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lyrics

Oh no, here comes the bullied white rapper
defending himself from his alleged black rapper attackers.
He’ll fight back, like "Yeah, I'm white, but why the fuck does it matter?"
Then provide a list of examples where race is clearly a factor.

Or he might convey his hardships, how he had no pot to piss in,
just tragic anecdotes between the music intermissions.
Look, he’s trying to prove that he earned the right to be spittin
these rhymes, like “Tough Times” is some kind of competition.

Or he might stop to wonder why his persecutors come around,
“They jealous little bitches” he tells himself, and writes it down,
And satisfied with this conclusion he so quickly found,
puts it on his dis track and peddles that all over town.

But he never stops to wonder what it looks like from the other side,
only peering out from the space behind his eyes.
If we tried to understand each other we might be surprised
To find that our lives don’t lie on these divided lines.

[Hook]

But what if it’s not about him? Maybe we need more deepness.
Maybe these black artists feel like they can’t make something and keep it.
I mean, Elvis stole the blues, jazz led to Kenny Geesus.
And after all that, can we really fault they feelins?

And forget about the music, we steal plenty without warning,
yet it’s always the black male portrayed when the cops get to swarming.
But instead of robbing houses, we steal neighborhoods and homing;
you just got gentrified. Let’s call it redistributed zoning.

Imagine how that feels, when your people always create,
just to have someone else swoop in and get the take
at the last minute, when you’ve been in it since day one.
Been under the gun, no wonder they feel so jaded, son.

So why the fuck am I here, if all these naysayers are right?
Why don’t I shelf the bars and beats and just stick to my tribe?
To be honest, I do it for me, I ain’t tryna be DOOM or Bey.
I’m just a white dude on his lunch break, and I’ve got a lot to say.

credits

from Five Ounce Mouth, released February 25, 2015
"Uncatena" by Sylvan Esso
from Sylvan Esso (2014)

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Chauncey Gardener Springfield, Missouri

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