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Peace,
Ro Soul Jah
There comes a time in ones life when one can no longer accept the oppressive nature of the current system and one can only finds true freedom in the struggle against that oppression. I am an Edmonton based rapper and my lyrics portray the reality of a young refugee turned revolutionary. These words belong to the people!
Yo here is the vibe of the soul jah
Ro be the one soul that that’ll school ya
The one who gave his life to the people cuz
That was the sole step that authentic wuz
The voice of the people needs to shout out
But we can’t be talkin ‘bout no sixties route
We need to learn what our histo--ries bout
It’s not just about taking the streets to shout
History reminds us to live in simplicity
So with the whole world we can be in solidarity
And learn to organize with subsidiarity
Yes this is the soul jah that’s breakin free
And I believe it is a real possibility
So remember the rhymes that Ro spit
The next time you take another weed hit
And proclaim to yourself that it’s the shit
That the world needs a whole new logic
So dream of new ways to live it
Come on people we talking about justice
Ask your friends if they really need a lexus
The struggle in me is to be truly free
To objectify my social reality
critically analyze, comprise
Evaluate and radicalize
I died and was reborn
With the oppressed and torn
To authentically form
Part of the revolutionary struggle
A puzzle that end at a gun muzzle
Things have changed we will become immortal
Our spirit will transcend the earth
And cross through the portal
To establish a new world order
Forget the border and any other limit
Strip it, clip it and then flip it
Learn to conceive of the new wine skin
Begin to dialogue with your next of kin
For this is where the pedagogy of hope lies
And the exploitation and oppression die
Where people discover the tools for their liberation
And together they seek their emancipation
From the dehumanizing effects of nihilism
The life taking system that is capitalism
So now you’re forced to make a choice
To speak in a passive or an active voice
And put your faith where your mouth is
Don’t think that this is a pop quiz
The answer you provide
will determine your way
So get an attitude like N.W.A.
And say everything that you got to say
Cuz this is your recruitment day
Think about it, what would you do without it
If they took your freedom would you struggle everyday
Or would you lie down and let them have their way
Decay in a hole of your self loathing pity
So get real G It’s time to roll with the best
So put you fist to your chest
and stop being a guest
in the house of the revolution
Become part of the solution
Give up your own life you’ll preserve it
Conserve it and the life of all of humanity
Your local and global community
The time has come for you to reconsider
And not to give in to the highest bidder
But instead to critically analyze
the world around you
And begin to challenge you world view
Break the paradigm and the whole foundation
Castration of the whole white male domination
So now you’re forced to make a choice
To speak in a passive or an active voice
And put your faith where your mouth is
Don’t think that this is a pop quiz
The answer you provide will determine your way
So get an attitude like N.W.A.
And say everything that you got to say
Cause this is your recruitment day
So now we are at the beginning
But also in the last inning
As the Maya conceived, life works in cycles
Demons convince and Lucifer kills
So be careful with whom you tread
Cuz history repeats if left to fly over your head
Read or be the living dead
That consumes without a mind in their head
It’s your turn now to die and lay to rest
Only to be reborn with the dispossessed
And to struggle at their side
and resist arrest
when the popo come with their direct request
For you to squeal on your comrades and brothas
So they can lock em up one after another
Say fuck that it’ll never happen
The only thing they’ll ever hear
is the sound of one hand clappin’
And when they reach that level of consciousness
They’ll convert to the cause and their sins confess.
So now you’re forced to make a choice
To speak in a passive or an active voice
And put your faith where your mouth is
Don’t think that this is a pop quiz
The answer you provide
will determine your way
So get an attitude like N.W.A.
And say everything that you got to say
Cuz this is your recruitment day
Some dayz when I wake up
I think this is all for what
Shut up and shut out
Of the rest of the world
Tired of trying to make a difference
I ask if it all make sense
But that’s the devil perusing me
Enticing me with material dreams
Dammit some dayz I just wanna get paid
Annoyed cuz it’s been so long
Since I’ve been meaningfully employed
But what can I expect out of a system
Where rejection has no correction
So I continue writing rhymes
Not cuz I believe in getting signed
Cuz my mind can’t be confined
I gotta create or I’ll die
Then I’m reminded of the struggle
And that all of us need to be free
My brothaz say don’t forget that you got me
Those dayz when you wake up to your clock
And you feel like pickin up a glock
Cuz you think your done
Remember you still got some
Sanity left in you
We’re gonna make it through
This oppressive occupation
Don’t give in to your frustration
Cuz we need to be healthy
To confront the system
working out everyday
going to play soccer on Saturdayz
reading about Latin American History
so our minds aren’t clouded in mystery
when it comes to knowing where we from
cuz being latino ain’t just about salsa and drinking rum
Allende said, "La Historia es nuestra y la hacen los pueblos"
I say, "victory is ours as long as we grow"
Never letting the enemy control our mind
No hay pero ciego then those that want to be blind
I have a compañera that holds me down
She make me feel like I be wearin a crown
Not cuz I’m machista but she’s my queen
I have a son who’s the cutest you’ve ever seen
I’d give my life for both them
Cuz they both gems
I always include them in my prayers before I say Amen
Family is the reason we struggle
And we think twice before getting caught up in the hustle
But every month the bills need to be juggled
And that’s why I get tired
Thinking every year that things will change
But it don’t it really is strange
Things get harder and harder
And that’s when I think about givin my life like a matyr
But I ain’t going out like that cuz I’m smarter
Cuz I’m going to fight for my loved ones everyday
Cuz the love they give me I could never betray
So I’m calling all you people that feel the same
If we organize we can destroy the capitalist game
Make people realize the truth and put them to shame
And then our children’s children will tell the story
of how their ancestors overcame
a system that wasn’t really democratic
controlled by fanatics of an antiquated ideology
that had us all believing in their fallacies
dehumanized livin on our knees
consumed by their disease
so I ask you people are you ready to make history
Training has commenced
Ro Soul Jah to go against
Any infidel with or without common sense
A G.U.E.Throwin it down
like a real revolutionary
Climbing mountains like Guevara
Attacking like Fidel at the Moncada
Yellin victory on horseback into SantaClara
AK to the sky as I cross la frontera
La Pachamama es mi Tierra
What I’m talkin’ bout is not a dreamIdealistic babble or blowin’ off steam
It’s the reality that flows through my blood
Since the creator fashioned my people from mud
Yeah from Chavin de Huantar
To revolutionary Red Star
tattoo of a Tumi on my arm
cuz I’m ready to pick up arms
if it’s necessary
yo the creator bless me
that’s the best G
cuz I am free
The tumi is a symbol of sacrifice
Reminds me to be precise
when I give young brothas advice
to start livin like men instead of mice
stop livin your life with a price
over your head hangin from threadz
like Pinocchio wake up yo
cuz we be organized
like KRS One we visualize
not just idealize
cuz like I said it’s more than a dream
this is the supreme extreme
don’t let them fuck with your self-esteem
confidence be the main theme
of this rhyme
cuz we ain’t got the time
to second guess or obsess
listen to the words that I profess
ask yourself how you measure success
never digress from the themes that we express
that’s how we grow out of being oppressed
I ask you hommie are we making progress?
When was the last time you had a conversation
about your own formation and dedication
To building a new world with a new foundation
We be the generation that got the combination
To get rid of them life taking corporations
Yo hommie it’s your obligation
to resist without hesitation
so get used to the situation and
stop livin in isolation
cuz we fighting the occupation
of a capitalist regime
that destroys and makes children scream
cuz they feel hunger every day
while the rest of us sittin at the buffet
ask yourself if that’s okay
or is it a sign of our society in decay
come on I’m not asking you to right an essay
on the topic use logic it’s not cryptic or magic
or mythical like Poseidon or Hades
remember we revolutionaries
All that rhetoric that you learned in school
Has made you a fool that follows their rules
While they enjoy the profits of our labour
That’s how they’ve controlled since the time of Cain and Abel
And since then people can’t get it together
Women and men fighting about gender
Each race wants the splendor
Nobody wanting to surrender
but when it don’t happen
Like raging bull “I coulda been a contender”
How did it all spin out of control
How did you end up with that dead soul
Well it’s time for you to check your role
Fuck the public opinion poll
And start getting your life together
Stop talking to people about the weather
and have real conversations
cuz it’s about our common formation
the shift in our collective mentalty
and the ability to think critically
Alone or is it just an allusion
A vision to forward the confusion
Alienated by the people that surround me
I chase demons away hoping to be free
Like
To kick it on the mic and be ill
To bomb shit like I be atomic
I’m chronic give me another gin and tonic
Better make it a double I’m trouble
I was born ready to rumble
So don’t fumble cause I’ll touch down
I’ll create a ground zero, I don’t clown
There is no need to watch your back
cuz I’m full frontal with my explosive attack
I’m like cancer in remission
I’ll fuck you up like the Spanish Inquisition
I’ll skin you alive just to get the truth
I’ll raid your safe just to get the proof
Yo go up against my pistola
I’ll make you bleed like you got Ebola
I’m the third world breakin down your door
Not here for charity but to through you to the floor
And say fuck na my people are dying
We trying to be peaceful but you people a lying
You don’t wanna make this world a better place
Cause you to caught up in your mothafuckin rat race
And all the while you destroying the earth
the great mother that gave us our birth
so that each of us could be free
so that’s why I Emcee right in your face
to make you realize you’re a disgrace
Ask me why I’m so fuckin angry
Let me share the reality within me
I was born in the midst of shit
A life taking fascist dictatorship
My family was forced to flee
From death squads and military
Now I live in a foreign culture
I feel like I’m dyin surrounded by vultures
I’m attacked daily by the Eurocentric elite
By every status quo motha fucka I meet
And believe me it’s not subliminal
Or minimal and don’t blame it on the animal
that lives within us ‘cause even animals cooperate
so let us imagine another world that we can create.
Cuz it’s not to late to change our fate
so lets you and me contemplate
I’m here to shake you, wake you
I’m not here to break you
Words are metaphors to open doors
To climb on to shores and strike chords
With harmonic undertones
to keep from living like drones
while others sit on thrones of bones
of children that drowned due to injustice
That’s why the rhymes are colder than ice
To make you realize the role of the dice
Plays with lives that strive to be free
That shout: YA BASTA,
GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME
So excuse me as I snatch the mic
and relate the plight of those without rights
Free yourself from the privileged life
Ready to bring down the
I invoke ancestral spirits
From the earth’s inner core
Through to heavens door
It’s like I died and resurrected
Killed the main frame and ejected
Like you I was confined
Every time I made it to the end
Some motha fucka would push rewind
My freedom began when I parted
From the materialistic code
When the signal hit the node
And I started thinking why am I sinking
Deeper and deeper into an endless cycle
of psychological manipulation
So I caught the signal and built a station
Started listening to guerilla radio
Down with the revolution for sure
Looking for a cure to the pain
Of those shut out due to greed and gain
But then I realized I am the enemy
And like Jesus at
Asking God for an answer.
“Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it,
Whoever loses his life will preserve it.”
So here I am and I’m ready for battle
Like I always say ready for the rumble
This shit is bigger than you and me
It’s about good and evil understand and see
Sign up and become a revolutionary
Carry the message on to the masses
The time has come for organized clashes
And I’m not talkin’ about idealism
Anarchism or any other fuckin’ ism
I’m talkin’ ‘bout people and self determination
Education, the life giving water spoke of in revelation
Ya bro it’s the last days
When Judas motha fucka’s will betray
the revolution for a couple of duckets
then realize it and say fuck it
and take their life for denying the truth
So
Ya sister, peace be upon you
Face the reality of our collective destiny
Be free, float like a butterfly
And sting like a bee
I be spittin’ this shit with an AK-47
Blessed with a spirit originally from heaven
Reborn a soldier of light
Blessed by the lord and now I stand on his right.
“Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it,
Whoever loses his life will preserve it.”
Yo I spit rhymes of poetic eloquence
Leaving all you brothers and sista’s in suspense
Hanging on my every word
Before I slam dunk it like Larry Byrd
I spit so tight that it’s really absurd
Those that feel my rhymes are cured
Word, I never stumble and never slur
Cause this shit is pure
Never deferred, hearing what you heard
Are you lured into my rhyme
It’s more than Garfunkle’s
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Don’t get left behind
And get caught up in a bind
Living your life in rewind
Cause poetic pauses perpetuate absurdity
This shit is not new to me
I’m revolutionarily sowing ideas culturally
Cause I’ve read Freire n’ Gramci
And I understand the need to be
Creating dialogue about our reality
The exchange of words is the modality
To free ourselves from the formality
of commonality
of the system that destroys our creativity
and perpetuates our idiosyncrasies
yo I smoked their ideology
but it wasn’t the shit
before I swallowed it I hawked and spit
I didn’t buy it cause it wasn’t legit
It wasn’t bout people the least bit
losely knit logic about the market
reverse stock splits and hits
If you don’t believe me have a go at it.
Created to enter your dome
to show you what you already known
so put down your phone and scone
and enter my zone and stop acting like a drone
that’s cloned to moan and ask for a loan
the time has come to hold your own
cause this government needs to be overthrown
and we got more than sticks and stones
to crush the bones of "la corporacion"
community savings and loans
could be our Rosetta stone
to economic sovereignty
I kick that back to all you Emcees
go home and ease
and think about how you’ll respond to me
remember that I came to this country as a refugee
so regurgitating speeches from the sixties
won’t put me in a frenzy
Spittin rhymes should communicate ideas
Of how to get rid of our overseers
Tell me do you hears what I’m saying
I’m not playing or swaying
Listen to the reality that I’m portraying
Yo I know this is a democracy
But if you’re lazy and servile you ain’t free
Even without violent coercion you’re a slave
Residing in plato’s cave
Hidden from the real world beyond
People we’ve all been conned
Our lives are being pawned
So I ask you how you gonna respond
cuz it don’t all change with a wave of the wand
You can’t beg for your freedom you need to seize it
By any means necessary you need to keep it
hittin you mind with a super sonic shock wave
destroyin the paradigm
that’s keepin you culturally oppressed
and has your whole life in a backwards mess
bringin you the truth is my duty in this world
sharin my experience
like Steinbeck in his novel “The Pearl”
So pay close attention as I start to speak
Cause I’m unique like an antique
Found on a mountain peak
in the middle of
and I be droppin’ bombs every day of the week
I’m the brotha with incredible flow
Willing to go toe-to-toe
with any racist Jim Crow Joe Blow
He be wishin he would a laid low
But now he’s dead in an alley like a John Doe
So don’t fuck around with the fuck around
Cause I’ll leave you six-feet underground
Cause my verse is worse than a curse
My enemies end up on their backs in a hearse
The Whole World’s Lookin
So don’t make me pop you
Put down the money and guns
And we’ll let you through
And people please don’t make the mistake
Of thinkin’ I’m a brotha that’s full of hate
I’m just tryin to stay awake
From the mind numbing state
Of our current corporate reality
Contributing to the mass poverty
I’m a modern day Che Guevara
Sent by my people to raise "la barra"
To make wannabe revolutionaries contemplate
Are you ready to battle the fascist state
Are you really awake
Are you gonna live through the earthquake
And to all the status quo brothers
Competing with one another
I’m gonna make you know me
and you can either like me or blow me
cause I don’t give a shit what your opinion is
The Whole World’s Lookin
So don’t make me pop you
Put down the money and guns
And we’ll let you through
Like the saying goes people talk the talk
But true revolutionaries walk the walk
and I be composing rhymes
that keep you in shock
with beats like I be Johann Sebastian bach
that tell the story of how I organize
to help my brotha’s and sister’s realize
that we need to stop supporting
the corporate economy
we need to drill holes in the capitalist ideology
I don’t give a shit if you G Unit or G-U-not
And your dream is to sip champagne
on your Uncle Tom yacht
Or to make your millions
with your 3 point jump shot
In the back your mind you need to remember
That in all of us exist a divine ember
that glows brighter each time we expand our mind
to keep us from being confined
The Whole World’s Lookin
So don’t make me pop you
Put down the money and guns
And we’ll let you through
Ridin in his bronco down whyte Avenue
We be ballin looking for adventure
Smokin the
Worked hard all week now it’s time to play
Bumpin them tracks, boy that’s the way
Just wantin to have fun and play all day
Hittin the club dancin the night away
End of the night we’d have some sessions
Talk bout shit sharing life’s lessons
We’d met Mr. Giggles many times
Sat around and laughed at all his rhymes
One night Giggles to us to the homeland
Like passin the glass into wonderland
Giggles said I know this Capo that want’s to see ya
And that was the night we met Don Guiguilia
Chua Loco that shit was tight
Let me tell you boy that herb was outta sight
For the first time I got my fill
I felt like the fourth spic part Cypress Hill
That night a bond was created
We weren’t three brotha’s that had been sedated
But instead we were settin fires
3 comrades down like four flat tires
Ready to hold it down for one another
Ready to lay down our lives for each other.
My brother my hommie and me
In the end it’s all about the three
Forged to be tight like the trinity
Never makin’ a move unless we’d all agree X2
We ain’t bad motha fucka’s
We just playin those status quo sucka’s
Who thought they down cause of a Che T-shirt
But weren’t willin to put their hands in the dirt
But some nights we’d hold down for the hood
Representin for all the brotha’s from Mill Woods
One night at a hall party in September
Shit went down and I’ll always remember
I swear that gringo was six foot four
But I had to introduce his head to his truck door
That cracker threatened my hommies Pop
That shit ain’t right so he had to drop
My hommie fucked up his face pop, pop, pop
He was in a rage I didn’t know if he’d stop
Then that cracker jumped into his truck
And all the hommies said what the fuck
Shit was flyin’ each and every way
Before those crackers managed to get away
That night went down in our hoods history
You can’t mess with us we won’t let you be
Cause we comrades not afraid of the fight
Or to stand up for what we know is right
Whether it’s one battle or the whole fuckin war
We’re prepared to fight our way to the shore
And storm that bullet filled beach
Like soldiers at
My brother my hommie and me
In the end it’s all about the three
Forged to be tight like the trinity
Never makin’ a move unless we’d all agree X2
This last verse is dedicated to my bro
Who fights at my side and helps my soul grow
Since we were young he’s looked up to me
But then he became a man and he made me see
I’m not the only old school G
To throw it down
Explicitly defining the common noun
Building a culture of true resistance
With impeccable persistence
Willing to go the distance
With or without my assistance
An attack on my brotha is an attack on me
So don’t wonder when we leave you in the debris
of a fallin tower of a super power whose time has come
that others begin to shy away from
because they know that the revolution is here
lookin to the future like a aeronautical engineer
designin them stealth bombas that go under the radar
pouncing on a victim like they a jaguar
so when shit starts to go down
you know who you’ll see
My brother, my hommie and me.
Not waiting for the time to pass
We’ve crashed through the looking glass
Put it in gear and hit the gas
and now we thuggin for the change
Measured the gauge, its time to rearrange
But it starts with what I’m spittin in your ear
the time for you to hear is near
don’t fear and help me put it in second gear
Like Isaiah, I’ve come to speak the truth
Infiltrating your mind thru this recording booth
Don’t get me wrong, tooth for a tooth
An eye for an eye only if they make
my children cry out in pain
by their sinister plots to gain
the whole world around them and then some
So brotha question your logic and philosophy
If you don’t want to come to blows, I’ll let you be
But don’t expect me to go out
Without fighting in a bout
For my family and my peeps
Because I am down, it all for keeps
I’m not saying your approach ain’t down
But it ain’t the only noun or sound
In the phonetic exchange of lyrical rounds
Spoken for people to expand their world view
And don’t get me wrong cuz it’s nothing new
It’s about working class poor tryin to get what’s due
I’m talkin bout a few hundred years
Of organizing, blood sweat and tears
And just when they thought they were near
In comes the elite and sets in the fear
Through their menacing ideologies
counter revolutionary theories
Then they’re found in heaps
and then their families weep
Cause they believed in a better world for all
So you know when I hear that call
You can bet I’ll be packin’ and backin’ y’all.
Tell me do you think they’ll just give it up
Hand over the money so we can live it up
Fuck no so prepare to take it
Put it all on the line and risk it
cuz future generation will come to the line
If your too much of a pussy to even listen to this rhyme
So the time has come to grow some balls
realize that all empires fall
the question is just when
let me tell you it all depends
sista are you ready to work for it
if you are then the time has come to floor it
This shit is in fifth gear and we ain’t stoppin
Bandanas on our face and we poppin
Like AK’s in a Colombian jungle
So step up with the brotha born ready to rumble
Lets get free from all this misery
And start living the life we supposed to be
Children born free of the almighty dollar
If your down girl let me hear you holla
Cause we need to know if you’re with us
You know numbers factor into the success
Of the struggle and the movement
The time has come for improvement
And don’t be afraid cuz I got your back
Let’s start training for the day we be forced to attack
The man that gave me life is down
A revolutionary then and now
Even though he’s passed on
His life lives on like Jesus
In the Gospel according to John
Not only through me, my brothers and my son
But the coming generation
This is the situation of his reality
Every day he gave his life for his family
Bringing home what was needed
And sometimes what we wanted
Passing on the values
and revolutionary rules
With messages taken straight to the heart
Sometimes with arguments that would tear us apart
He was just one grain now a strong root
Of the tallest tree and the life giving fruit
All praises to mother earth the fertile land
All power to the people
so I raise my hand
Now I take his message
The message of the people
To the ones who don’t listen and can’t perceive
Those who will be sent away
At the last judgment cause they don’t believe
In helping the poor and the oppressed
And treat them like an unwelcome quest
Cause they are obsessed
with their material wealth
which will lead to ill health
I don’t doubt that
cuz he taught me to pray the kingdom come
But he also taught me not to follow
a dogmatic institution cause that would be shallow
but to question my faith everyday
so that I would grow in a spiritual way
so that I could be a better warrior
to fight the devils and the creators of war
I’m not ashamed to say it so I will
I love you father and I always will
Every day I’ll fight for the revolution
Speaking my mind giving my contribution
I can’t wait for resurrection day
So you can give me a hug and say it’ll all be okay
And that we have achieved victory
This is our history
You see it’s already been written
To walk into
And cry in the arms of all those with whom we see eye to eye
And gave their lives so that we could be free
To the highest degree
It’s all clear to me now
And I know that’s real
Cause I hear the whispers
Of my father speakin with zeal
From the other side
Sayin crush the economic apartheid
That’s keeping our people poor
Get militant and break down the door
Of injustice and greed
Soon it’ll be your turn to be the seed
And bare fruit to a thousand doves
That will fly through the world spreadin the love
So until that day keep spreadin’ the message
And keep steppin wisely along the narrow passage
And don’t shed a tear my loving son
Cuz soon you will live and we will all be one.