Producer: RZA

Let me give you some real shit for a second
Yo, listen...

Five hundred years of tears, we still here
Standing strong, the only thing that we fear
The reflection in the mirror, the hate is deep
It's been this way since Willie Lynch made the speech
Divide and rule got us all by the balls
The referee's cheatin', but we playin' by the rules
Even after all the rape and the killing
We still let the same man educate our children
There's been no apology, we still forgivin'
And he's got the cheek to portray us as the villain
Look across the globe at the way we are livin'
The darker the skin, the realer the condition, no coincidence
We built the whole western world for free
And what thank you did we get? To be hung from trees?
We been whipped, been stripped of our truth
But we still standin', a tree without roots
Black rose from the concrete, the petals is damaged
But surely you see the beauty of what just happened
What don't kill you, make a nigga strong, that's a fact
And we've been abused for so long, you do the math

Akala

Kingslee James Daley, better known by the stage name Akala, is an English rapper, poet and academic. Originally from Kentish Town, London, his older sister is rapper/vocalist Ms. Dynamite.