Concrete Cages

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#followers #crew @ rapfame_officials Born in a system that designed me to fail, Same zip code, different chains, still in jail. They redlined the blocks before I learned to walk, Closed the schools down, opened up the courts. Mama working triple shifts just to keep the lights, Daddy doing triple time 'cause the system's tight. They say "equal opportunity," I call it a sequel, Same script, different decade, nothing ever equal. I seen the news anchors smile while the numbers climb, Talk about the crime rate, never talk about the time. The time they took from us, generations deep, Promises on paper while the people can't sleep. I'm from where the banks said no before they said hello, Where the loan officer smiling but the answer's still no. They built the highway through the heart of my city, Called it progress, called it growth, ain't show no pity. I'm holding receipts for the promises broken, Every campaign speech another lie that's spoken. They sell the dream in commercials, sell it on the screen, But the dream got a deductible ain't nobody seen. I watched the water turn brown in Flint while they debated, Watched the politicians eat while the children waited. This for the kids that grew up sharing one bedroom, Ceiling leaking, mama praying, hoping for the bloom. I'm a product of the policy, not the prophecy, They wrote the ending 'fore they wrote the history. Tell me how the interest rate know my zip code, Tell me why the highway only got one exit road. I'm not asking for a handout, I'm asking for the hand back, The one they took when they wrote the plan, jack. Stop and frisk became a rite of passage round here, Learned to keep my hands up before I learned to drive a gear. They funding prisons faster than they funding the schools, Building cells for kids before they hand 'em the tools. I seen good men turn to ghosts up in that system, Numbers on a jumpsuit, lost names, never missed 'em. This the new plantation, just a different kind of cotton, Pick your poison: the corner or the cell, ain't forgotten. I been reading up on redlining, reading up on the laws, Every brick in my hood got a hidden, dirty cause. They tell me pull the bootstraps but they took my boots, Asking for the roots back when they salted all the roots. I'm rapping for the mothers burying sons too soon, Rapping for the fathers locked up under the same moon. This ain't about a party, left or right, red or blue, This about the system built to keep us stuck in the queue. I seen the headlines spin it, call it isolated cases, But the pattern's been repeating since the first of these places. They put a Walmart where the hospital used to stand, Then act surprised when ain't nobody got a healthy hand. I'm from the side of town that ain't on the brochure, Where the only growth industry's the funeral and the lawyer. I had to learn the game before I learned the alphabet, Learned the law before I learned what algebra is yet. They talk about the bootstrap like it's still attached, Mine got cut off before the starting gun was snatched. I'm done asking nicely, done waiting on the change, Watched too many good ones get buried in the rain. This for the verse for the kid that never had a chance, This the verse for the system that never gave a glance. I came from the bottom of a hole they kept refilling, Still found a way to rise, still found a way I'm building. You can keep the system, I'll be writing my own laws, Turning all this pain into the purpose, into cause. This ain't a sad song, this a mirror that I'm holding, Look into the glass and tell me what you see, told you. I'm the proof that broken systems still produce a king, Built myself a throne from everything but doubt tried to sink

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