Journey

The Introduction

Jasmine Mans- You Gone Get this Work N*gga

I know niggas in Timb boots that'll stomp your face through a fucking floor

Prisons that got bars that are better than yours

Y'know I would say I'm sonning you bastards

But if it was left up to me, you woulda been gone by the morning after

If Assata Shakur broke out of prison,

Why would I respect a nigga doing a bitch sentence for no snitching?

You got ya niggas out here dying deaths bloodier than Christ's, yet not even worth half the sacrifice

If Malcolm killed for freedom, why would I respect you niggas out here killing for bragging rights?

You females are emcee, yeah, but you half the light

All you do is rap about your pussy, so your walls and your rhymes are half as tight

You the baddest bitch, yeah, all the bark but half the bite

Never needed Martin to tell me that a million men weren't made to march to Maybach Music

There is no secondary to revolutionary so I'll put Calvary in my vocabulary

And if I'm my father's child then fuck it, my resurrection is hereditary

All you niggas talk about is pussy, clothes and gunplay

But God so loved the world that He sent me to spit you a Easter Sunday

Your reign is over nigga, it's His Son's day

Don't make it rain if you can't make shit grow

Don't say you love your hood but can't spit a 16 about hope

Don't say you believe in God if you're the same nigga that gained the whole world for the price of your soul

Don't say that numbers don't lie if they made you believe that you could put a price on your soul

And all you've got to show for yourself is a body full of tattoos and nice clothes

Answer me this: is a fly nigga really a fly nigga if no one's around to see him when the curtains closed?

Or do niggas who say they get bitches really get bitches if all he fucks is hoes?

And if niggas who say they get bitches really get bitches like they say they get bitches

Then chances are that nigga probably got fleas and he may be mistaken for being sick with HIV

But these niggas are immune to the system and blood-tested in the street

He'd rather beat his blues over the street, he's positive Eazy-E

But before the results came out, he died in his Chuck's and his Dickie's

Congrats nigga, your dick may be long but that's the only thing about you that's deep

The most harmful thing in the world is a nigga with a microphone whose mind is weak

If it takes a village to raise a child, it's funny how you make millions and niggas back at home are still dying right on your street

Because niggas like you have never been "Man in the Mirror" enough to watch what you speak

You ain't drop out of school because you needed to hustle

You dropped out of school because you couldn't read

You was sick of niggas clowning you in Block C

Now you a rich fella who makes fun of regular niggas with college degrees

But the difference between the man you are and the men they are is that they can read their children bedtime stories

Ignorant is the man who thinks he's winning but can't pronounce the credits on his own CD or the tags on his own clothes

I get it, you niggas should stick to pony, it's only two syllables

You know I always pictured Kanye with one of Carol's Daughters, never a fucking Kardashian

But shit, nowadays even Carol's Daughters don't even look African

If God forgives and you don't, that makes you half the man, yet all the sin

But I guess there's no point in believing in God if you can't see Him

And if He's small enough to wear around your neck, I see why you niggas think that you could be Him

You n*ggas mistake heaven for being rich, real weight for being a clip, honesty for being a snitch

Soon, you won't even be able to tell the difference between your daughter and ya bitch

The crowd stands up, and gives me a roar of applause. I flash a smile and take a bow to say thank you for listening. If only they knew how much those words reflect my life today.

How much those words mean to me, how many times I've erased the feelings off my face and written them on paper, the way my mind is filled with so much creativity, imagination, and anger but my mouth won't repeat what I have to say. The only way to express these thoughts is to write them down. I write them down because the paper cannot repeat what I have to say, it cannot go gossip about my secrets or tell anyone, these words stay on the page. I don't have to be judged by anyone or answer to anyone when I write these words, I can truly be who I am.

It's so hard when society tells you to be yourself, yet her words don't reflect her actions. I've visited several poetry slams, I try to find one every weekend so I can escape a life that has been full of bullshit and enter a world that has a different perspective. It's amazing to be surronded by dozens of people with a passion the same as mine.

To bad its Sunday the day before the first day of school and tomorrow I get to air out that mask I've worn everyday since my freshman year of high school. We all have at least one. You know the one you have that is right next to those new binders, new clothes, new shoes, and new bookbag, the one you pick up on the way out the door. I'm entering my junior year, pretty soon this old mask will be thrown in the air like my graduation cap as a sign that I can start making a new one but this time one I will wear for the rest of my life. But I can't help this feeling telling me that my mask will be ripped off this year and for good. I don't know whether I should be happy about this or scared. I guess we'll find out shall we.

~SummerLynn

P.S The woman in the video is not the main character.