I Am Mike Brown by G.A.G.E. (with LYRICS)

[ancianita]

Last edited Mon Aug 18, 2014, 10:40 PM - Edit history (10)

This is getting much play. Hope I hear it on the radio, as well.

I Am Mike Brown
LYRICS:

[Audio intro]

Usually I might clown, but right now
This one’s for Mike Brown so pipe down.
We gotta stop all the rioting in the streets,
We ain’t doing nothing but proving we’re animals to police.

Another child dies, another mother cries,
Another neighborhood left with a whole bunch of whys,
Why did they pursue him, why oh why’d they have to shoot ’im,
But I don’t think that the answer is everybody lootin’.

But fuck that cop, he deserve state time.
They let Zimmerman off, this cop ain’t learned from Trayvon.
I’m just sitting here dropping a little tear of knowledge,
cause Mike Brown ain’t even get to see a day of college.

He would have started soon and there’s an empty seat in class.
All because of these demons hidin’ behind a badge,
So fuck that badge, fuck your protection,
And fuck that law carryin’ your weapons.

But some of these stores y’all lootin’ is black owned
I know it’s for a cause but some of them still got families at home.
It’s not a black and white thing, it’s about abusing the law.
I can’t imagine Dorian’s face when he saw Mike fall.

My tears wettin’ the page while I’m writin’ this,
I know you so in tune, if you not why are you fightin’ it,
Just let it go, just let your heart beat and never lose control,
And God rest his soul

‘Cause I am Mike Brown. I am Mike Brown. He represents us all,
We from a similar town
Walking the similar streets, we got similar police,
So how do I know I ain’t gonna end up under a similar sheet?

So I am Mike Brown
because I’m watching with my homie,
I’m just walking my block,
man er’body know me.
So I am Mike Brown, I am Mike Brown…

[Audio recording…]

I’m Mike Brown, I am shot down
I am Larry Davis bleedin’ on my dingy cell
I am Angelo Clark, I am Oscar Grant
I Am Dante Price doin’ what you others can’t

I am Bo Morrison, Melvin Ba….(?)
I own the voices of these people cuz they all long gone.
Let’s go behind the badge fought behind the beat,
Behind the politics they wonder why we don’t trust police.

They wonder why we carry, carry knives on us
They look for drugs but shoot for anything they find on us,
I am just here sittin’ fightin’ for my life, kickin',
Someone dyin’ cuz police said I looked suspicious.

We all of these people in so many ways
I am Raymond Oyler left to die for two days
I just bought a new hoodie, guess I’m Trayvon
I am Duane Brown layin’ down tryin’ not to die

I suppose I feel my heart beat, and someone listen
And all you dealin’ with is maybe gonna lose your pension.
You might not notice this but this the new form of lynchin'.
I got my hands up but still I see that cop inchin’.

The mystery it is something that I’ll never know
Why they had to shoot him down, couldn’t just let him go,
The mystery it is I think I’ll never know
Why they had to shoot him down, couldn’t just let him go…

[Repeat chorus]

This today's Think Progress Interview with Professor Mark Anthony Neal...

about the cultural aspects of protest. Asked about the relationship between music and civil unrest, Neal argued that the climate of today’s music industry makes it difficult for musicians with a political message to have a major impact on social movements.

“[This] is not necessarily a critique of them, but this is a generation of artists that are built around building brands. Brand can be controversial, just think about Kanye in this context, but your brand can’t be political in that kind of way. The political brand is seen as just that: a political brand. It doesn’t cross over.”
But last night, the tide changed when ‘I Am Mike Brown,’ penned and performed by G.A.G.E., leaked online. Unlike a Kanye West, known for his controversial commentary on social and political discourse, G.A.G.E. isn’t as famous, and is an unlikely character in an ongoing fight to understand Ferguson — and other instances like it. But he may be the voice we need to revamp political messaging in popular music.

http://thinkprogress.org/culture/2014/08/15/3471765/i-am-mike-brown-game-changer/

[ancianita]

1. Edited to add lyrics above.

[Mnemosyne]

2. Powerful. nt

[drynberg]

3. NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE

SOLIDARITY, enough is enough, in fact it's way too much!