Released: July 28, 2017

Featuring: Ty Dolla $ign

Songwriter: Gizzle Rance Malik Yusef Ty Dolla $ign VIC MENSA

Producer: 1500 or Nothin’

[Intro: Vic Mensa]
Love, love, haha, yeah

[Chorus: Vic Mensa]
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 all the sorrows
I'm not afraid to bleed, if it means
We'll make a better today, not tomorrow

[Verse 1: Vic Mensa]
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
As 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 watched 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

[Pre-Chorus: Vic Mensa]
Sometimes I wake up and I look up in the sky
Asking why I'm alive when the realest niggas die
But my pride won't let me give up Lord, as hard as I try
In those times I try to remember

[Chorus: Vic Mensa]
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 all the sorrows
I'm not afraid to bleed, if it means
We'll make a better today, not tomorrow

[Post-Chorus: Vic Mensa]
Love (Yeah) love (Yeah)
Love, we'll make a better today, not tomorrow

[Verse 2: Vic Mensa]
I don't want to wait for the afterlife
I don't want a vigil by candlelight
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, three-piece
All dressed up for Sunday masses
Pastors said put faith in God
But faith alone can't make things right
Fuck is you to patronize somebody's son who 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 fuck 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 rocking the cotton they don't want you to own but

[Pre-Chorus: Vic Mensa]
Sometimes I wake up and I look up in the sky
Asking why I survived all the days that I could have died
Who am I in my place to contemplate suicide?
In those times I try to remember

[Chorus: Vic Mensa]
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, you and me
And love could wash away all the sorrows
I'm not afraid to bleed
If it makes a better day than tomorrow
'Cause only…

[Post-Chorus: Vic Mensa & Ty Dolla $ign]
Love (Tells somebody)
Love (To make my enemy my brother)
Love (Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa)
Make a better today, not tomorrow

[Outro: Ty Dolla $ign]
Whoa, yeah
Whoa, yeah
Oh, oh, oh, yeah
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Make my enemy my brother
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

VIC MENSA

Vic Mensa is a rapper from Chicago, Illinois. He released his first project, the Straight Up EP at age 16 and was previously a member of the indie group Kids These Days. He also founded Chicago hip hop collective SAVEMONEY with Chance The Rapper.

Following the disbandment of Kids These Days, Mensa went solo and released INNANETAPE in 2013. The tape was met with positive reviews as critics praised Mensa’s ability to sing, rap and meld genres.

“Down On My Luck” brought Vic Mensa into the global spotlight, earning praise from established fans and new listeners alike.