Dust (feat. BeeLyn Naihiwet)

What is home when it turns on you? Yo, my house is on fire Homelands on fire Neighborhoods on fire The whole world's on fire Damn I was outcasted at an early age A child of conflict in so many ways At night, thieves of life roam streets til the light Let off a violent lullaby, what's normal is horrifying I wish I had an alibi, but I was in the midst Of a whole war zone called growth in the six Where you don't ever feel like your city wants you to live Children, carry guilt for surviving this prison Made of city blocks where they predicted we'd be victims It took vision, plus a mother's intuition One-way travel just to see something different I left like she left, on the eve when a war crept Before the time when most of our folks fled There was probably less than thirty Habesha then It's multiplied now by tens of thousands How cycles repeat when we reach the Southend We were forced here, now we can't afford the housing So my folks keep scattering around the map "Back home" means the opposite of where you at The ones you left tell you quietly, don't come back Rumors of war in the motherland I'm struggling in this other land My brother's got a gun in hand But I don't want to run again, no Rumors of war in the motherland And we can't get no money in And you see what the hunger did We do what we can for the fam I'm a Southend-made, Beacon Hill-raised, Child of the District, these neighborhoods claim Bones of my loved ones who've passed away Some were shot down even during a plague A few decades gone, and the song don't change We couldn't stop it then so we carry the shame These groups in more ways than not are same Keep each other just close enough to aim Reflections blood-stained, communities share pain Nobody wins when a life's taken away So young, mothers bury their sons and wonder Why did we leave where we're from to come under A new kind of fire where the country doesn't love us Police don't protect us, they lock our babies in chains We love 'em with all we got, pray they make it home safe Never once feeling like a citizen of these states Rumors of war in the motherland I'm struggling in this other land My brother's got a gun in hand But I don't want to run again, no Rumors of war in the motherland And we can't get no money in And you see what the hunger did We do what we can for the fam What is home when it turns on you? Is it still home? Was it ever home? You know now that home is where the hate is Where the heart knows no peace And so it goes, falling to pieces Try to keep it together as you run for cover As you rush to gather essentials for your escape Go, and keep going And dare to look back at the devastation Be still, and remember That dust is the source of life