State of the Union

The State of the Union is that there isn't one
If a house divided can't stand, we been sittin'
But sittin' officials lettin' you starve and die
They'd say for a party, I say it's dogma to America's awful lie
Sniffin' the party line, intoxicated from white
That fake superiority created by authority to
Convince the poorest he still one caste up
'Cause at least you not black, and if at least you not that

And if you see him got mad that the elite eat on backs of your labor
You'd point at your neighbor instead of up
To keep you off track
They told you your sins weren't sins but beneath that hatred is shame
Your humanity was picked and sold with the cotton of slaves

System is fucked, we benefit passively
White liberals and such, make a social identity
From givin' a fuck, but that privilege they may acknowledge
They ain't givin' it up, we ain't livin' it much

The ego's drivin' the car and it just depends on where it got its license
How many of us really choose our own thoughts and vices?
You don't get paid, but you a walkin' advertisement
Made us all addicted to fame, so that we'd work for free

Millions factless 'cause their schools ain't teach 'em how to find 'em
If they get to choose, they pick the ones that their wants align with
Can you track your opinion to it's origin? If not, aight then
We move without intent, they profit when we not decisive

Rappers been lazily referencin' The Matrix for years
Who knew algorithms would really dictate what we cheer?
Too lazy to care, afraid to look inward
We'd live in our own noose 'fore we live in our own truth

Vague tweets about how you love everyone
You won't even wear a mask to save somebody grandmother
Entitled to the lies of freedom, you in denial
I seen this shit for a while, it's lethal man, word to Dan Glover

You can't fake lightning but you can plan thunder (Uh)
Pay a racist brand before we'd pay attention
I sit in damn wonder (Yeah)

And everyone talkin' generational wealth
But outside makin' money for ourselves
We won't give the next generation no help
May already be too late to save the fuckin' planet
If we don't stop playin' there won't be no more generations to help

We trained people for survival of the fittest
In traumatic conditions and sold them things that kill 'em
We made life into a gamble in the name of capitalism
Then tried to hit the democracy switch when COVID hit
And that was destined to fail
You can't abuse populations
Leave 'em destitute and vacant and then ask 'em to care
About anything but their next move, our own nation to blame
So I get why we at the club, still I ain't say "I'm not enraged"
I want better from us, I just don't expect it
Trauma is cyclical, the most likely ones to neglect are the neglected
They had Future sellin' you Molly, lean, Percocet
And you think for a check, they need a scheme on vaccine injections?

Lot of the soft bigotry of low expectations
Lot of fetishization
Celebratin' regressive themes in the name of progression
And when something truly powerful come it's hesitation

And there's this fishy correlation
Between what's considered cool and what profits for corporations
Rappers streamin' tens of mils considered not as poppin'
'Cause on their next endeavor no label owns an option

Soul vacancy across the culture
So when they say they do it for it, man I gotta wonder
The only culture is validate wins and win equals money
Truth's like my chest in '06, it's beneath where the rug be

I don't even like talkin' this direct
I ain't no book report ass rapper but I object
To the marriage to greed and clout
Without heeding doubt of what winnin' means
Ask why we on different teams
We don't play the same sport

Started gettin' to some places I been tryna go
And lookin' round like, "Yo, this ain't what I came for"
So if I gotta give up what's righteous to get it, you can keep it
Fuck a popular lie, I'd rather be a truthful secret

Herd immunity to truth and self-assessment
Truth is if not for COVID
Trump would've won re-election in a landslide
So we evaded armageddon, for good old store brand oppression
But if a leader more savvy, and less sociopathic
With true fascist aspirations come along, it's gon' be tragic
Seventy-four million proved if the right rhetoric is used
We could end up on the wrong side of World War II too

And to defeat white supremacy
You gotta first want to defeat white supremacy
I don't think most of us really do
How many white mirror convos really bearin' fruit?

The only hope is that this moment in history
Looks the same in both timelines of what the end could be
Whether this the infection risin' up and we fight and quell
Or if it outscraps us and humanity just dies and fails
It was always gon' get worse 'fore it got better
Racism was never gon' go quietly to the night
It never will but I do believe that it along with greed
Can make it's way out of our institutions so that all are free one day

I ain't say that it will
But today looks like today in both versions of the story
So gon' grab you a quill, it depends what we do
There's only one person the future starts and ends with, it's you