State of the Union

[Verse 1]
Homage got the vibes, got the vibes, got the vibes
I've been seeing mania up in my timeline
Everyone’s divided, pick a side, aight?
With my little eye, I spy
A lot of problems, you don't gotta be an Einstein
Let's talk about it
Blackface is back, ain’t that a damn shame?
Funny how these poor traits giving you the landscape
Two girls from Oklahoma throwing the blacks shade
Kicked out, but still doubt that they even have shame
As a nation, we put bandaids on the boo-boos that were handmade
And thought that time would heal ‘em, what a bad mistake
Some girl from DeWitt apparently did the same
So did a governor and a secretary of state
When privileged white kids don't understand, they vulture and imitate
Or reprimand the culture, view the dark-skinned as degenerates
Tanning skin, blackfishing, spitting racial slurs
When some have been looked at as lesser since their dates of birth
Racist behavior in schools like Stuyvesant
Ain't surprising, specialize the schools, you'll get the whitest kids
Less resources mean the melanin is lacking
But to some, that means the melanin is slacking
Some white kids begin to look at them as crooks
Some even want them to perish but bite off of Parish Crooks
Pop and country transformed into trap copycats
Our role models set up and torn down by the gaffe
We gave regard to Miley Cyrus and Iggy
While calling blacks bad boys like Chris Wallace and Diddy
All of these white kids defended, but when Trayvon was eliminated
You donned him a criminal as if he wasn't a kid too
That's the double standard that always bugs me
We shoulda Sandman-ed Sandmann off of Guthrie
These MAGA hat wearers don't fully follow the thrust behind the slogan
That's why Covington Catholic’s past is funky
You seen videos of that basketball game
Where they’re chanting harsh things as the black boy tries playing?
It's sickening
Test potential prep-to-pros, but then when we protest it’s bogus
Yes, I'm skeptical and left to grow even more bellicose
Oh, and mental health don't exist in the hood
I guess it don't apply in our neck of the woods (delinquent)
But it’s different news once Nikolas Cruz picks up a rifle
Decides to shoot seventeen, and they're through
In all earnest, I wrote this in a spur of the moment
Currently, I'm personally in a search for atonement
But a man who stands for nothing will fall for anything
So I have to be vocal, now let the instrumental change

[Interlude]
3 Asian men died in a vicious hate crime
Is that what it must take for us to open our eyes?
Trayvon would have been 24 tonight
Is that what it must take for us to open our eyes?

[Verse 2]
This is a Homage beat
Question
How come all these rappers glorify gangs?
We're just trying to tell you our stories, my man
You think lil' Tyrone grabbed a 9 ‘cause he wants to?
That right there's asinine, ain't gon' hold ya
If you didn't live it, chances are you won't get it
So if we tryna teach you ‘bout it, don't get hot-headed
It's pathetic when I hear the rhetoric that's implemented
And how when we call them out on it, they start to get defensive
Get the message, at the end of the day I spit to educate
Denounce and condemn the mess certain authority figures made
They gave the hood drugs in the Reagan era
Then gave heavy sentences akin to what I pen per day
The ban on Mary Jane got revoked
It's legal, but they still locked up all our people
Ayy, they still see us chicos as the below
So now I'm here to keep it a C-note
Blatant discrimination, is it even worth my time?
I'm 6'1” and Dominican, but I wouldn't hurt a fly
In my home, the first to rise, and although I'm serving God
Remove the glasses, put my hood up, I'm a hoodlum with murderous eyes
Perceived as a threat merely because of my skin color and size
When they don't know that I'm a poet with a more than fertile mind
Who's been dealing with feelings he can't begin to verbalize
But all you see is a criminal or a Latino who'll work for naught
Stop, these societal perceptions got me riding up the barrier
It's upsetting all the jive that Trump expresses
But if I react violent and aggressive, then they'll tie me to the stereotypes and lies that have harrowed us for decades
Colin mural demolished, that don't surprise me
Do these politicians like me? It's unlikely
Giving us shoulders colder than the weather in Chiraq
Marching to a different drum, we're never met with high hats
Our minds trapped in a dogma of self-hate
Pit us against one another, then we wake up as cellmates
We've seen your eye, this ain't like the students in 12th grade
The windows of your soul show the pain caused and hell raised
And their complacency about it, it's so astounding
Lose-lose situations, either the prisons overcrowd
Or cops are acting on impulse and blast at our kinfolk
Apparent how simply bad that our system is
There's so much more that right now I can't highlight
But pro-black, pro-Latino, that ain't anti-white
I ain't blaming Timmy for what his ancestors did
The problem comes when Timmy chooses not to acknowledge it (that's not legit)
And all the issues of today that stem from it
Basing people off presumptions only aids in such corruption
I'm deconstructing how they want us to be tools of destruction
Gangs thrive, BLM don't, it's foolish, discuss it
Or scoff at me, don it as some liberal agenda
I just separate fact from fiction, don't care if it offend ya
I'm a free thinker, I could spit some things to get these kids to tremble
Blindly following a party's helped us get in this dilemma
I just say what I see
But that's converted into tryna make you believe
So if you wanna hate, you can do it
You just can't deny this is the state of the union