Apparent Absence

Yeah
Iso
For the kids
Yeah

This song will get the people talking
So everybody quiet, please settle down
It's apparent like a mom and dad
That this song like Pac needs to get around
Now think about a ghetto child whose mom and dad are never found
So they get placed all day around to whoever now
And let's say it's all broken people around them
So their mirror a broken mirror soon is where they're headed wow

Like a chopper, I'll attempt to cover hella ground
Daycare and rent cost the same, check it out
So while you're training for a new job
Your baby is around people with no home training
Let me stress it now
If one in five girls or one in 20 boys gets assaulted
Sexually in America, that's hella wild

Not to mention if you do the math it means that there is somebody potentially around them that gets aroused
And due to strict nature that a parent has
If something happens to them they'll be scared to go and tell 'em how
Somebody violated them, it could be family or still a baby unable to speak, an undeveloped child
And what will soon develop all distorted views on sex on top of low self-esteem plus depression now
Even being withdrawn, suicide is where it led him, wild, is the picture starting to develop now?

Now picture every family's deep dark secrets that everyone fakes to forget about
And picture how the family reunions have to feel with your anxiety while you're faking hella smiles
Then picture the street code 'cause everybody's seen it
It don't matter if you're black, white, yellow, brown
And the prisons don't even have to let him out
Because of charges that you never filed on a pedophile

So many are hurt and take no action
The type of hurt that many don't come back from
So please be aware 'cause you can't tell what happens
To all our kids within a parent's absence

(And the kids say) where was my mommy? Where was my dad?
(And the babies say) where was my mommy? Where was my dad?
(Let the children say) where was my mommy? Where was my dad?
(They were feeling like) where were my parents? Oh, I'm so sad

Ain't no telling the thoughts of an individual grown
When 90 percent of the life, the kid was alone
Where was your mom and daddy, not getting along?
And dating a bunch of strangers that enter your home
Embarrassing killers 'cause now your kid is exposed
They wanna be like you so now they get to indulge
The little ones see you constantly pick up the phone
And you forgot to set the parental controls

The more I think about it yo' my temperament grows
'Cause back then, informing us wasn't digital, bro
The men and women that did it were sickening, yo
With no computer to sit behind, it was physical bro
Because it happened to me and then think so many before
These are bars for the deserving of imprisonment, bro
And to think I was busy minding my business, you know
Playing Sega Genesis, eating a cinnamon roll

Damn, now my sex addiction it grows
Love isn't connected to it, it wasn't close
Too many relationships have ended in float
So my drive was for intercourse and I did it to cope
Riding 'round listening to Citizen Cope
About to burn a Penitentiary and it was the most
Vivid description that I can feel in my soul
'Cause it was more mental how I'm really engulfed

I gotta sickening soul dark, it was lit up before
But now it's rigid and dull, I gotta dip it in gold
As an infant, was immature, had to give up the ghost
I was robbed of my innocence, pennies ripped from my coat
This is the most intrinsic 'cause when you're ripping the flow
The tears I did when I wrote this, it was written in gold
To only be gotten by victims, you don't get it, you know
If you ain't been through it, quit your insolence, give 'em a poke
This is a dose, General 'So

So many are hurt and take no action
The type of hurt that many don't come back from
So please be aware 'cause you can't tell what happens
To all our kids within a parent's absence

(And the kids say) where was my mommy? Where was my dad?
(And the babies say) where was my mommy? Where was my dad?
(Let the children say) where was my mommy? Where was my dad?
(They were feeling like) where were my parents? Oh, I'm so sad

Save the children, y'all
Save the children, y'all
Save the children, y'all
Save the children, y'all

Where was mommy? Where was my dad?
Where was mommy? Where was my dad?
Where was mommy? Where was my dad?
Where were my parents? Oh, I'm so sad