1. |
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Chorus:
I’m the Black life that I’m fighting for
Sweet Architect & Shia Sankofa echo: I’m the Black life that I’m fighting for
I’m the Black life that I’m speaking for
I’m the Black life that I’m speaking for
I’m the Black life that I’m living for
I’m the Black life that I’m living for
I’m the Black life that I’m loving for
I’m the Black life that I’m loving for
I’m the Black - ain’t sitting back
ass nigga
cept to relax
lavender bag
in the swisha
Carry the torch
Light on the porch
of your inner
Spi-ri-tu-al con-scious-ness
lavender crown like oowee
purple with the glow
halo come for free
-halo came with me
i don’t want your freedom
if the kids can’t come
if the dish serve one
if the past ain’t sung
i don’t want a rerun of the kingdom come
reject the king i’m from
bow to the mountains
the sun
river river
hear her calling me
saying where you at child
don’t you remember we
sang your name before your breath
came victory
take another breath
come now sing with me
Chorus:
I’m the Black life that I’m fighting for
Sweet Architect & Shia Sankofa echo: I’m the Black life that I’m fighting for
I’m the Black life that I’m speaking for
I’m the Black life that I’m speaking for
I’m the Black life that I’m living for
I’m the Black life that I’m living for
I’m the Black life that I’m loving for
I’m the Black life that I’m loving for
I’m the Black
native attack
on your ego
peace in the bag
medicine stacked
like deniro
never come short
never abort
mission zero
lightwork ain’t light work
oh noo
lavender crown like oowee
keep a cool head
said my ancestry
lavender crown like oowee
grant me grace
mind my pace
rest easy
I don’t want enlightenment
without the fun
without the buns
without the lungs
of trees im done
carrying the weight of thieves
universal energies
simply reflecting we
karma saying take the lead
victory victory victory xs?
sing
I’m the Black life that I’m living for
This here Black life got me weeping, God
Praying to heavens
Underneath our soles
I’m the Black Land Back
to claim my home
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2. |
Sweet Almond
02:57
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SWEET ALMOND / CHAMOMILE
praise be to the watchful eye
diviner
dawn child
gatherer of the first slivers of day
like handfuls of fresh grass
dewy with promise
how you ready the children
how you warm the farm hands with your smile
how the animals parade by your side
wisdom-purpose intertwined
few have patience for these relations
for the gaping mouth of oceans
deafening silence of volcanoes
or colonial distortions of man
for fear of the eruption
the tsunami drumfire
living dormant in the belly
but you
Oromia
Jamaica
Sudan
Cuba
the Islands and islands of red-brown people
eat the silence sloppy
stuff the shell with our namesongs
until everything is Black again
Black again
our trumpet sounds are melding
into a ruckus-anthem
fit for this dizzying faith
awakener
first fruit of spring
sweet almond
rise
bring your bitter twin
with cyanide at her pit
teach us divine violence
the generosity of chaos
of chaos
and to watch the small ones
the pebbles
like us
like seeds
to note the tremordance of our bodies
as the second coming thesecondcoming
the lovestampede
of a people
born whole.
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3. |
Rose
03:44
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I FELT ALL ALONE
NO ON THERE TO CARE FOR ME
DADDY LONG GONE
MAMA THREE JOBS DEEP
ALL I REALLY KNOW
IS I HAD ME
AND MY IMAGINARY -IMAGINARY
WORLD
AND I COULD SEE
A CROWD FULL OF FACES
SMILING BACK AT ME
SINGING EVERY WORD I SING
RIGHT ON KEY
I DREAMED IN HARMONY
BUT I DIDN’T KNOW
DIDN’T KNOW
HOW FAR I’D HAVE TO REALLY GO
REALLY GO
INSIDE MY HEART
SHIT GOT LOW
UNBEARABLE
USED TO PRIDE MYSELF NOT LETTING IT SHOW
KEEP THE CURTAIN CLOSED
YEAH
EVERY NIGHT I WROTE
TO A GOD I THOUGHT WOULD BE
UNCONDITIONAL
PRAYING THAT HE’D
UNLEASH ME
FROM THE STRONG HOLD
OF A WOUND SO SO DEEP
COULDN’T BELONG TO ME
SOLELY
They called me
Rose
Rose in the cold
No one to stoke the coal
No love that fit the mould
Rose
Break free from the stone
Dreams wrapped in thorns
This heart
my true home
Taken
far away from myself
mistaken
for a woman
a giver
a vessel of wealth
stay hidden
from his hands
from the belt
for the truth to be felt
can’t deny any longer
the cards i was dealt
too young to realize
the lie before my eyes
a child of god
he conquered
i saw
the beating
the thieving
a mother’s last call
for her life
for the knife
to cut through it all
someone to break the fall
So I
Rose
Rose in the cold
No one to stoke the coal
No love that fit the mould
Rose
Broke free from the stone
Dreams wrapped in thorns
This heart
your true home
I FELT ALL ALONE
BUT THE UNIVERSE CARED FOR ME
MAMA TOOK HER THRONE
FLED THE ABUSE
SHE BROUGHT ME
TO A NEW HOME
WHERE I’D BE FREE TO LEAVE
MY IMAGINARY -IMAGINARY
WORLD BECAME THE KEY
TO THE PEN AND THE STAGE YEAH
MY NEW REALITY
SINGING THE PAIN
IN MY HEART
SET ME FREE
SET ME FREE
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4. |
Lemongrass
03:44
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yellow was my name growin up
smile saved the bell
brought the day
no matter what
couldn’t bare to give it up
the sweetness
the deepness
the good that made me up
the story goes
curiosity shows
the little ones
the cosmic tongues
could bare the load
CHORUS
*SHAKER LAYER TO BE CHORUS*
Lemongrass
grows through my fingers
pray it lasts
the poison still lingers
roots intact
Water filling seed
this joy
could be
sowing
growing
all I need
Opening the road
Feeling holy
Been a long time
Moulding slowly
Still a Sun
A lil stronger
no longer on the run from
Me
met the mirror
mirror won
took the time
to come undone
learn my language of love
see fear as the drug
that hooked
the crooked
kept us cooking
bent the backs
taxed the land
taught to grin
and bare the bullet
this the solar plexus
of the new school
say my name
say my name
the ground rule
i am me
i am you
i am we
a generation overcome
meeting shame
praising love
Lemongrass
glows through my fingers
pray it lasts
the poison still lingers
roots intact
Water filling seed
this joy
could be
sowing
growing
all I need
BRIDGE
could this really be my happy
could this really be the day i enjoy me (for me)
could I really be my own free
call me lemon
call me sour
you don’t own me
Lemongrass
glowing through my fingers
pray it lasts
cause the poison lingers
Lemongrass
glows through my fingers
pray it lasts
the poison still lingers
roots intact
Water filling seed
this joy
could be
sowing
growing
all I need
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5. |
Shea
02:36
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SHEA
fruitful tree
gold in a woman’s hand
i am
bulbous bright bodied
ringed and rooted
for you
for your babies babies dipped in river water
i grow
under
over ground
serpent a moat
lay the children
*fear
they may flick a match or thousands
i will be here
the flame and i have made agreements
we will recognize y(our water) walk
when it come
the soft thunder in your wrists and knees
when you bend
i hear your grandmother echo
she was my first butter baby
we bloomed similar
she carried
my fragrance
medicine
across diaspora
bodies of herwater
with the help
of a persevering wind
a heat
so slather my resilience
coat your crackling spirit
receive me
receive me
a steady nourishment
that does not need the myth
of time
to act.
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6. |
Cinnamon
02:24
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Ask myself, why you hiding
why you sacrificing you
for nickel n dime-ing
where them zeroes at
where you putting all this rage
where your heroes at
call em in
leave it on the page
burn a little sage
advice
drop niceties
this not an act
been a dragon
been an ancient motherfucking artifact
healing look like feasting off this fresh
dark matter of fact
war all in my head
time to bring the soldier back
now I’m
Shittin on these mfs like I got the runs
Sleeping on myself
Bitch alarm already rung
Cinnamon cinnamon
Burning up ya tongue
Burning like the sun
Burning like the one
Like bitch
You don’t eem know what’s coming
Sleeping on myself so long the edges looking bummy
All these niggas chasin clout
looking funny
multiplying by the second
watch me clown these Easter bunnies
Like uhnn
shut the fuck up
spark up the blunt
try me, get cut
Like uhn
i am the plug
i am the drug
gonna free up ya lungs
like uhnnn
x2
Can’t hold me
can’t stop me
can’t erase me
can’t deface me
can’t deny me nigga
freedom on my lip
this spit gon pull the trigger
body politic thick-thicker than a snicker
where you goin
where you been at
what’s his name?
first of all
i’m gay as fuck
her name’s
The Game
pull me out
before I cause a break or sprain
adding insult to injury
kevin hart
laugh at your pain
Like uhnn
shut the fuck up
spark up the blunt
try me, get cut
Like uhn
i am the plug
i am the drug
gon free up ya lungs
like uhnnn
x2
Shittin on these mfs like I got the runs
Sleeping on myself
Bitch alarm already rung
Cinnamon cinnamon
Burning up ya tongue
Burning like the sun
Burning like the one
Shittin on these mfs like I got the runs
Sleeping on myself
Bitch alarm already rung
Cinnamon cinnamon
Burning up ya tongue
Burning like the sun
Burning like the one
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NASRA Edmonton, Alberta
NASRA is a queer, Muslim, Oromo multidisciplinary artist living in Amiskwaciywaskahikan (Edmonton)/ Youth Poet Laureate of Edmonton 2017. Founder of Black Arts Matter. 2017 Recipient of the Mayor’s Emerging Artist award.NASRA’s chapbook A God Dance in Human Cloth was the co-recipient of the BP Nichols National Chapbook award in 2019. Their newly released EP “Salve” is their latest call to healing. ... more
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