The Boy Who Played the Harp

[00:27.37] Yeah, I sometimes wonder
[00:29.62] What would I do with the next generation?
[00:31.63] In 1940
[00:32.84] If I was enlisted to fight for the nation
[00:34.63] Or in 1960
[00:36.39] If I had to fight for the rights of my people
[00:38.19] And lay down my life on the line
[00:39.69] So my grandkids could live a life that's peaceful
[00:41.66] Would I be on that? Would I be frontline?
[00:44.06] That's what I'm thinking
[00:45.33] If I was alive in the 1912
[00:46.94] On the Titanic and it was sinking
[00:48.44] Who am I saving?
[00:49.42] Am I fightin' women and children, or am I waitin'?
[00:51.97] I wonder
[00:53.48] What would I do in the next generation?
[00:55.40] Battle of Karbala
[00:56.84] If they captured me for the sake of my father
[00:58.90] Would I stand on my honor like Hussein did
[01:00.77] And tell them to make me a martyr?
[01:02.36] Would I read, get smarter
[01:03.87] Forgive my oppressor, stick to the creed
[01:05.77] If I got locked inside like Nelson Mandela
[01:07.94] But never was freed
[01:09.10] I see a white man dance to rumba
[01:10.83] Ain't study Patrice Lumumba
[01:12.60] But get on the stage and sing like sungba
[01:14.53] Lajaja-ja-ja, sungba
[01:16.33] Fuck it, I wonder
[01:17.64] What would I do with the next generation?
[01:19.45] Would I fight for justice?
[01:20.71] Is it the reason my mum named me David?
[01:22.86] How can you be king?
[01:23.98] How can you be king? Don't speak for the people
[01:26.46] Them man try draw me out and compare
[01:28.19] Like me and these niggas are equal
[01:29.67] I'm a black man and this bozo sayin'
[01:31.65] My music socially conscious
[01:33.28] While the mandem troll in responses
[01:35.04] This world's gone totally bonkers
[01:36.72] I sometimes wonder
[01:38.02] What would I do in the next generation?
[01:39.98] But I'm knowin' the answer
[01:41.47] 'Cause what am I doin' in this generation?
[01:43.64] Afraid to speak cah I don't wanna risk it, my occupation
[01:46.76] We got kids under occupation
[01:48.65] Our parents, they wouldn't get that
[01:50.54] The people that died for our freedom
[01:51.80] Spoke on justice, couldn't accept that
[01:53.86] I talk 'bout the money in all my accounts
[01:55.51] So why don't I speak on the West Bank?
[01:57.17] Remember growin' up prejudiced
[01:58.93] The damage 7-7 did
[02:00.68] Extremist and terrorist
[02:02.61] I was afraid of the Taliban
[02:04.14] Can't speak out on illegal settlers now
[02:06.22] I'm afraid of a shadow-ban
[02:09.01] What would I do in the next generation?
[02:10.96] Critiquin' African leaders
[02:12.56] For sellin' our country's natural resources
[02:14.85] To the West for peanuts
[02:16.01] If they don't hear, they'll feel us
[02:17.87] I question what I'm alive for
[02:19.52] And can you say you're alive
[02:20.89] If you ain't got somethin' you're willin' to die for?
[02:22.93] What am I willin' to die for?
[02:24.43] What am I doin' in this generation?
[02:26.37] I get in my head sometimes
[02:27.99] I feel like I'm in despair
[02:29.70] That feelin' of total powerlessness
[02:31.61] I get that sinkin' feelin'
[02:33.22] That good ain't defeatin' evil
[02:35.02] I put that pain on vinyl
[02:36.40] But feel like that shit ain't movin' the needle
[02:38.30] Retweetin' people, raisin' awareness
[02:40.56] In all fairness
[02:43.37] Ain't gonna bring Chris back to his parents
[02:45.14] But there's no other option, it's a process
[02:47.11] Gotta stand and protest, cah they want man silenced
[02:49.77] Cah they want man dead or they want man hopeless
[02:52.11] In the next generation
[02:52.92] I spoke with my ancestors in the night
[02:54.64] And I showed them
[02:55.44] They spoke with tears in their eyes
[02:56.81] For the brothers they lost and said it was progress
[02:58.85] "How can it be progress?"
[03:00.28] I asked him, confused, disgusted
[03:02.03] They said, "David, just so you can fight this
[03:03.96] You know how much sufferin' touched us?
[03:05.75] And you got a chance, we come from
[03:07.29] A time and a place where you couldn't get justice
[03:09.12] Had to find peace in the fact
[03:10.46] That we all answer to the one what we trust in
[03:12.57] And in our generation
[03:13.55] We did do peaceful protest, just like you
[03:16.06] Burnt buildings, just like you
[03:17.60] Did boycotts, just like you
[03:19.47] Sat in a hostel, powerless
[03:20.93] Did feel powerless just like you
[03:22.60] And I know that it may sound strange
[03:24.37] But we made some change and we're just like you
[03:26.25] I know that you question your character
[03:28.12] I know that you suffer in silence
[03:29.60] I know that it don't feel right
[03:31.05] When you go to the club in Victoria Island
[03:32.91] 'Cause how can you dance in the club?
[03:34.67] There's a hundred people beggin' outside it
[03:36.51] I know the sins of your father
[03:38.56] I know that you're desperate to fight them
[03:39.98] So step in your purpose
[03:41.39] Speak for your people, share all your secrets
[03:43.47] Expose your emotions
[03:44.60] You might not see, but there's people that need it
[03:46.73] Never demand it
[03:47.51] And if God can grant it, manifest it and receive it
[03:50.01] Your name is David and that covenant's sacred
[03:52.38] You gotta promise, so keep it"
[03:53.40] Deep it, them man talk on the ting, but I bleed it
[03:55.65] Man wanna speak on the scene, but I seen it
[03:57.35] Tried in the fire by Ghetts, I'm anointed
[03:59.15] Kano passed me the torch, I received it
[04:00.95] God told me I'm the one, I believed it
[04:02.48] Shout Hollowman 'cause he helped me achieve it
[04:04.22] I'm the youngest of my brothers
[04:05.42] Father eased the burden on our mothers
[04:07.23] Give these niggas money, see their colors
[04:09.18] Don't mix me with them, I'm not the one
[04:10.53] Grind and miss the summer, when it comes
[04:12.30] I'm Abraham, I sacrifice the sun
[04:14.02] Where I'm from, they sacrifice their son
[04:15.83] Hold up, I ain't finished, I ain't done
[04:17.28] My ancestors
[04:19.07] My ancestors told me that my life is prophecy
[04:22.55] And it's not just me
[04:23.49] It's a whole generation of people gradually makin' change
[04:26.53] There ain't a greater task
[04:27.88] Shift that, make a name, make a star
[04:29.46] They don't know what they're facin' when they ask
[04:31.26] With the will of David in my heart
[04:32.83] The story of the boy who played the harp
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