Living Proof (Young Black Youth)

Written by K. Frazier Vocals performed by Khary WAE Frazier Produced & Composed by Joe Black Mixed by John Brown Jr. Recorded at Sights & Sounds Studios Southfield MI & John Brown Jr. Studios From the ‘Broken English Ideologies’ EP 2015

VERSE ONE Kids looking up to me I don’t know what to tell them Ain’t no options out here cause Detroit done failed them . . .So I try to just listen And offer them some love if they make a bad decision Though I wish things was different Hard for me to justify still living where I’m living Doing what I’m doing and getting what I’m getting In Detroit skies I can clearly see a ceiling Antiquated thoughts and old ideas Of assembly lines and unionized men Everything that’s left for the past 40 years What the politicians say they can bring back here And I wanna believe but its hard when you see A college grads options just like a GED And I wish things was different, . . .it ain’t up to me I accept the worse, . .  it’s just what I think VERSE TWO Life ain’t fair and its worse if you Black It’s the land of the free but the ghetto is a trap it’s a state of mind not a place where we at That don’t trust people but it will trust cash we don’t understand how this philosophy is born Evans family here what Plato was to Rome So I brush it off with the books that I read to shake off the laziness, jealousy and greed with notes of Marcus Garvey thoughts of Faud Muhammad quotes of Dudley Randle and Assata’s sonnets cause without knowledge slavery’s not abolished and I find myself even shackled to a dolla //Hard places makes rocks get softer Can’t find work? streets got job offers Why young kids even robbing and shooting And we blame parents, teachers, and music VERSE THREE I got a little homie who just graduated Ex-dropout alternative education As he thinking now that he can just make it His alternative prison and basic training It’s a harsh reality but a sad truth When you can barely read college not you You ain’t got no money college got you You ain’t gotta plan life stops you Things stack up as time moves on thinking what’s next, not right or wrong Why I make decisions that might risk it all life is a hustle I can flip or I fall On a high wire I’m Dominique Dawes With my information that’s of value when I talk Coming together everything’s in my palms To catch all the snakes that fatten up the frogs