[00:00:01] Picket Fence - Brother Ali [00:00:16] I was up and out my mothers house at 17 [00:00:19] Been a grown ass married man ever since [00:00:21] Family reunions I'm talked about but never seen [00:00:25] Cause I learned that some of them [00:00:25] Can be your nemesis [00:00:27] Got a lot of scars on me [00:00:29] I'll now tell you the stories [00:00:30] If you promise not to take offense [00:00:33] Homie sit back then hand bring the beat in [00:00:36] I'll try to find a place [00:00:37] That starts to make sense now [00:00:39] The first time I was pushed out blind [00:00:42] Cold and naked spanked on the ass to breathe [00:00:44] An immigrant from heaven on earth [00:00:46] With a word piece [00:00:47] I announce my self with gasps and screams [00:00:50] Before black and white [00:00:51] Supremacy heighted my innocence [00:00:54] I was living out life behind the picket fence [00:00:56] Happy go lucky scared of no one [00:00:59] With the only exception I'm allergic to the sun [00:01:02] Didn't know I had a image [00:01:03] That a camera couldn't capture [00:01:05] 100 on mars manufacture [00:01:07] But then came the laughter and outside I'm battered [00:01:10] Picket fence shattered [00:01:12] I saw my self as bastard tagalong harassed and spat upon [00:01:16] By the children of slave masters who passed it on [00:01:19] The saddest songs been sung at the hands of [00:01:21] Who I call the race from hell [00:01:23] Its a disgrace from hell [00:01:25] Fell face first in the self hate [00:01:27] Burst into tears when I hear my own hellish name cursed [00:01:30] If I seem timid its only because every mirror [00:01:32] That I saw back then had the [00:01:34] Earths ugliest human being in it [00:01:37] And with that said they would kick me till [00:01:40] They got tired or I act dead [00:01:41] And I have to tell ya'll that the obvious part [00:01:44] That I always feel free when I'm talking to god [00:01:47] Alone on the playground friday afternoon [00:01:50] And the old sister who hums gospel toons [00:01:53] I saw her notice getting closer [00:01:56] She approached me [00:01:57] And put a knowing hand on my shoulder [00:01:59] And booked my feelings [00:02:00] Cause she looked at me in a way [00:02:02] That adults very seldom look at children [00:02:05] And with the wisdom only earned by years [00:02:07] She read my thoughts and [00:02:09] She welled up with tears and said [00:02:10] You look the way you do because you're special [00:02:13] Not the short bus way I mean [00:02:14] That god's gonna test you [00:02:16] And all of this pain is training for the day when you [00:02:19] Will have to lead with the gift god gave to you [00:02:22] Grown folks don't see it but the babies do [00:02:25] And there's a chance that you can save a few [00:02:27] And time will prove that she started my movement [00:02:30] She didn't tell me to take it she told me to use it [00:02:45] The second time poppa ripped the womb open early [00:02:47] And exposed me to the coldness life prematurely [00:02:50] Where mom's love used to live now housed denial [00:02:53] And when that decayed it made it bitter and spiteful [00:02:56] But me and my runaway we share something special [00:02:59] Rode into the sunset can barely can tough the pedals [00:03:02] No strings attached screaming f**k geppetto [00:03:04] We may live in the gutter but we cling to each other [00:03:07] A week before my son came I caught a bad bounce [00:03:10] And had to step to mom with my hands out [00:03:13] And momma proved the two of us could not live in that house [00:03:16] She lied to the police so they would throw us in the streets [00:03:19] And separating from you is something that I feel I must do [00:03:22] Its not that I don't love you its more that I don't trust you [00:03:24] Its been a year since I've seen a living relative [00:03:27] And it's just now that I'm starting to live [00:03:30] But while I'm sitting here choking on tears wishing that I didn't care [00:03:33] Feeling all alone in this hemisphere I swear upon everything I hold dear [00:03:38] And then my wife comes near and I hear a voice whisper in my ear