1. Authority

Monday yawning school's so boring,
Or go to work like a jerk and end up snoring,
Tuesday's mail never fails,
Collection agency wants me in jail,
Wednesday's rules got me ignoring deploring,
my tensions roaring,
Thursday same shit different day,
But these motherfucking rules will never ever go away.

Fuck the rules.

Friday night gonna be out of sight,
If you're 21 they say drinking might be fun,
On Saturday Bible says seventh day,
The day of rest so have it your way,
Go for a ride keep it under 55,
Respect the Badge don't drink and drive,
On Sunday gotta survive these fascist fools,
Take your freedom back from the bullshit rules.

Call me paranoid call me what you will I got a fucking feeling
something big is going down.


2. These Eyes (Have Seen)

So many things these eyes have seen,
People I've met and places I've been,
Inconceivable how one maintains,
In the game with the pain and the strain on the brain,
How reality's plane can wear you down,
And make you an insane man who only frowns,
City hardened and cold just like me,
Anger has numbed my eyes from all they see.

Like a workingman's skin as it turns to leather,
The mind of the youth is forced to weather,
An assault on his senses by his parents and peers,
That preys on innocence, weakness and fears,
Manifestation of rage runs deep,
Over the edge of sanity, thoughts creep,
Violent reaction, bitter and mean,
A product of what these eyes have seen.

These eyes have seen inhuman sights,
I hold my breath with all my might,
Like anyone else in our own hells,
It seems obscene the things I've seen.

Lost count of how many wakes were attended,
Mind and body never quite mended,
Do you think this is what life intended?
At fourteen your life has ended,
Maybe your spirit is battered and broken,
From shit you've seen and words that were spoken,
Death, violence, drugs all around,
These eyes have seen some shit go down.


3. Stigmatized

Emptiness slips into my mind,
Emotion so fucking hard to find,
I center myself in this universe,
With peace amongst all the pains and hurts,
I think of all the things that would've been,
And the time I could've spent with him,
But again comes sadness creeping in.

Taken by surprise stigmatized by the things I've seen with my own
eyes,
Traumatized until I realize that I gotta go on with my life.

I can only guess what I should've done then,
Wandering alone on the path I've chosen,
Lumbering along towards inevitable fate,
I await an answer, I wrestle with hate,
I question your life and the choices you made,
I question myself with righteousness and rage,
Confused and sick from mistakes I've made.

Questions to ponder about letting go, answers I find towards peaceful
flow,
People take shit for granted as given, not in this world that I live
in,
In my eyes, I realize. No more lies stigmatized.


4. Control

On your knees before the mighty them, receive communion once again,
Obey and follow strict laws to the letter,
Do as you're told and life will be better,
Go with the flow, avoid the strife, let unknown powers rule your life,
A box of glass dictates your death stolen minds innocence last breath.

On your knees pray to the one you appease.

Whatever happened to the good old days no mental smokescreen
subliminal haze,
Corporate society prints out your thoughts spirituality sold and
bought.
Now your life is all dictated, all you stood for, all you hated,
Establishment prevails again on your knees before the mighty them.

Look in my eyes and you will find,
Another way to get through your life,
Stare at my face, make up your mind,
And you will find love at first sight,
Connect your soul now get online,
Mind control taking your life.

Try not to look Ôcause you might turn to stone,
How much time do you really think on your own?
Just trying to be yourself don't wanna be like no one else,
It was something that was once pure and the truth was meant to endure,
Gotta find out who's to blame gotta end this mind control game.


5. Cleansing

The dirt's so thick it won't come clean,
All around a haze like a smoke screen,
I can't see you but you see me,
But I might be gone before you count to three.
The waters are totally polluted,
The armies inside my head have feuded,
One side has smothered the other,
The disease it spreads and begins to cover.

Maggot infested soul of mine,
Has painted me in a corner confined.
My vision is blurred no reason or rhyme,
Help me escape these walls I climb.

I'm drowning in my own shit, gasping,
Gagging on the vomit asphyxiated, grasping,
For a grip on the soap with the rope,
So I can get clean and begin to cope,
Scrub me 'til I'm raw, an open sore oozing
Unless I'm clean I might start losing.
My mind and my life would have a fucked-up ending,
Thank God if you ever see cleansing.

Sewn my eyes shut can't you see I'm smothered?
Deaf, dumb and blind the dirt has covered
The windows which let the light shine through,
Cleansing of the soul for I am you.

The last time I slept I dreamt.
My friend and I we got so high.
On top of mountains, deep in the sky,
Way up high where the white goes by.
The air is thin and hard to breathe.
But with a friend near, by your side,
you can conquer the world or wander around all starry-eyed.
I laid there and dreamt along for a ride.
I took in the journey, my friend beside.
It all seemed so real, it all seemed surreal,
my friend and I were one deep inside.
These dreams come and go and are never the same.
I await new journeys asleep I remain.

When I hold my eyes shut tight I dream.
When I dream at night through my dreams I scream.
Why do people have to go and fucking change?
What pushed my friend to tap the vein?
Asleep at night I visit my friend.
Asleep at night I miss my friend.


6. Competition

We used to be part of the same thing,
But now you make strides for the gold ring,
You make our sacred ground into a slaughterhouse,
You used to look me in the eye but now you look me up and down.

Competition always looking out for self,
Indecision and then your friendship fell,
No religion no ethics in your ways,
I pray for you to see the error of your days,
I pray for you to see the error of your ways.

Step up for the crew to represent,
But what do you stand for? You only resent.
It was all for one, but now you blew it,
I know you're not down and I can see right through it.

What you give is what you get and I know it's not respect.
What you give is what you get jealous ways you'll soon regret.


7. Modern Democracy

As I look up at the sky,
I wonder why my momma always cried,
Was it for how fast we lived and died?
Or because we never got our piece of the pie?
Busting at the seams, The American Dream,
Like Meth said Cream, Boulevard of Broken Dreams,
Parents with good intentions never mention,
The Brooklyn House of Detention.

Free to fly, and free to try, to get our peace before we die,
Free to fly, and free to try, to get our piece of the pie and die.

Locking us down, we got cops all around,
The sound of sirens drown your own heart's pound,
But you only wanted a piece of the pie,
And in your mind's eye momma's still gonna cry,
No matter how hard you tried, whether it's truth or lies,
On the day that you die...but we're free to fly,
And free to try to get our piece of the pie and die.

Freedom, Liberty, The KKK, Modern Democracy, we have no say,
American Dream, The American Way, Land of the Free, Home of the Slave.


8. Better Days

Times are changing, things come and go,
Things are getting worse the earth, a black hole,
I say to myself "Will this shit ever change?"
Will it ever improve or will it stay the same?

It's plain to me that things are amiss,
Because I've seen better days than this,
How could we let it get as bad as it is?
Because I've seen better days than this,
It's plain to me that things are amiss.

Famine and war, hate and disgrace,
Incest and murder, raping the rat race,
I see no end to this suffering,
Faith, hope and love are burnt offerings.

Decline and fall of modern man, our fate is sealed by our own hand,
Time spinning onward we're regressing fast,
Signs of the times say these days might be our last,
Better days are gone forever I fear,
Our hate dictates our fate, apocalypse is here.


9. Gravity

I feel a weight that's pulling me down,
But my reflex is to try to break out,
Nature gives fight or flight syndrome,
But my feet stay on the ground that's how I've grown,
Bred to resist the gravity of anything that's fucking with me,
Survivalist instincts through my veins are pounding,
Transfused at birth by my urban surroundings.

Gravity won't allow me to fly,
It pulls me down, the pain, I won't cry,
Resistance and drive fueled by hunger,
What doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

I just can't let shit get to me,
Got to reflect back on what pop taught me,
To be your own man no matter what,
To never back down, and follow your gut,
Instinct, something he said that I'd know,
Something that I'd carry wherever I go,
He told me someday I'd have to fight to be free,
And resist the weight of gravity.

Calloused hands wipe away tears,
Of the pain of a man broken by years,
A silent shot that nobody hears,
A smoking gun of our own fears,
My father worked all his life and for what,
Day in, day out, caught in a rut,
The pain of apathy, razor-sharp cutting,
But I'll make sure he doesn't die for nothing.


10. A Lot To Learn

You walk around, always screaming about
How you're trying to get your way,
But you should just keep your fucking fat mouth shut,
If you got nothing important to say.

Because you...you got a lot to learn.

All you do is bitch about the things in life that get you down,
You never care for nobody else,
If you saw how your life looks to me,
I think you'd be ashamed of yourself.

You live inside your fucked-up world,
Talking loud with nothing to say,
You got a lot to learn about your life,
Because you can't keep on living this way.


11. Waiting To Die

Drug infested, narcotic, electric, schizophrenic,
Murderer arrested, a child molested, a race detested,
A building burnt down, insurance invested,
Homelessness lingers all around, rape, death, sickness,
Homeward bound unemployed, no love, no joy,
Cut down to size, a life destroyed, war, no peace,
Death, tragedy, no cure, disease, AIDS, leprosy,
A veteran dead below the knee, eyes burn in your head,
You cannot see.

Spending all my time just standing in line,
And I'm waiting, waiting to die,
Watching every day of my life go by,
Just waiting, waiting to die.

Children beaten, poisons eaten, look at the world, we're
self-defeating,
Reputed, undisputedly polluted, crack heads with guns ain't afraid to
shoot it,
Countries fighting for oil and gold while the hole in the ozone
layer's out of control,
Brother kills brother in a world full of hate, too fucking late our
heads on a plate,
Nature's dying, children crying, human race ass in a fucking pan
frying,
With no one to blame except ourselves, greed transforms our earth into
hell.

Murder, Middle East assassination, extermination, human termination,
The war on drugs, humiliation,
A ruined nation, with no explanation.
Something to hide bound and gagged and tied,
A gun in your hand at your head, suicide,
It's censorship of my pure mind,
No justice, no truce, no hope to find.


12. A Way

The sun is shining, but I don't know if it'll shine again,
The sky is clear now, but the clouds wait overhead,
The wind stopped blowing, but I see the trees are flowing,
The water's calm now feel the undertow towing me down,
towing me down.

The sun's gone down now behind the dark clouds looming,
Birds stop singing, silence so soothing,
Dark clouds open up, I hold my rain-soaked head,
Thoughts are racing by, I scream and wish that I was dead,
I wish that I was dead.

Gotta find a way in this world to cope,
Gotta find a place in this world with hope.

Gotta find a way to keep my head straight another day
I pray to let go of hate I break myself away from my mind,
I search for inner peace I never find.


13. True Strengths

The pain creeps in every day,
And you're trying your best not to feel this way,
Some days up and some days down,
Swimming in misery, you're starting to drown
Looking for answers to impossible questions,
Searching in your mind in new dimensions,
Feeling so alone and you've been thinking,
"I'm better off dead than alone here, sinking!"

Searching for the light and looking inside,
To find out where your true strengths hide.

Going on and on this pain has got to cease,
Living like an animal full of disease,
Further inspection now you're looking inside,
To find out where your true strengths hide,
You're looking around for some higher power,
To get you through this darkest hour,
All those years of pain are now coming through,
Those cracks in your mind are nothing new to you.

You're starting to slip to a whole new level,
The metal of a gun pressed against your temple,
One in the chamber, maybe one in your head,
You can pull the trigger, and your mind'll turn red,
What about the things that you never did?
Getting straight, get a life, maybe having kids?
Is a moment's pleasure really worth the cost,
Of looking back on your life and all the things you lost?

Don't know my future, with my past behind,
I'm now reborn new hopes to find,
Free from restraints that held me down,
The cycle of hate that comes around.


14. Thorn

I got this thorn in my side, I try, but I can't get it out,
Been killing me for years gone by, a miserable, painful bout,
No matter how hard and long I try to rip at it, it stays,
Buried deep inside my side enduring, every day.

Thorn in my side.

I've picked the scab, a trying way, a painful means to amend,
Rid myself from the anguish, torment that I must end,
I've lived this way for years but now I gotta move on,
An oozing sore needs tending to just like the thorn I adorn.

Misused, abused, accused, confused,
I'm sick and tired of backwards views, my soul's too tired,
All black and bruised.


15. In Vain

Feel the warmth of the flame as it burns inside,
Burning high and higher pressure starts to climb,
Turning passion into sweat, Jekyll into Hyde,
Glossy eyed, unsatisfied, I can't help but deny,
As my love gets set aside,
As my love gets set aside,
Magnified by hate inside.

Face down upon the ground,
Lookin' down at her, you start to frown,
Thinking to yourself,
"Am I insane to do the things I do to her in vain?"

Woman beater with your hands wrapped around her neck,
Deranged, demented, a psycho-social wreck,
Your self-denial, hatred got to keep it in check,
You rape for love and you kill for respect.