We Could Be Free

We could be free
If we only knew we were slaves to the pains of each other
One thing I believe I can learn
To see my enemy as my brother
Then we could be free, truly
Then love could wash away all the sorrows
I'm not afraid to bleed
If it means, we'll make a better today not tomorrow

One day I dream of telling my mama
"You ain't gotta work no more"
Same for my father, born in Ghana, down on that dirt road floor
Far as he came I can't complain, but pain is so subjective
Spend so much time countin' issues, I forget to count my blessings
Watch my cousins back at home, getting water out a well
While I watch my brother stacking stone, whippin' water by the scale
Tryna' get a mill' on the other side
They ain't got a meal, we don't recognize, we in heaven
So we think we live in hell
It's been getting kinda hard to tell
But

Sometimes I wake up and I look up in the sky
Asking why I'm alive when so many niggas died
And my pride won't let me give up, Lord as hard as I try
In those times I try to remember

That we could be free
If we only knew we were slaves to the pains of each other
One thing I believe if I can learn
To see my enemy as my brother
Then we could be free, truly
Then love could wash away all the sorrows
I'm not afraid to bleed
If it means, we'll make a better today not tomorrow

Love, love, love
We'll make a better today not tomorrow

I don't want to wait for the afterlife
I don't want a vigil by candle light
I don't want to be the new sacrifice
I don't want to turn into a poltergeist
Be a ghost at night full of broken dreams
Mama cryin' at a open casket
Cold as ice in a suit, three piece
All dressed up for Sunday masses
Pastor say, "put faith in God"
But faith alone can't make things right
Fuck is you to patronize
Somebody son who daddy died?
Why they flood Baton Rouge?
Why the city singing Alton's blues?
Why, why, why, why?
I feel like Jadakiss every time I watch the news
What the fuck I got to lose?
So I'm down to bleed if it means things improve
You fools, saying "all lives matter"
But it's black lives you refuse to include
Blocked from the polls
Locked in the hood, trying to stop you from voting and stop you from growing
And cops keep blowing and blowing
Keep black people rocking the cotton
They don't want you to own, but

Sometimes I wake up and I look up in the sky
Asking why I survived all the days that I could have died
Who am I in my place
To contemplate suicide?
In those times I try to remember

That we could be free, truly
If we only knew we were slaves to the pains of each other
One thing I believe I can learn
To see my enemy as my brother
Then we could be free, you and me
And love could wash away all the sorrows
I'm not afraid to bleed
If it makes a better today than tomorrow

'Cause only
Love (tells somebody)
Love (to make my enemy my brother)
Love (whoa whoa whoa whoa)
Make a better today, not tomorrow

Whoa, yeah
Whoa, yeah
Oh oh oh, yeah
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, yeah, yeah yeah yeah
Make my enemies my brother
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, yeah yeah yeah yeah