Before 21

I put on makeup so I can feel beautiful Put up curtains so I can feel at home Got a baby that's half a family 20 years old looking 15 In the middle of the ghetto and gentrificA-town By the Projectz and the precinct I've got a closet full of donated clothes I ask God why this is the life he gave me, mama says this is the life I chose Not quite white with Latina ancestry But you'd never believe it, if you took a look at me Hold on my baby's crying I turn up my music so I can't hear a thing Just for a few minutes... Sometimes I picture myself photogenic behind a picket fence Wishing I could ignore my present situation I pick her up feed her the milk from my breast wishing I could be babied and loved without bounds Another single mother tally up another statistic Product of molestation young and misunderstood by my miserable mother moralizing prescriptions of medication for her daughter because daddy is the one who's money making That's the least she can do cuz her name ain't even on the lease Gotta let men rape cuz everybody wants a piece, right? All old white men look like creeps at night At least to me