Roots & Reckoning

(yeah) (turn my headphones up a little bit) (uh)

They look at my face and they write down a story Never

looking close at the weight of my glory Just another figure on

a dark city street corner But I'm the architect,

the creator, the performer (uh-huh) Yeah we built the foundations from the

mud and the clay Now you see the shine but you look

the other way My brother,

my nigga, we survived the cold rain Turned the quiet heavy pressure

into pride from the pain

This is the soul of the concrete and stone (yeah) This is

the throne that we built on our own From the shadows to

the light, yeah we stood our ground

Now they gotta listen to the beautiful sound

I carry the ancestors deep in my stride Every single scar is

a badge of my pride They wanted us quiet,

wanted us tame But my niggas kept rising,

reclaiming the name (reclaim it) We speak in a code that you

can't translate

Living in the love while we push past the hate Yeah the

rhythm in my chest is a legacy dynamic Flowing like a river,

deep and panoramic

We are the roots We are the soil

(we are the soil) Through all the struggle

Through all the toil

This is the soul of the concrete and stone

(yeah) This is the throne that we built on our own

From the shadows to the light,

yeah we stood our ground

Now they gotta listen to the beautiful sound

(yeah, we still here) (always will be)