Mario Vitale | + Follow Poet |
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Off Track

let me be honest
 i can’t help but do my white girl dougie
and my half assed twerk
when i hear i tight beat
because my mind is hooked 
on hip-hop and this culture 
so stereotyped with hood n-words
from round the corner of a drive by
with daddies long gone and a limp when they walk
screaming F the police with the shot off the glock
growin up thinkin this is their full potential
finding refuge in the streets where they hear the music echo
but people are changing 
and music is moving
you shouldnt need to have a broken life
broken promises
or live a life sin
to be able to share your story
and for people to listen

its ironic to talk about being so segregated
when a white boy tries to cypher and gets nothing but hate
rap music categorized,
defined by black rebellion 
denying someone
with the exact same dream
to have freedom through the microphone
because they have a whiter skin tone
setting the bar with ice cube and B.I.G
separating themselves from revolution in the 21st century
racism works both ways in a deafening paradox of
whites who hate blacks who hate whites who hate blacks
up and runnin off a track
cuz the producer is white
turnin off the radio cuz that music is from the devil
try to shield your children from the influence of the ghetto
when your kid could learn a thing or two from 2pac or Coolio
never forgetting who or where you come from
remembering to love
everyone that hates you
who segregate you
who don’t appreciate you
like these messages are only worth hearing from
rebels born into white society
racist discretion 
with a life of oppression

yeah, they made it through the struggle 
they survived the hate
but to spend so much time making sure we don’t integrate
tastes like hypocrisy
relentless mockery
disregarding talent because of ancestry
yeah, rap was founded in the Bronx and the burroughs
street corners and block parties
so naughty and grimey
with dope smokers wife chokers 
street life stereotyped on the daily
but it was also about freedom and expressing who you are
music should bring people together not tear them apart
just because our skins are different contrasts
doesn’t mean we both don’t have heart

really, there’s no difference.
hip hop is to poetry
as music is to art
rhythms to the rhymes
to the rhymes to the rhythms
so spit out a verse for me
cuz the point is the poetry
the point is the passion
the passion are the words
that flow into the mic through your heart
through your lips
like you can’t even stop this
from feeling the beat in your toes and your fingertips
black or white
x or y
your chromosomes dont define what you wanna do with your life
your skin should never hold you back
from being comfortable inside of it
so yell it, 
scream it, 
to anyone who will listen
this is what you were born to do
so go out and live it.

Copyright © Mario Vitale | Year Posted 2017

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