There used to be a time I can still remember when
but times have changed they're not the same
we have to roll the rock turn back the clock
things are going wrong something's gone astray
the streets are yours and mine
let's make them safe for kids to play
the good old days do you still remember then
those days are gone time's moved on
we have to stop the sands rewind the hands
things are going downhill something's not quite right
the streets are ours mine and yours
let's make it safe to walk at night
mobsters pranksters jokers gangsters
losers one and all
dopers no-hopers gangbangers too
they're the ones should take the fall
now to be heard we need action not words
let's stand up on our own two feet
and take back the streets
Categories:
gangbangers, children, city, how i
Form: Rhyme
Lift ev'ry voice and cry
While all our children die
Raise up the deaf'ning sigh of misery
Let all the people hear
With ever-sharpened ear
How we have lost our dignity and pride
Long ago, we had community others desired
Long ago, we had prosperity to be admired
We never raised our hand
To offer or demand
Anything more than mere equality.
But now, those days have left
And we've become bereft
Of all our peace of spirit and of mind
Insight and love we shun
Tossing the Book for a gun
So to destroy all things left undefiled
We have seen children shot dead by the bullets of "brothers"
We have seen scholars of color blame all this on others!
For Nike shoes we'll fight
Then blame the Man who's White
For we refuse to practice common sense.
Grandmothers do lament
Gangbangers won't repent
Rappers still teach our youth to rape or kill
Careless is how we dress
Eloquence is suppressed
People of mine, great is our need to heal!
We can still save our community from the deficient
And reclaim our dignity and become self-sufficient
Put down the drugs and sword
And return to your Lord
Certainly then, we shall see brighter days.
Categories:
gangbangers, black african american, death,
Form: Quintain (English)
Here I lay for all the world to see.
I am gutted,
Faded;
A dying phenomenon.
I used to be on the tip of every tongue.
Now I crouch in the subways of your minds.
Your children do not know me.
It is hard to teach them what you yourselves have forgotten.
In days gone by, I made the stars shine for you.
When you summoned me, I was there;
Standing as the negotiator of wishes.
When the seas of expectation were bone dry,
I was the trickle that "sprang eternal".
Now children see me as "family" in gangbangers.
Teenagers inhale me from cans of paint.
Parents say they never knew me.
Here I lay; broken, saddened, but never beaten.
I am still the great negotiator.
.abj.
Categories:
gangbangers, hope,
Form: Prose
as i roam my city streets i hear gunshots rein
i see junkies in search of crack it's an everyday thang.
standing on the corner begging for change at the store
chasin the first high they had once before.
gangbangers keep the hood hot with the foolishness they bring
most can't take the heat so to the feds they sing.
don't do the crime if you can't do the time
this is my report from these streets of mine.
from my eyes to the paper from the paper to the screen
this is my report of what i have seen.
police ride constantly through the hood in search of crooks
i guess i fit the description so at me they look.
harass me for no reason so they must let me go
should i act a fool this time i say no.
though i deal with problems of all sorts
i stuck to the topic which was my hood report.
Categories:
gangbangers, urbanme, me,
Form: Verse