Saul Williams
"Raised to be Lowered"

To manifest your dreams before you manifest your fears.
To navigate beyond the treachery of self-despair.
To find the balance between all you sense and all you see.
To find the patience and the strength it takes to let it be.
To stand amongst the crowd and have the strength to hold your own.
To throw away the pen and pad and simply be the poem.
To rise above hatred to love through seeming contradiction.
To seldom take a side and learn to compliment the friction.
To bring about the change within that we can't live without.
To shift and re-arrange ideals and learn to deal with doubt.
To voice the victory and unlearn ways of self-defeat.
To learn the value of "Yo fuck the words, just ride the beat."
To leave the comfort zones of all you know to all you feel.
To step beyond the void and realize the unknown is real.
To re-imagine every obstacle as just a means,
of honing craft and learn to laugh at failures funny dream.

There has to be some other way to stop the fight!

I was raised to be lowered.
Was I raised to be lowered?
I was raised to be lowered.
Was I raised to be lowered?
Each day we sing and pray for guidance through the night.
I was raised to be lowered.
Was I raised to be lowered?
I was raised to be lowered.
Was I raised to be lowered?

To not allow the worshipers to take up all the space.
To dance at funerals and grieve when true love shows it face.
To meditate upon the lesser things like hair and nails.
To find new meaning in your freedom when your freedom kills.
To walk the runway on the one day when you lost your stride.
To show your face when you feel more inclined to run and hide.
To keep it gutter when you utter "No it won't stop!"
Until the ones that point their guns at niggahs get got!
You're gonna get got!
You let these niggahs get got!
Lying on the black top.
Relying on the have-nots.
You're gonna get got!
Get popped!
Get cocked!
You let these niggahs get got!
Let these niggahs get got!

There has to be some other way to stop the fight!

I was raised to be lowered.
Was I raised to be lowered?
I was raised to be lowered.
Was I raised to be lowered?
Each day we sing and pray for guidance through the night.
I was raised to be lowered.
Was I raised to be lowered?
I was raised to be lowered.
Was I raised to be lowered?

Hallelujah.

All these other suckas make me sick.
Inshallah we've come this far, the past can suck my dick.
Blessed be the virgin (especially if she's nice and thick).
May your first time be full of grace, respect, and not a trick.
First communion. Sacred as the day you were conceived.
Born in sin? Nah, think again: Repent and disbelieve.
Heaven lies between your thighs. There lies the trick! Deceived.
Holy blood shed once a month until we nurture seed.

Was I raised to be lowered?
Was I raised to be lowered?
Was I raised to be lowered?
Was I raised?
Was I raised to be lowered?
Repeated 7X