Lightning

I was struck by lightning Not as a figure of speech; I was literally struck by lightning It smells like a hospital on fire Like the cleanest smoke you can imagine Like spring water pulled apart by the atoms It smells like recycled air on an airplane crashin' What are the odds? It didn't give me superpowers So I guess I gotta take my chances With small talk, weather reports and high traffic With time clocks and time bombs and time passin' When I'm not here anymore with my planet Notice my absence, I swear Some days are like carvin' your name into the capitol With just your fingernails while the politicians laugh at you And some days are worse I wanna leave a legacy so they'll remember me for more than this verse Please: hold your applause, hold it forever There's so much that keeps us apart and so little that holds us together But whatever that is we're gonna need it It's gonna get worse before it gets better And it only gets better when we do better And we only do better when we fuse together Yes, there's no progress without struggle Whether you're an activist or just a kid in some trouble A student graduatin' with debt A single mother depressed A little brother repressed, drippin' the sun as it sets Into a habit hidden under the bed The four walls echo something I said When dark clouds gather Remember to just fight back Not everyone can be touched or struck like that And survive, but you did You've still got a spark inside, so use it See I've learned a little bit about energy I've learned when it enters you it loses charge So the negative and positive are worth the same amount The passion and the pain, the smiles and the scars Whether you lost your job or won the lottery That energy enters you, like a lightning bolt And no matter how dark its origin, once it's inside you It's yours to control So what this means, is that those Who've been through the most have the most to let go There is strength in our anger, power in our pain Even beauty in the hourglass' grains It all depends on how we use it Some people make music, some people make excuses Some people make enemies, some make believe Some people make the most of every tragedy And me, I just wanna make a scene Ain't gonna patiently wait for my pain to bury me Ain't gonna waste all this energy chasin' popularity, or prosperity I'd rather stand tall in solidarity With everyone we've lost, because they're never lost And every one of ya'll who stays forever strong And we'll build basslines outta thunder Rap to the rhythm of the rain and dance on the little bit of Space that we have and build something lasting As this empire's collapsing And when they ask me to come along quietly I'll say how can I quit I've got lightning inside of me [Chastity Brown Singing]