sports in the first place
So there'd be no MLB, no NFL, no NBA
No WBO, no ESPN, no NCAA
No hall of fame for track and field
Just balls and chains and shackled heels
Probably hanged and halfway killed
That's just how slaves lived
If it wasn't for Lincoln I still would be drinking
Out them "blacks only" fountains If It Wasn't for Freedom
If it wasn't for Douglas if it wasn't for Tubman
Nappy Roots would be struggling to leave Kentucky and travel the country
What If I wasn't free to write what I wrote
Free to speak what I spoke
To believe what I hope
Free to work free to vote
Free to love who we want
Just some thoughts and some notes
On how my life would be so much different

If It Wasn't for Freedom