RENAISSANCE
It took me months to finally sit and pen this.
Left for the fall and don’t really care what I missed or who took offense, sometimes you just got to take a solo trip.
Did a lot of soul searching and can’t say I ever truly wanted to quit, but I have wondered how life would be if my ambition didn’t exist, imagine if,
you dropped out of school, left New York City and went back to the 6 just to hear folks whispering behind your back about how you done slipped, how you fell and lost ya grip, how you lost ya mind and all ya cents.
I’m talking pressure so intense that your own thoughts start to insist that you might’ve been destined to ride the bench.
But somehow you manage to persist and see the bigger pics,
understanding that sacrifice today means your future family’s benefit,
but even a sentiment like this left my gut feeling like it’d been hit by Ali’s fist when even my “ride or die” chick decided to go join the clique and started looking at me like I ain’t shit.
But let’s say despite the predicament, you embrace the hustle and muscle through,
joining forces with an intelligent young brother who shares some common views.
The two of you have a dream of what you want to do and start working all day and night without a pot in which to piss,
plotting on how to start a business, get rich and change the lives of all these little Black kids.
You’re putting up more money but you not even thinking about the shit, because this, is like family so you’re convinced that it’s legit.
But it’s something about a real vision and competition that make a skinny fella switch, just ask KD.
Or you can go down the list of those that dipped on me,
and know they only flip cause eventually folks gone see who’s the real MVP so envy makes them want to throw you overboard to sink.
Small minds Dashed off, but it’s truly a great thing because I been focused on longevity cruising in the HOV trying to Stay Melo in this SouthSide heat.
I swear it’s like folks love chaos meanwhile I’m tryna make it cool again to live in peace,
if that was ever a thing.
Some of these guys will lay you down over a couple a g’s and have your momma in the middle of the street, crying over a blood stained white sheet.
They bragging about it on IG, not understanding that her child was her life, she still falls asleep holding his white tees.
The agony is catching up to her behind the scenes, and at this rate, she’ll probably fall off the wagon by next week, because what you didn’t see is that a couple more months would’ve made her 10 years alcohol free.
Open your eyes and take a peak, life gets deep like being underneath dirt 6 feet.
Reality is haunting me in all I think because once you know the truth, it’s all you see.
The 99% lacks bravery, Mass Incarceration is the latest slavery and not to mention all the lies we see flashed across TV screens.
Yeah, I know what you think,
if I had so much to say about it, why’ve I been so quiet?
Honestly these past couple years I’ve just been way too high to riot, it was either that or angry and violent because just a few months after the Perfect Timing,
I found myself jobless, surrounded by silence.
Man my demons had my mind wrapped so tight I couldn’t even disguise it so for awhile I pacified it and tried to deny it,
not realizing that when we turn our mind in the villain always wins because it just leaves another young man who doesn’t care if he lives,
because on the inside he’s already dead,
but that mindset has never been a part of our heritage.
We don’t run from problems, we stand up and solve them,
but that’s something the education system never took the time and taught us.
Hell, let them tell it and you’d think our history starts when they came to Africa and bought us like there weren’t thousands of years prior where we were the shot callers, call it coincidence? I don’t think so.
Because history says if you want mind control, you got to limit what you show,
because once people know,
they can’t help but take ownership and grow,
and there’s nothing more dangerous than a brotha with knowledge and hope, no joke.
That man would be slow to kill a member of the “other team” if he knew they shared the bloodstream of kings,
and it’s a shame how we treat our queens all because mainstream has convinced us that she’s just some useless little Black thing when in actuality she’s royalty of the highest degree.
We got to uncover our identity as a community before we can be the people that we’re truly meant to be,
but change can’t be something you simply speak or Retweet.
The Renaissance will only come if we each jump in waist deep, so I guess the real question is: how bad do you want to be free?
Don’t tell me with words, all the greats let their actions take the lead and can’t you see that great is what you were born to be?
Let freedom ring, let freedom ring, today my heart is happy as can be, because lately I’ve been seeing things, you can call them visions from a Higher Being and He’s been telling me: That One Day Soon, Let Freedom Ring, will be a Song that Every Man, Woman and Child can Equally Sing.
EM Evans is a writer, filmmaker and public speaker. Follow him on Instagram @iam_eronmevans.
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