Akua Naru - The Block lyrics

Another block caught, crooked cops, gunshots
'Nother body dropped
Grandma waitin' at the bus stop
County jail letter in the mailbox
 house shoes, the sweat socks
Braided heads on the porch to
Get that extra guap
Eviction, facin' rock bottom
Pray she bounce back on top
American dream a nightmare, please
Make it stop
Neighbors watch, inhale, modern day dress
God slingin' rocks
Black boy, white tank top, baggy jeans
Dreadlocks dreaming of that drop top
Non-stop Chinese spot
And let me get a navigate liquor stores
Projects lords in vacant lots
We be the have nots
When we have, we become what we got
Another car ride by
System knocks that new shit pedestrians jot
Hip hop corner stay a track in the flop
The pain immaculate
Watch single mothers hustle
To punch the time clock, crime a cash crop
Somebody runnin', the dime drops
Ice grills mask a kind heart
As time talks, fathers are holograms
Sons waitin' for the day to snuff Uncle Sam
Why not? No sympathy for that man
He get what he deserve, damn
I say he get what he deserve
Yeah, he get what he deserve


So you keep tellin' me (Hey)
I heard my brother says

You keep tellin' me

Uh, huh

Another woman raped, choked, battered
Body found in the attic
Contents of her purse scattered
Leftover re-shattered
Clothes tattered, lipstick smeared
Broken glass
No news reports on the matter, oh
Nobody gathered
Nothing change, ask around ‘bout her name
Some said Tamika, some claim Loraine
The tag on the foot said Jane
I wonder who she was
Did she give and receive love?
Did she fight back, or just gave up?
She laid dead, legs cold, hair gold
Framed in the child’s pose
Bruised nose, semen-stained pantyhose
Sade on the radio, singin' through the window
I wonder if pain has a tempo, I bet it's slow
Streets survive, never live, then we die
Dreams deferred, glass ceiling high
Born on the wrong side
Is there a right side?
Classifies our labour
Sold for nickel and dime
And who decides our lives by
Signin' on the dotted line?
Next week, they gentrify
Push us outside the city lines
Sirens frame the evening
Profiled for being non-white and breathin'
Walkin' the streets
Bored cops, they fiendin', probable reason
No donut shops and roll up
On a couple cats, Spanish speakin'
Mexicans, what they screamin'? Puerto Ricans
They thinkin' they're all the same, fuck 'em
Blow out their brains, killin' season
It's war hour
Wish they could take us all out
Let the dogs out
Niggas should be hangin' from trees
Auctioned off now
Load 'em up, blast until they all down
Fire shots at full force now
We'll never see the court house


So you keep tellin' me (Hey)
I heard my brother says

You keep tellin' me

Uh, huh