Mental Revolution
Growing up I came up separate from the streets
Pops would drive for bread, stacking chips is how we'd eat
Momma watched her babies, kept them cool and out the heat
And every night when shells would burn if try to get some sleep
Sirens in the distance not the ones that sing a song
But you hear them so much almost have you singing along
Hot up in the streets, hotter in the kitchen
Wake up to the smell of pancakes, the bacon sizzlin'
Prison bound assumed by the other side
Listen how I speak like the others I
A child of the double conscious mind
Spit a parallel 16 when I write a rhyme
Born of those chasing freedom and working overtime
Speaking for those who can't, voices unified
Wake up the whole world with one line
"This the Revolution will not be televised"
The Revolution won't be televised
This Mental Revolution will not be televised
The blood of civil rights leaders is running through my veins
So I can't sit back and watch my people end up in chains
Used to be physical, now it's more of a mental game
Went from cotton fields, to the capital were it still remains
All 2020 I watched my Black people getting hunted
You must be tripping if you thought I wasn't saying something
Wish Breonna Taylor's case wasn't what I expected from it
Check your history, you'll see a pattern of these acquittals coming
Check Rodney King, Eric Garner, Terence Crutcher
Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland and many others
It's wild to me how people don't see the problem here
"All he had to do was listen", Philando Castile
Change only happens when you fix yourself first
Readjust your mindset, prepare to put in work
I love all people, but do they love me
Cause that's the thought that crosses my mind when I see police
The Revolution will not be televised
Naw, this Mental Revolution will not be televised
I yearn for a time in which what's going on won't reference "What's Going On" written by Marvin
Yet portions of White America still say, "You know, I don't think that officer had any other option"
Or worse, they sit in silence because "if it doesn't affect me, not my problem"
Which is funny for a people who have spent history, liberating others through wars
Yet, still can't fix its own problems within its own doors
Again I ask, do I walk as Malcolm or Martin?
As I stare into the sky I decide, that truly, I should walk as me
I don't wish to overthrow the government
Because no matter who's in charge absolute power corrupts absolutely
However, what I have come to realize is this
Change must occur in the hearts and in the minds of the people
Then, and only then, will we truly be free
Pops would drive for bread, stacking chips is how we'd eat
Momma watched her babies, kept them cool and out the heat
And every night when shells would burn if try to get some sleep
Sirens in the distance not the ones that sing a song
But you hear them so much almost have you singing along
Hot up in the streets, hotter in the kitchen
Wake up to the smell of pancakes, the bacon sizzlin'
Prison bound assumed by the other side
Listen how I speak like the others I
A child of the double conscious mind
Spit a parallel 16 when I write a rhyme
Born of those chasing freedom and working overtime
Speaking for those who can't, voices unified
Wake up the whole world with one line
"This the Revolution will not be televised"
The Revolution won't be televised
This Mental Revolution will not be televised
The blood of civil rights leaders is running through my veins
So I can't sit back and watch my people end up in chains
Used to be physical, now it's more of a mental game
Went from cotton fields, to the capital were it still remains
All 2020 I watched my Black people getting hunted
You must be tripping if you thought I wasn't saying something
Wish Breonna Taylor's case wasn't what I expected from it
Check your history, you'll see a pattern of these acquittals coming
Check Rodney King, Eric Garner, Terence Crutcher
Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland and many others
It's wild to me how people don't see the problem here
"All he had to do was listen", Philando Castile
Change only happens when you fix yourself first
Readjust your mindset, prepare to put in work
I love all people, but do they love me
Cause that's the thought that crosses my mind when I see police
The Revolution will not be televised
Naw, this Mental Revolution will not be televised
I yearn for a time in which what's going on won't reference "What's Going On" written by Marvin
Yet portions of White America still say, "You know, I don't think that officer had any other option"
Or worse, they sit in silence because "if it doesn't affect me, not my problem"
Which is funny for a people who have spent history, liberating others through wars
Yet, still can't fix its own problems within its own doors
Again I ask, do I walk as Malcolm or Martin?
As I stare into the sky I decide, that truly, I should walk as me
I don't wish to overthrow the government
Because no matter who's in charge absolute power corrupts absolutely
However, what I have come to realize is this
Change must occur in the hearts and in the minds of the people
Then, and only then, will we truly be free
Credits
Writer(s): Matthew Betts
Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com
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