I never had a man to teach me how to use my wings,
So I ain’t never really wonder why the caged bird sings.
I try to shoot for the moon so I can land amongst the stars,
but look around and notice that I never once escaped the bars.
Step in my life and try to fly with the pressure of my community;
hunted by my country, living beyond the scrutiny.
People living life with a false sense of unity.
Nobody wants to talk about the gap in opportunities,
And no one really cares because money = immunity.
You’ll never find a bird that learned to fly without seeing it first.
I had to learn to turn to God when I’m feeling my worst.
They say you haven’t made progress if it doesn’t hurt,
then blow away your ashes if the pressure causes you to burst.
You ever seen a friend that you grew up with laying in a hearse?
Or lose someone you love? I swear that pain is something you can’t rehearse.
Have everything go wrong to the point where you start to think you’re cursed,
Or regret your birth; maybe even start to doubt your worth?
My momma never went to college;
she tells me to this day that her lack of education’s like a form of bondage.
She had a dream but she never got it.
That’s dangerous cause there are people who take lives just to be acknowledged.
It’s 2025 and we still got to pay for knowledge?
I was the first of my family to ever make it here.
Some colleges cost like 50 or 60 thousand a year,
with price tags as if I could sell my blood and my tears;
asking for payment, I’m looking at the lady like “where?”
Instead of nightmares, I got empty pockets for fears.
Now when I graduate, I’ll have Sallie Mae on my rear.
So I carry the honor of my mother to make sure I stay on track,
a bible just in case my faith in God begins to slack,
my books so I can distinguish the alternative facts,
and the words of all my doubters; I will never forget that.
I carry my fathers absence and family’s debt up on my back,
and I carry a stigma, you know, because I’m black.
I carry my ancestors before me, you can attest to that,
so watch your step if you see a rose go poking through the cracks.
