Soldier (feat. Tomi Owó)

Another day, another dawn,
And you rise to the morning
See the sun high up where it belongs
But to you it's a warning
'cause at first light, the battle begins
Every step to numb your patience
In the now or never
Will you run or surrender?

And this is your fight, your honour
Whenever you're ready, wander
Fire under your feet,
Don't let it bring you to your knees
This is your fight, your honour
Whenever you're ready, wander
Frontline for God and country
For love and family

Lift your head, soldier
Pick your head up soldier, don't cry
Lift your head, soldier
Pick your head up soldier, don't cry

Hmm, yeah
They tell us, "Boys don't cry"
But they don't tell us why
So when tears starts to fill up my eyes, I wanna hide
We talk about it like it's a badge of honour, our pride
But guess who are the leading victims of suicide?
It's young men who don't know the way to emote
Could be dealing with stress or his heart could be broken
All this hurdle, it's starts partly when fathering
Now we're fathers, we'd carven them into hard men
Just starving for hope

And now the world is changing rapidly, happily, I embrace it
But learning how to be a good man is proving evasive
See toxic masculinity in it, we all will suffer
But all I know is be tougher to feed and protect my lover
And yeah, it's what I was taught that I must be
And honestly I wanna be better, but promise me
That you can show me how, and not punish or tarnish me
It's no laughing matter, no comedy
I'm asking for a friend, yeah

Lift your head, soldier
Pick your head up soldier, don't cry

Lift your head, soldier
Pick your head up soldier, don't cry
(Soldier, don't cry, soldier, don't cry)

This is for the fathers, the husbands, the soldiers, the workers
The young men tryna to be good to find purpose
In a world telling you to be strong or else you worthless
This hurts that we've brought them to earth
Just to scratch the surface
I asked ten of my female friends to share they lens
To tell me what's it like to be them, to get a sense

Six of them had been raped, and all ten had been assaulted
I halted, I couldn't believe how we are faulted
95 percent of crimes and loss of lives
How 'bout us?
We the killers, we the cult, the gangs, the cops, the serial murderers
We the ones at night making the world unsafe
And what we need is a son for light
I'm penning this, hoping that when you reminisce
We can start from the genesis, every man should be feminist
Fighting to make the world a better place
I know it's hard, I see you cover your tears
But what you gon' do about those scars?

Lift your head, soldier (yeah)
Pick your head up soldier, don't cry
Lift your head, soldier (who gon' cry for me? Who gon' ride for me?)
Pick your head up soldier, don't cry (you work so hard on me)
(So who gon' cry for me?)

Lift your head, soldier (who gon' cry for me? Who gon' ride for me?)
Lift your head up, soldier (you work so hard on me)
(So who gon' cry for me?)
Who gon' cry for me? Who gon' ride for me?
You work so hard on me
So who gon' cry for me?

Lift your head soldier (don't cry, cry no more)
Pick your head up soldier (don't cry, don't cry)
Lift your head soldier (don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry)