Moving through the motions the voice within
Screams to set the record straight
Keep pure love is strong true to the heart
Don't turn to hate blinds you from fate
Tired of living and settling with hate
Rise to the top feels the world is against to you
Be a man stand alone face the problem
Stare back with fired passion lit eyes
No more bad habits change for the good
Be better and stronger stand up for your moral beliefs

If you come as softly
As the wind within the trees
You may hear what I hear
See what sorrow sees.

If you come as lightly
As threading dew
I will take you gladly
Nor ask more of you.

You may sit beside me
Silent as a breath
Only those who stay dead
Shall remember death.

And if you come I will be silent
Nor speak harsh words to you.
I will not ask you why now.
Or how, or what you do.

We shall sit here, softly
Beneath two different years
And the rich between us
Shall drink our tears.

IT’S COOL TO BE BLACK

I can use the word ***** even,
When I’m talking about a TV character
It is fun saying it’s because I’m black huh
And no matter what race they’re they start laughing
I like hearing the saying once you go black you never go back
Because it’s usually true

I like President Barack Obama because he goes
Against the grain of those negative black stereotypes
It’s tight how even though people hate on black folks
They listen to our music, copy the way we dress, talk,
Slang terms and the way we walk
They pay a lot of money to watch us play sports
I love how when people want get a good laugh out of life they:
Watch our movies, comedy shows, plays and poetry

I love walking up to my homeboys, home girls, family etc.
Saying: What’s up, giving daps, hi fives, making crazy handshakes,
And sometimes nodding your head as a sign of respect
I love being black because we are a beautiful race.

Hip hop, hard rock, be bop, punk rock
It will never stop.
Every generation will have its own
That is something that’s been shown.

As teens we think that the
older generation do not know
What is hip and what is slow

Our time is NOW and your time is THEN
But we still recognize which is
Foe and which is friend.
In ten years another generation will appear
Then we’ll have the same fears.

Maybe by then drug addiction, free ***
and telephone text will be gone
And just like you our memories
Will linger on.

So I guess what you told me will be true
But until then this will do.
NOW and THEN is the key
This is what makes us free.

Our rap can’t you see is just your poetry
It is just spoken faster, and a beat put to it.
So why is it that you catch a fit?
Is it the profanity or the violence that we see.
Maybe that’s the way it has to be?

The closest I ever came to understanding poetry
was in that crowd, at that hip hop show
and I know you're thinking
"come on kid, rap isn't poetic"
but i could never forget it
the live band blending seamlessly
the predetermined rhythms a symphony
which carried me away to infinity
And when my savior
clutched that microphone in his hand
it began to dawn on me
save your understandings, be one in a crowd
the words flowed out from the mic like jazz
and I knew that i didn't have to worry about being seen as
an over privileged, over educated, over sheltered
white boy who would toy with the idea of fitting a scene
it's more than just a phase
I'll take every last E.P. to the grave
and I will always support
those who have something to say.

It was okay to be lost
nobody is born with a map
but through that rap
I found the pace I'd like to walk at
until I'm in a lovely place, free from my fat
where street preachers use their words
like hot air balloons
and carry me away into the clouds
it seemed certain that I had found my crowd

Everybody’s going nowhere and I am far gone
I can’t even see the ocean the motion was all wrong
Just a sea of broken bottles and cigarette models
On the floor, so high I had to clean the sky
Never been an existentialist, cynic, or a pessimist
Just another body on the edge of metamorphosis
Clinging to a rope I hope will not snap
Like my neck if I hit the ground, oh crap!
I’m apocalyptic fresh and I can’t say why
If I do it’s a lie, see the needle in my eye?
Meditation, preparation, or a conscious legislation
Couldn't help the fact my words are often littered with abrasions
As if shock rock poetry could save me from my death
It could possibly enlighten but I wouldn't hold my breath
Now I’m frightened by the notion of a new world order
But anarchy is hip if you’re on this side of the border
I digress, what a mess if you know what I mean
But I've burned out quicker than gasoline…

I swear these days the kids think they can rap
With their #swag and their #yolo and snapback caps.

But I'd like to show them what RAP means in this country
I'll spell it out: RHYTHMIC AMERICAN POETRY.

Without your stanzas and word composition
you're just another rapper with an arrogant disposition.

Without a positive message and a humble demeanor
you've got negativity causing the children to get meaner.

You blast the bass and you spit your rhymes
you claim that the haters, "they be lying."

But you fail to see that at the heart of it all
you're more like Lil' Wayne than Biggie Smalls.

I'm truly sorry if you get offended by this rant,
but first thing's first;

Pull up your pants...