We Could Be Free

We could be free If we only knew we were slaves to the pains of each other One thing I believe I can learn To see my enemy as my brother Then we could be free, truly Then love could wash away all the sorrows I'm not afraid to bleed If it means, we'll make a better today not tomorrow One day I dream of telling my mama "You ain't gotta work no more" Same for my father, born in Ghana, down on that dirt road floor Far as he came I can't complain, but pain is so subjective Spend so much time countin' issues, I forget to count my blessings Watch my cousins back at home, getting water out a well While I watch my brother stacking stone, whippin' water by the scale Tryna' get a mill' on the other side They ain't got a meal, we don't recognize, we in heaven So we think we live in hell It's been getting kinda hard to tell But Sometimes I wake up and I look up in the sky Asking why I'm alive when so many niggas died And my pride won't let me give up, Lord as hard as I try In those times I try to remember That we could be free If we only knew we were slaves to the pains of each other One thing I believe if I can learn To see my enemy as my brother Then we could be free, truly Then love could wash away all the sorrows I'm not afraid to bleed If it means, we'll make a better today not tomorrow Love, love, love We'll make a better today not tomorrow I don't want to wait for the afterlife I don't want a vigil by candle light I don't want to be the new sacrifice I don't want to turn into a poltergeist Be a ghost at night full of broken dreams Mama cryin' at a open casket Cold as ice in a suit, three piece All dressed up for Sunday masses Pastor say, "put faith in God" But faith alone can't make things right Fuck is you to patronize Somebody son who daddy died? Why they flood Baton Rouge? Why the city singing Alton's blues? Why, why, why, why? I feel like Jadakiss every time I watch the news What the fuck I got to lose? So I'm down to bleed if it means things improve You fools, saying "all lives matter" But it's black lives you refuse to include Blocked from the polls Locked in the hood, trying to stop you from voting and stop you from growing And cops keep blowing and blowing Keep black people rocking the cotton They don't want you to own, but Sometimes I wake up and I look up in the sky Asking why I survived all the days that I could have died Who am I in my place To contemplate suicide? In those times I try to remember That we could be free, truly If we only knew we were slaves to the pains of each other One thing I believe I can learn To see my enemy as my brother Then we could be free, you and me And love could wash away all the sorrows I'm not afraid to bleed If it makes a better today than tomorrow 'Cause only Love (tells somebody) Love (to make my enemy my brother) Love (whoa whoa whoa whoa) Make a better today, not tomorrow Whoa, yeah Whoa, yeah Oh oh oh, yeah Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, yeah, yeah yeah yeah Make my enemies my brother Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, yeah yeah yeah yeah