Raised to Be Lowered - Saul Williams

…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 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 worshippers to take up all the space

To dance at funerals and grieve when true love shows its 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’ve 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 get got!

You’re gonna get got!

Let these niggas get got!

Lying through the ?-top

You’re lying on the have-not

You’re gonna get got!

Get popped, get Cocked

Let these niggas get got.

Let these niggas 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 is between your thighs

There lies the trick

Deceived holy blood shed once a month until you nurture seed

…Was I raised to be lower?

Was I raised to be lower?

Was I raised to be lower?

(Was I raised?) Was I raised to be lower?

(Was I raised?) Was I raised to be lower?

(Was I raised?) Was I raised to be lower?

(Was I raised?) Was I raised to be lower?

(Was I raised?) Was I raised to be lower?

(Was I raised?) Was I raised to be lower?

(Was I raised?) Was I raised to be lower?

(Was I raised?) Was I raised to be lower?