Lingua Franca pt I
[Verse 1]

I’m from a land where revolution is dead
Being free to speak your mind could put a price on your head
Where the youth have risen to see the truth forbidden
And any news we’re given is just a euphemism
For the harsh truth of our people being extorted
Try to birth knowledge, you’ll see it being aborted
Politicians thrive on an uninformed populous
It’s why they build palaces instead of funding the colleges
On this continent we have assets in abundance
But the public servants ain’t ever serving the public
Tell China and The West that everything’s for sale
With a rigged judicial system they’re never going to jail
It’s either indifference or incompetence
But the continent is awakening to new consciousness
And slowly starts to see that the ones who lead them deceive them
Now legions across the region are screaming begging for freedom
We immediately see that we need a new medium to reach
The people aggrieved by the greedy deeds of the evil
And though it’s farfetched, it would put me at ease
To see us defeat the beast if we achieve it through peace
I mean, even a demon could be redeemed
But it seems nobody’s willing to give up being a fiend
Sometimes I want to scratch my eyes out of my face
Forced to watch as the motherland gets raped
[Chorus]

The world’s so cold, I might just blow
And lose myself in the incense smoke
In a vision I meet with the ancestors
As they proceed to give me a mad lecture
Like, ‘Young one, where do you come from?
In our homeland you speak a strange tongue’
But if I want to be heard
I have no choice but to speak these words

[Verse 2]

We’re independent but not autonomous
As long as donors give us these dollars, they’re calling shots for us
We have no authority over our economy
The directives they give us are meant to keep us in poverty
So, our commodities remain under-priced
They import them for cheap while they’re feigning advice
Then come on our land with a claim to the rights
And our leaders allow it in exchange for a slice
Or, suddenly you hear about a war
With the supply of oil or platinum at the core
Rebels with rocket launchers are rolling in new Toyotas
I wonder where they source the petroleum for their motors
They even have tanks, so who’s supplying the weapons?
It’s a scheme from the West to justify their presence
They set up shell companies financing the conflict
Then go to the UN and say that they need to stop it
And once all the pawns are in place
They designate a space for a military base
And send in peace-keepers but are they keeping the peace
Or do they patrol our soil just seeking what’s underneath?
Look, nobody wins in war
Except for arms manufacturers, Mineral extractors
Traffickers of women and children who get captured
And the hand-puppets of the imperial masters
(Chorus)

[Verse 3]

Our land remains idle under these false idols
With their hands on bibles, concerned only with their own survival
Willing to mine blood diamonds and trade lives to remain shining
To defeat this beast requires crucial timing, yet we sleep
And the world ignores this cause even more
Than a poor bastard orphan son of a whore with autism
They actively decide to blindfold your third eye to keep you docile
And quote the Good Book so we overlook the abuse of power. God smiles
We could remain complacent and wait for reincarnation
And let the devil that walks the earth keep our nation
Or, we could wake up