OUR BLOCK

Take a ride to our block.

They’ve got us brothers/
shedding tears, reminiscing on all our fears/
cos things have been hectic these past ten years/
it appears that we’ve been marked for death/
all these heartless threats/
the underlying cause off all the stress/
and no rest, forever weary/
my eyes stay teary for all the brothers that we’ve buried in the creeks and cemeteries/
things are scary/
and all this makes for sensation unnecessary/
we’re all worried/
teardrops and closed caskets, the death toll on us is drastic on them soldiers and us Delta bastards/
what can we do in our oppressed state but open fire?/
Life in penury ain’t for we cos we’de rather die/
But please don’t cry through your despair/
I wonder if the Lord still cares for us brothers here/
and who cares if we survive?/
The only reason they’ve noticed us is cos we’re clutching on AK47s/
My neigbourhood ain’t the same/
cos all the little children are going crazy, suffering in all the stress/
and I tell you this place is a trap/
but I’m not giving up on this land/
its all good when I go back/
folks show me love, brothers give me props/
cos the party don’t stop/
on our block/

Living life is but a dream/
hard times is all we’ve seen/
Maybe one day this life will change for we/
And our block we still pray.

Now things are constantly hot/
on our block, there never fail to be gunshots/
can’t explain a mother’s pain when her son drops/
Nigerian male sleeping in hell/
when will we prevail/
fearing death but crime, bunkering, kidnapping got me living well/
I know that you say I’m suicidal with this thug life/
staying strapped with bullets in a crap existence/
But I was starving, I couldn’t get a job/
so I resorted to robbery since my life was hard/
I can’t sleep cos all the dirt make my heart hurt/
all this pain plus shedding tears for my dead peers/
misled from childhood by these corrupt elders/
till this day I’m still praying for a better way/
can’t help but feel hopeless and heartbroke/
from the start I knew that these elders were destroying us/
in my heart, I feel all alone out here on my own/
I close my eyes and picture home on our block.

Living life is but a dream…

And I can’t help but wonder why/
so many young kids and their mothers had to die/
caught in the middle of the hail from our AKs/
from the government and from their sons/
we all cry for broken lives/
Mama, come inside/
cos our block is filled with danger/
used to be a close knit community /
but now we’re all close strangers/
time changes us to stone and drug addicts/
all up and down the block exterminating black life/
How can I blame my brothers?/
when our roads, hospitals, schools and welfare has bought our elders chrome wheels/
all this is real/
do you feel the tragedy?/
staying trapped, fantasies of a brother living fat but held back/
pipe dreams can make the night seem hopeless/
wide-eyed I’m losing focus on our block.

Living life is but a dream/
hard times is all we’ve seen/
maybe one day this life will change for we/
and our block we still pray…
and our block we still pray.


Adapted from the Rap Song, “My Block” by Tupac Shakur.