Bandanna Blues
(look) (cold pavement, heavy flags)
Every corner got a code Tied in knots you cannot break
Blue folded in the left pocket heavy as stone
Step across the boulevard,
never walk alone Red signs across the intersection marking out the lane
Generations carrying the weight and the strain
Look at how they judge us by the color in the seams
System got us boxed into these broken avenue dreams They treat you
like a villain for the cloth around your head While the blocks
stay divided between blue and the red (yeah,
listen close)
Tied up in the fabric of the neighborhood pride
Judge you by the banner when you're caught outside
Blue on one corner,
red cross the line
Paying for the emblem every single time (every time) Tied to the
sin,
bound to the crew
Look at what a piece of cloth will put you through
Watch the squad cars rolling through the alleyway slow They don't care
about the truth, it's just a label they know
Caught up in the cycle from the cradle to the gate Hostile
across the strip where the rivals stay awake
Opposite colors locking eyes across the light
Everybody guarded on an August night
Bound by the cloth that they handed down below
Reaping every seed that the older heads sow
(it's cold out here)
Tied up in the fabric of the neighborhood pride
Judge you by the banner when you're caught outside
Blue on one corner,
red cross the line
Paying for the emblem every single time (watch your back) Tied to
the sin,
bound to the crew
Look at what a piece of cloth will put you through
Just a strip of cotton,
but it wrote the law
Seen too many fall from what the corners saw
No escape from the colors in the light
Just another warning on a quiet night
(can we ever break the tie?)
Blue flags,
red lines.
Tied to the corner.
(look at what it costs)