Common Feat. Cee-Lo - A Song For Assata lyrics

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In the Spirit of God, in the spirit of the ancestors

In the spirit of the Black Panthers, in the spirit of Assata Shakur

We make this movement towards freedom

For all those who have been oppressed

And all those in the struggle, yeah, ya, check it

There were lights and sirens, gunshots firin'

Cover your eyes as I describe a scene so violent

Seemed like a bad dream, she laid in a blood puddle

Blood bubbled in her chest, cold air brushed against open flesh

No room to rest, pain consumed each breath

Shot twice wit her hands up

Police questioned but shot before she answered

One Panther lost his life, the other ran for his

Scandalous the police were, as they kicked and beat her

Comprehension she was beyond, tryna hold on to life

She thought she'd live with no arm, that's what it felt like

Got to the hospital, eyes held tight

They moved her room to room, she could tell by the light

Handcuffed tight to the bed, through her skin it bit

Put guns to her head, every word she got hit

"Who shot the trooper?", they asked her

Put mace in her eyes, threatened to blast her

Her mind raced till things got still

Opened her eyes, realized she's next to her best friend who got killed

She got chills, they told her, that's where she would be next

Hurt mixed wit anger, survival was a reflex

They lied and denied visits from her lawyer

But she was buildin' as they tried to destroy her

If it wasn't for this German nurse they woulda served her worse

I read this sister's story, knew that it deserved a verse

I wonder what would happen if that woulda been me?

All this shit so we could be free, so dig it, y'all

I'm thinkin' of Assata, yes

Listen to my love, Assata, yes

Your power and pride is beautiful

May God bless your soul

It seemed like the middle of the night when the law awakened her

Walkie-talkies cracklin', I see 'em when they takin' her

Though she kinda knew what made the ride peaceful

Was the trees and the sky was blue

Arrived to Middlesex prison about six inna morning

Uneasy as they pushed her to the second floor in a cell

One cot, no window, facing hell

Put in the basement of a prison wit all males

And the smell of misery, seatless toilets and centipedes

She'd exercise, paint and begin to read

Two years in a hole, her soul grew weak

Away from people so long she forgot how to speak

She discovered freedom is a unspoken sound

And a wall is a wall and can be broken down

Found peace in the Panthers she went on trial with

One of the brothers she had a child with

The foulness they would feed her, hopin' she'd lose her seed

Held tight, knowing the fight would live through this seed

In need of a doctor, from her stomach she'd bleed

Out of this situation, a girl was conceived

Separated from her, left to mother the revolution

And lactated to attack hate

'Cause federal and state was built for a black fate

Her emptiness was filled with beatings and court dates

They fabricated cases, hoping one would stick

And said she robbed places that didn't exist

In the midst of threats on her life and being caged with Aryan whites

Through dark halls of hate, she carried the light

I wonder what would happen if that woulda been me?

All of this shit so we could be free

Yeah, I often wonder what would happen if that woulda been me?

All of this shit so we could be free, so dig it, people

I'm thinkin' of Assata, yeah

Listen to my love, Assata, yeah

Your power and pride, so beautiful

May God bless your soul, ooh

Yo, from North Carolina her grandmother would bring news

That she had had a dream

Her dreams always meant what they needed them to mean

What made them real was the action in between

She dreamt that Assata was free in they old house in Queens

The fact that they always came true was the thing

Assata had been convicted of a murder she couldna done

Medical evidence shown she couldna shot the gun

It's time for her to see the sun from the other side

Time for her daughter to be by her mother's side

Time for this beautiful woman to become soft again

Time for her to breathe and not be told how or when

She untangled the chains and escaped the pain

How she broke out of prison I could never explain

And even to this day they try to get to her

But she's free with political asylum in Cuba

I'm thinkin' of Assata, yeah

Listen to my love, Assata, yeah

We're molded from the same mud, Assata

We share the same blood, Assata, yeah

Your power and pride, so beautiful

May God bless your soul

Your power and pride, so beautiful

May God bless your soul, ooh

{Freedom, you're askin' me about freedom

You're askin' me about freedom?

I'll be honest with you, I know a whole lot more about what freedom isn't

Than about what it is, 'cause I've never been free}

{I can only share my vision with you of the future, about what freedom is

The way I see it, freedom is, is the right to grow

Is the right to blossom

Freedom is, is the right to be yourself, to be who you are

To be who you wanna be, to do}