So I've been working on my next project, 25 To Life, and preparing for my show in D.C. on Saturday. I thought about making this poem my intro for The Show but I chose another. I think this one is really dope though. Wrote it last week. So check it out.
Excellence
Went from Reebox Classics
to Nike SBs
prayed for improvement of the pen
hoping God blessed these words
when I’m in 5ive stars
the sign says do not disturb
I used to build with my brothers
motivation was crushed herb
addicts chillin on the curb
tragic feeling in my nerves
passion spilling from my verbs
captured killers getting served jail time
25 to life, waiting on mail time
prison letters censored, say peace to George Jackson
went from snappin, marching, and clapping
to clappin’ on brothers and trappin
trapped in systems, no snitchin
but I depends on who you askin’
our language has been coded since back when
we’d hide messages in quilts
peep this patchwork
america was built
off the backs of black work
still we underestimate Black worth
we disrespect our own habitats
we wax and shine cadillacs
but throw trash on the ground
your cleanliness is a contradiction to where you lay your head
five year olds talking about getting head
cause they heard it in a song
peep how we pollute minds early on
my uncle used to offer me alcohol
spring training for addiction
played the sideline most seasons
but these are the gifts Black kids inherit
the illness, the sickness
juniors who never knew their seniors
tryna get paid in full
like Ace staring out the cleaners
presidents falling from the sky
they say benjamins make us fly
I say that’s where the evil’s rooted
testaments will testify
but serpents test if I was ever under the steeple
what you talking?
we were always a God fearing people
even before we called him God
always a righteous people
Jesus hanging from a tree
lynchings were crucifixions for niggas
we were always more like Christ
my paternal denied me three times
word to Peter
we were always more like Christ
my neighborhood was never Nazareth
never the less, we live the narrative
no earthly fathers
we carry crosses
we die before we get to read our own stories
reference Malcolm
reference Martin
see Medgar
see Lumumba
reference Soledad Brother
see the little brother dying for big brother
see love
see unity
see your history
see yourself
see your
excellence.
