We Could Be Free

Yeah, we could be free
If we only knew
We were slaves to the pains of each other
One thing, I believe I could learn
To see my enemy as my brother
Then we could be free, truly
And love could wash away our sorrows
I'm not afraid to bleed
If it means
We'll make a better today not tomorrow
One day I dream of telling my momma
"You ain't gotta work no more"
Same for my father, born in Ghana
Down on that dirt road floor
Far as he came I can't complain
But pain is so subjective
Spend so much time countin' issues
I forget to count
My blessings
Watch my cousins back at home
Getting water out a well
While I watch my brother stacking stone
Whippin' water by the scale
Tryna' get a mill' on the other side
They ain't got a meal
We don't recognize we in heaven
So we think we live in hell
It's been getting kinda hard to tell
But
Sometimes I wake up and I look up at the sky
Asking why I'm alive when the realest ****** died
And my pride won't let me give up
Lord as hard as I try
In those times I try to remember
That we could be free
If we only knew
We were slaves to the pains of each other
One thing, I believe if I could learn
To see my enemy as my brother
Then we could be free, truly
And love could wash away our sorrows
I'm not afraid to bleed
If it means
We'll make a better today not tomorrow
'Nough, 'nough, 'nough
We'll make a better today not tomorrow
I don't want to wait for the afterlife
I don't want a vigil by candle light
I don't want to be the new sacrifice
I don't want to turn into a poltergeist
Be a ghost at night full of broken dreams
Momma cryin' at an open casket
Cold as ice in a suit, 3 piece
All dressed up for Sunday masses
Pastor said put faith in God
But faith alone can't make things right
**** is you to patronize
Somebody's son whose daddy died?
Why they flood Baton Rouge?
Why the city singing Alton's blues?
Why, why, why, why?
I feel like Jadakiss every time I watch the news
What the **** I got to lose?
So I'm down to bleed if it means things improve
You fools, saying "all lives matter"
But it's black lives you refuse include
Blocked from the polls
Locked in the hood, trying to stop you
From voting and stop you from growing
And cops keep blowing and blowing
Keep black people locked into cotton
They don't want you to own, but
Sometimes I wake up and I look up in the sky
Asking why I survived all the days
That I could've died
Who am I in my place
To contemplate suicide?
In those times I try to remember
That we could be free, truly
If we'd only knew
We were slaves to the pains of each other
One thing, I believe I could learn
To see my enemy as my brother
Then we could be free, usually
And love could wash away our sorrows
I'm not afraid to bleed, if it means
Some better todays than tomorrow
'Cause only love (tear somebody)
Love (make my enemies my brothers)
Love (woah woah woah)
Make a better today not tomorrow
Oh, yeah, oh oh oh, yeah, oh oh oh, yeah
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, yeah yeah yeah
Make my enemies my brothers
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, yeah yeah yeah