The Roots, Bilal - It Ain't Fair lyrics

Oh, brother, hmm it's still a mystery, yeah
Will you hear my cry?
Won't you hear my plea? Ohhh, ohhh
'Cause, I'll never know (I'll never know)
How it feels (How it feels)
How it feels (How it feels)
Oh, how it feels (How it feels) to be
To be free

People swear they woke
But they walking in their sleep
I pray the Lord their souls to keep
Because wolves disguised as sheep
Patrol our streets
And we all know, that which you sow
You shall reap
Those who do know, you should teach
Through every loophole
We gon' leap until you reach
A common ground and become unbound
Because when your whole town
Becomes a battleground tears raining down

Because it ain't fair
It's hard when you're looking for love
And it ain't there
Or trying to read what tomorrow holds
When it ain't clear
Because the well is running dry
Race-tension is running high
Under 21 is far too young to die
My salvation's under fire
This marks a rising of the tide

Every day I wear a mask like an umpire
Guess a nigga gotta laugh to keep from crying
Tonight another friend passed on
The young side
It's bad 'cause a good friend's
Hard to come by
Justice is never color blind, never gun shy
For one crime
You may never see the sun shine
We know of one times, giving you the finger
'round hear it means, fuck you
It's not the number one sign
I hear they turning downtown
To the front line
It's something like the same place
But it ain't safe
They took it from the human
Race to a tank chase
The Devil feeding off hate so he gain weight
There's tainted waters in the well
So we can't taste
People dazed and amazed though it ain't grace
Impossible to coexist in the same space
Enter the black saint with the war paint face

This generation
We've forsaken all that's real
What emotions do we feel?
Is your poison called a pistol or a pill?
Some people say, "Let Jesus take the wheel"
Others say, "Thou shall not kill"
But that old time religion ain't
Gon' pay my bills
We've come so far, yet, here we are
Bruised and scarred, presumed inferior
We ain't scared o' y'all

It ain't fair
It's hard when you're looking for love
And it ain't there
Or try to read what tomorrow holds
When it ain't clear
Because the well is running dry
Racial tension is running high
Under 21 is far too young to die
My salvation's under fire
Rising and rising, oh!

To my, Arabs, Israelis, Native American
Mexicans invested in wrestling with Willie
Lynch's next to kin the rising of the tide
Noose around the necks again
Look how they try to hide
Proof of all the excellence
The only tag you know me as is Holy Swag
Through any glass window, we smash
And bro we back
It's come to pass, I'm unabashed, so we have
An awareness of the only
Flag that's growing fast
I guess I'm tryna minimize regrets
I identify with death
That don't mean it's not an uninvited guest
I'm just tryna answer all of my requests
And express, in 140 characters or less
Why I'm the best educator, re legislated
Premeditated
Dedicated, heavy weight that ever
Paid it with blood
Not tuition without a cop's permission
I got a pot to piss in despite the opposition
Listen

Oh, it ain't fair
It's hard when you're looking for love
But it ain't there
Try to read what tomorrow holds
And it ain't clear
Because the well is running dry
And it ain't fair no, it ain't there
No, it ain't fair
Looking for justice and it's just us
It ain't fair
There's a riot going on out there
And it ain't fair
When your protector is your predator
It ain't fair no, it ain't fair
No, it ain't fair
Y'all just gon' turn the other way
No, it ain't fair
Turn a bloody cheek on these bloody streets
It ain't fair it ain't fair
It ain't fair no, it ain't fair
No, no no, no
No, no no, no