State of the Union, Pt. II

They say "Don't throw stones if you live in a glass home"
But America is Ritten's house, time we say, "Good riddance, house"
And rebuild from the bone, the structure's irredeemable
Tryna stay away from the thought that it's undefeatable, yeah
'Cause that what evil do
Choke you to the point where shit so bad it don't seem real to you
Create the pain and profit from its relievers
The pills violence, the pursuit of money and achievement
Ain't a Heaven and Hell guy, but like to think that there'd be consequences when you make all your money off of demons

But it seems in this land, that's what gets the most applause
Manipulating each other just to get the most of flaws
Our empathy rarely extend beyond what we can see
On that, "It ain't real if it ain't happen to me!"
If passion could breathe, it'd be in the ICU
Unless it lived somewhere where all the hospital beds was used
Asked 'em 'bout a vaccine, they said, "My body, my choice"
And Texas outlawed our women's rights, same dudes was lookin' like somebody bodied they voice
Son, I ain't hear a peep
Every time them wolves come around, I ain't hear a sheep

And every so-called progressive treat democratic presidencies like eight years of sleep, I'm just saying shit's weak
It's like this shit is just a movie, want your good guy to win
But he got in, couldn't name the good your good guy done did
They say, "You know who someone really is, you get 'em near the edge"
Well, look at our border, you'll find our country's soul there
Lookin' 'round at people determined to keep control
When they ain't ever even had it in a place that's never known fair
Body cams serve as proof of the audacity
Mass shooting casualties accepted mad casually
Civilian deaths don't matter at home or abroad

So 'tween us and the machines, who the drones really are?
It ain't a system if one guy could stop it
Average Joe getting fucked by Manchin while Biden watches
Them student loans, the ropes around yo' and I's pockets
Pay to learn to be in debt while the wealthy guys profit, yeah
Hypocrisy, monotony
Every race judge each other, but all agree on misogyny
Internet revolutionaries shooting off technology
Act like you a fraud soon as you try to affect policy, yeah
Whole generation of "Look at me, I read Marx, but work for a corporation!"

Everything performative, I ain't different, I sit on the left but got way more to give
'Stead I'm taking my first "I'm-not-broke" checks to buy throwback jerseys that we just couldn't afford as kids
My inner child tryna be glorious, too
Just like you, my trauma hurts, we all damaged goods
But I'm just saying, there's a lot that if we can, we should
Got us to conflate mass production with quality, and fame with validation
They like, "If e'rybody ain't love it, they wouldn't make it!"
Nah, it's they know, love it or not, that you gonna take it, 'cause only ego is sacred to you
Live on its flimsy branches, but don't really know all of the roots of your behavior, do you?
And most us corporate spokespeople, they just say shit through you

People lying on toxic shit they ain't do to influence you and get paper through you
Yeah, underneath the hatred, who you?
It ain't so hard to pronounce a pronoun, dawg
We ain't know then what we know now, dawg
Don't even know you, focus on what you like yo' ass called
At the same time, acting like them changes gon' be profound
When ain't a verb in sight, 'cause it's amateur night
And only shit that's turning pro's nouns, more things, more things
More stars, more rings, lotta empty gestures
You had some values when you's young, lotta empty nesters

Lotta "Let's be better's", but a lot of "Get these checks first"
Lot of attention-seeking disguised as hefty efforts
Lot of diamond chains disguised as hefty net worths
Lotta big-chested dudes behind desks who forgot the leg work
We all gon' be revealed eventually
Little time to fix it all, we in need of centuries
I'd rather smile in the fire than languish in levity
Acceptance not the enemy, fighting is longevity
Win or lose for skeptics, B, we just can't be letting we go
Try and be the version of me that's for us

'Cause living in them shallow waters lead to a deepening mistrust, yeah
Healing's not a feeling, it's a process
Progress not an object, it's a concept
Humanity's a conscience, not a contest
It's time we confess
'Cause they been putting on a show
And we been on set from the onset
But smiling in the face of woe and keep goin's all we gon' get for catharsis
And that's enough, trust me
To make it underneath all of the fear where the love be

That's where I'm tryna go, and I'd love company
So whatever feel inevitable in this young country
We still got a choice, you still got a voice
Time to chainsaw them trophies that they still tryna hoist
Going down swinging don't mean you can't go down living
So I'ma live it to the end
Even if I got no say in when, I got the how and you won't find that on the fence
You won't find that on the fence, muh'fucker, no
Ain't a big God guy, but if She exists
And was tryna teach us 'bout us, what more perfect than this?

As we prioritize band-aids for ourselves and next of kin
Instead of tryna heal world wounds that are generations in
This COVID here to stay 'cause all we think about is "me"
And can't envision "I" as one in a global community
Our demise will be that failure, thinking we can hoard science
Our inaction is action, thinking we can ignore violence
A team only as good as its 12th man's health
And we been raping and pillaging our bench for centuries
Welcome to the repercussions, possibly the ending
We finger-pointing to avoid that we our own enemies

What if, instead of pretending, we harnessed that fight and that fuel to be all that we pretend to be?
You'll always be waiting if you wait until you ready, B
I'm looking in the mirror like, "When you gon' set you free?"