Nword Gem

[hook] they say that you should be the change you wanna see.

I’m looking in the mirror,

Can’t even say if who i see is me.

& who can tell if that image is what i want or what i’ve been told,

What i have bought or what i’ve been sold?

So, i can’t really even tell you if it’s mine.

No, i can only speak to what i find

& lose along the way, & seeing i

Might move differently & decide

If history don’t repeat then it rhymes.

Yes, yes.

[1] back when jay was telling me,

“**** gon’ hate us because they jealous.”

I never thought to connect that to how them people

Would jail us.

They was coming for us all,

Them public speeches had failed us,

Just like them teachers that held us

In classes & tried to tell us

Bout the

Red, white, blue.

Looping heads right through sentences we was reading,

Being led by noose,

To the gallows

Pistols & bibles, lead-like, too.

Aftermath of the scene leave a red bright hue

On the trees & the ground,

In the breeze is the sound

Of the screams. this account

Is a means to announce

Allegory to the story that would lead to my route

& can maybe, sort of, explain the degrees of my doubt.

I wasn’t even around when they kicked the door to the ground,

Search, then seized, whatever it is they found

I wanted to try & ask him the reason he didn’t break,

Then i remembered … he told me it was hate.

[hook] they say that you should be the change you wanna see.

I’m looking in the mirror,

Can’t even say if who i see is me.

& who can tell if that image is what i want or what i’ve been told,

What i have bought or what i’ve been sold?

So, i can’t really even tell you if it’s mine.

No, i can only speak to what i find

& lose along the way, & seeing i

Might move differently & decide

If history don’t repeat then it rhymes.

[2] when he was writing me letters ‘bout how it’s gon’ all get better,

I was still drinking liquor & wishing that that could help me drown.

Feeling it can’t be right.

Inspired me through the wire,

Hearing this can’t be life,

Knowing better than trust what i haven’t known to be true,

Questioning if a lesson is less if it’s not a bruise.

Who’d have known a disaster was brewing?

I’m teaching school

While trying to make me a master of arts,

& my compositions start getting some recognition.

Linking with preme,

Thinking through things,

But really skipping ahead.

Before that happened, i put my foot on that gas,

Then i pressed it,

& when i woke i was living,

& i was mad.

Or that’s the way i would choose to remember

Losing & given another shot,

So, i learned to aim with precision,

Gained me some vision,

& told myself that i should learn to listen.

[hook] they say that you should be the change you wanna see.

I’m looking in the mirror,

Can’t even say if who i see is me.

& who can tell if that image is what i want or what i’ve been told,

What i have bought or what i’ve been sold?

So, i can’t really even tell you if it’s mine.

No, i can only speak to what i find

& lose along the way, & seeing i

Might move differently & decide

If history don’t repeat then it rhymes.

[3] after he was released, & i was out speaking to people asking

‘bout how my rapping had turned from a passion to an action

Analogous to my crafting a future

After my crash, & i used it

As a way to not lose me,

What did i gain?

It seems the game he was playing was just a race in that place.

Now i’m reacting to starter pistols where i am.

I told my nephew, “they hate you because they jealous.”

& wondered if he would ever really understand what i’m saying.

[laughter]

… there’s a lively spirit in decatur that makes decatur people worth knowing. for, their town is a town where everybody plays.