Find No Enemy

Apparently I'm second generation black Caribbean And half white Scottish whatever that means See lately I feel confused with the boxes Cause to me all they do is breed conflict It's not that I've lost touch with the reality Racism, sexism and nationality Just to me it all seems like insanity Why must I rob you of your humanity To feel good about mine? It's all about crime Dehumanizing is how I justify it So I must keep on lying about the history of Africa So I can live the with massacres And repeat my mantra of Muslim and terrorist So I can sleep at night as bombs take flight Eyes wide but I'm blind to the sight Too busy chasing the perfect life And the working class keep them uneducated Truly educated men could never be racist To educate is to draw out what is within Are we not all not the same under the skin? I got a heart like yours that pumps blood and oxygen And insecurities are a whole lot of them I'm scared like you deep down I really do care that world is not fair like you But I don't even believe my own prayers like you Chasing career going nowhere like you Lost in a fog of my own insecurities I hold myself up as a image of purity And I judge everybody else By the color of their skin or the size of their wealth But it's not good for my health As the only one I ever really judge is myself The oppressor must suffer like the oppressed Though I pretend I'm in control of this mess By inflating my ego, puffing my chest I see my weakness, and need to show strength Or what we think strong is because if we're honest? True strength is the strength to be honest And if I'm honest I am just tired If I'm honest I am just tired Tired of everyday filling up my car and knowing that I'm paying for the bombs in Iraq Tired of pretending like it don't hurt my heart Of wanting change but not knowing where to start Tired of listening to all the conditioning And all the forms they have me filling in Next time you see what is a thug and despise him Please know I was just like him Cause I was like eight the first time I saw crack Same time I first smoked weed choking on blowbacks First time I saw knifes penetrate flesh It was meat cleavers to the back of the head As I grew and teenage years passed Many more knifes pierced and the shots blast And I not saying I had the worst upbringing But there's a million young men just like me in prison We complain about racism and elevate clowns With their trousers down swinging their dicks round Maybe that is not quite literal But everything they do is just as stereotypical To my real fans I feel your pain And I get the messages, but don't complain That we ain't got more fame for paying our part They can keep the charts all I want is your hearts They can keep the charts all I want is your hearts They can keep the charts all I want is your hearts Calling it black radio, don't make laugh So is black music all about tits and arse? You don't represent nothing, you're just pretending When was the last time you ever played Hendrix? Or Miles Davis or John Coltrane? Or Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday? We can call it urban to me that's cool If urban means street, that includes jazz too And rock for that matter Go ask Mick Jagger or Jimmy Page what they were listening to - the blues Not discrediting, love Zeppelin too, just giving credit where credit is due That blood soaked word rappers still use All it really shows is that we still self abuse That was the word that was used to kill Kelso Cochrane and Emmett Till That was the word that the conscience eased And made people pleased to hung you from trees That was the word that let the whips crack No matter what you say you can't take it back And I can say their black so I feel their pain easier But 1915 look at Armenia If the whole world is human stupidity Though we choke ourselves to death quite literally And I can talk with my comfortable mouth With my comfortable clothes and my comfortable house The tables will turn, we can but stall them Every empire on this earth has fallen So unless we can find another way Maybe not today, but it will come one day It may sound like I'm bitter but in fact truth be told I am quite the opposite I wake everyday and am overwhelmed Just to be alive and be like no one else And the sheer weight of the thought of space Is enough to keep my little ego in place All that we chase and try to replace all along it was right in our face The only way we can ever change anything Is to look in the mirror and find no enemy The only way we can ever change anything Look in the mirror and find no enemy