What You Say (feat. Kīngi Tūheitia)

The best protest we can do right now is be Māori

Be who we are, live our values, speak our reo

Care for our mokopuna, our awa, our maunga

Just be Māori

Māori all day, every day, we are here, we are strong

We should use this time to build kotahitanga

Today is about kotahitanga

We need to be united first and then we decide our future

I am up early in the morning, yawn and wash my face

Wonder what racist situations I will face today

'Cause it's true, take our land, our language, then they make us pay

Make this treaty, but you too greedy, you don't stand by what you say

Uh, you don't stand by what you say, nah (What you say, what you say)

But you don't stand by what you (Say)

But you don't stand by what you say, nah

But you don't stand by what you (Say)

Come back for the repo, give land back to the people

Ransacked for the zeros, treat our culture like a peep show

Want a lead role, but you more like B-roll

Don't have to be so deceitful and evil, snapped in the keyhole

This is cerebral, you have to be wrong, you

Have to be gone, yeah, that's the needle, uh

Injection lethal, put 'em in a sleep hold, looking for a freehold

I don't believe so, I don't agree

Nobody should be treated like less than equal, nah

Smack 'em in the dome with a cheap Bernadino, boom

Shoot 'em all up with the caucus, reload

Ooh, yes, you must've met my ancestors

You need to be my oppressor

You must've been that shopkeeper lady always surveying my every move

You must've been my stereotype, tryna make me inferior type

You must've been that weasel tryna use every tool

I am up early in the morning, yawn and wash my face

Wonder what racist situations I will face today

'Cause it's true, take our land, our language, then they make us pay

Make this treaty, but you too greedy, you don't stand by what you say

Uh, you don't stand by what you say, nah (What you say, what you say)

But you don't stand by what you (Say)

But you don't stand by what you say, nah

But you don't stand by what you (Say)

We unite, time to fight, 'cause we know what's right

History toitū te tiriti

E tū, stand proud, that's the take

Ka whawhai tonu mātou, ake, ake, ake

We unite, time to fight, 'cause we know what's right

History toitū te tiriti

E tū, stand proud, that's the take

Ka whawhai tonu mātou, ake, ake, ake

Ooh, yeah, we got work to do, we got work to do

And ooh, yeah, we got work to do, we got work to do

E tū, stand proud, that's the take

Ka whawhai tonu mātou, ake, ake, ake

Ooh, yeah, we got work to do, we got work to do

And ooh, yeah, we got work to do, we got work to do

E tū, stand proud, that's the take

Ka whawhai tonu mātou, ake, ake, ake

I am up early in the morning, yawn and wash my face

Wonder what racist situations I will face today

'Cause it's true, take our land, our language, then they make us pay

Make this treaty, but you too greedy, you don't stand by what you say

Uh, you don't stand by what you say, nah (What you say, what you say)

But you don't stand by what you (Say)

But you don't stand by what you say, nah

But you don't stand by what you (Say)

We need a way forward that brings kotahitanga to all of Aotearoa

I thank our tauiwi friends who are here today

Your support is important

We are all in this together, that's a fact now

So the way forward needs to bring peace and unity for everybody

These issues are bigger than politics

We're only interested in one version: te reo

There's no principles, the treaty is written, that's it

It won't be easy, we haven't fixed it yet, but there's more mahi to do