Beginning of a New Era

4:44am, feds flock to the front yard again
Guns to the heads of my friends,
That was me back then, in 010
Only been waiting for something to take me away from this cycle of violence
Look in my brain, there is infinite dread and
I'm living inside of a riot

4:44am, shaking in my bed, drenched in sweat
Am I gonna get out of the life I led
Am I gonna have my body filled with lead
I have been running away from my past for too long, now I'm ready to face it
Freedom is something so beautiful, but it's difficult to navigate within

New Haven, Connecticut, they got him in the street
Ten shots by the cowardly police
They don't gotta do time, just paid leave
Worst case, they're gonna retire early

OG told me this the life we chose, No sleep
Sometimes we get heaters to the dome, don't weep
You on fleek? Shut your lip
Petty little puppets, but they claiming to be free

What I gotta do to make a mufucka listen
What I gotta do to make a mufucka listen
What I gotta do to make a mufucka listen
Say, bitch, call him a bitch

What I gotta do to make a motherfucker listen
What I gotta do to make a motherfucker listen
What I gotta do to make a motherfucker listen
Say, bitch

This is the beginning of a new era, I can feel it
I want to believe again, I mean it
This is the beginning of a new era, I can feel it
I want to believe again, I mean it

4.44 AM, just found out about another dead friend
Is it suicide or heroin
Wondering if I am next
Next

4.44 AM, shaking in my bed
Drenched in sweat
Am I gonna get out of the life I led
Am I gonna have my body filled with lead

My brain is stuck between trying to kill me
or take me away from the violence
Cacophony is still surrounding me
So I'm sitting here praying for silence

They don't like my spit, never fit their image
They forgot that we were here since the beginning
Black and white world with some black and white critics
I was never either, so I never quite slid in

The game don't love you, can't catch feelings
All I ever wanted was to scratch glass ceilings
They don't like the fact that I look like a rap
Never looked like a trapped, that put money in the bank

Fucked over so many times, point blank
Hard to even put it in a rhyme, that's frank
False motherfuckers gotta have a lot of balls
To forgive another killer trying to catch you in his jaws

Pathetic, the ways that they try to rip us all apart
It's a class war out there, Don't get lost
Still believing in the possibilities we got
But survival can cost

In my teens I read some Zinn, then Bookchin
High school scholarship then
College scholarship then
Education is privilege, Hip Hop is

Take it back from big biz
Old money men never really gave a shit
They just wanna sell poverty to the rich
They just wanna sell pain for profit

Fuck them hard and quick, on this dick
They can sit, I will split
Rulers necks, Let them wear
Brick anklets, sleep with fish

Temples get torn to the ground
Bambaataa gone now, seems that they forgot about
Boricua kids with big mouths
Since Kool Herc been down

Acting like we never been around
This my blood too, melt down plastic crowns
Acting like we've never been around
This my blood too, melt down plastic crowns, now

This is the beginning of a new era
I can feel it
I wanna believe again, I mean it
This is the beginning of a new era

I can feel it
I wanna live again, I mean it

When I was a kid outside Oaktown
Watched the hills all burnin' down

89 earthquake, battle of the Bay Bridge
Berkeley watched my family drown
Ashby flea market, drum circles
Malcolm X is what I found

Ice T B.D.P.E, kill at will tape
Digital underground
Respect art you clowns
This ain't actin', fashion, rainbow mouths

This ain't shockin', only honest
Fake Four hip-hop for right now
Temples get torn to the ground
Bambaataa gone now, seems that they forgot about

Boricuop kids with big mouths
Since Kool Herc been down
Actin' like we never been around
This my blood too, melt down plastic crown

How? Anyone in their right mind
Ever gonna think that they're rapping better than me
Own this fucking sound, now

This is the beginning of a new era
This is the beginning of a new era

This is the beginning of a new era
This is the beginning of a new era

Never made out with death
Never had a year when you lost seven friends

Never had to serve a mandatory minimum
Your opinion ain't shit then
Never got fucked by death
Never had a cop put a gun to your head

Never had to serve a mandatory minimum
Your opinion ain't shit then
Never made out with death
Never had a year when you lost seven friends

Never had to serve a mandatory minimum
Your opinion ain't shit then
Never got fucked by death
Never had a cop put a gun to your head

Never had to serve a mandatory minimum
Your opinion ain't shit then
Trick