I am..

Look at my face,
peep the physique,
a big black man,
I bet he's an athlete.
A bouncer, a dealer,
or maybe you see,
former inmate 46t883.

I bet the last place you thought was the library,
Now I get the gazes,
the prolonged looks at me.
Reading is disdained,
like knowledge got us shook,
our existence is farce,
I found truth in books.

But I'm not saying vocab makes one legit,
sublime works the same way as dope as shit.
But reading is stigmatized within my nation,
nice to see nothings changed,
since the masters plantation.

In the modern cesspool,
ignorance is the rule,
conformity championed,
inquiry ridiculed.

Wise up you fools,
your being made into tools,
that repair and sustain
a system that enchains,
demeans, misleads,
suppresses the brain.

But damn I forgot,
real niggas pack gloc,
bust shots at their brethren
to hold down their block.
Don't got time for the books,
man thats not a good look,
plus my stomach keeps grumbling
so there's crack to cook.

This ain't up for dispute,
we all need to get loot,
but everybody can't rhyme
so most hustle and shoot.
A new generation
upholding massa's command,
the old record stays spinning
like Jim Crow we dance.

But I refuse to succumb
to statistics and figures
so I'll politely retort with,
"these nuts nigga."
Increasing intelligence disrupts the mold,
they are all to aware of the potential we hold.

If white equals smart
then you seem to forget
every race has its ignorant,
be they vatos or rednecks.

Centuries of displacement
have yielded misguided,
nearsighted and vain,
staunchly divided,
plotting and scheming
for all you've been shown,
is that dreams are within reach,
the lighter the skin tone.

Melanin has determined
our present condition
so we black men
are left with too few decisions,
success for our race
follows a narrow line:
cook rocks,
spit rhymes
or you got some nasty hang time.

In the 21st century
we're a new breed of slave,
the sun is outside
yet we stay in the cave,
crushed and impeded,
taught to behave,
being locked up like this,
who needed the chains?

This whole fucked up game
is all part of the plan,
to corrupt, exploit and vaporize the black man.
But there is still time,
to halt our demise,
stand up, become conscious
we must organize.

I'm bitter and angry so I won't act coy,
born into a system for which I'll die to destroy.
You may sit back and watch,
remain idle and tame,
I'll spark the match,
more will fan flames.

The redemption of my people,
is all that I seek
I'm not sure about y'all but this is what I believe:
I am the untapped rage of the african slave,
all the pride and dignity of when his ancestors reigned,
with the goal of levelling unequal terrain,
the racists worst enemy:
a nigga with a brain.