Lyrics and Credits

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The Campaign • 20 February 2017
Executive Producers: Champagne Duane and Cee Goods
Recorded by Ian Watts at The Magic Closet in Portland, OR and Gabriel Shepard at 25th Street Recording in Oakland, CA
Mixed and Mastered by Gabriel Shepard at 25th Street Recording in Oakland, CA
Album cover photo: Leanna Woods

Backto The Campaign


1. POWER TO THE PEOPLE
(D. Lawrence)
Produced by Cee Goods

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(Intro)
Welcome, everybody. Welcome. You’re here for a reason. ‘Bout to open the ceremony, and you know what to do…

(Hook)
Power to the people, power to the people
(4x)

Right On. If this is your first time then welcome. Just remember it’s all love. Now when I say ‘power to the people’, you say…

(Hook)

(Verse 1)
An injury to one is an injury to all
If our sons can’t rise, our daughters will fall
So get up on yo feet and everybody stand tall
If you wit me, let me hear the call
Power to the people (power to the people)
We can’t stop now, we just an hour from the steeple
Absolute cowards use their power for illegal
The march must go on if we’re to tower over evil
The poor are getting poorer, the gap needs diminishing
Great American horror, time to extinguish it
The party Martin started, let’s fight til we finish it
It’s now or never equal, time to relinquish it. Power to the People.

(Hook)

(Verse 2)
This is for Mandela in the trenches/ defenseless behind fences
Live long and prosper more than weapons formed against us
To the Huey P Newtons who ready to keep shootin’
Gimme the loot, gimme the loot, gimme the loot or we lootin
For Biggie and for Pac/ for Negus who been locked
For the right to cast a vote/ for the right to tote a glock
For that right not to be in vain, we get shot
By cops with the desert eagle like doctors injecting needles
For the 1 millionth man/ holding 1 million hands
Making 1 million plans/ to take 1 million stands
Against any injustice, in 1 million lands
If one can dream, then 1 million can/ bring Power to the People.

(Hook)

We bout to take it around the world. All around the world. So when you hear your country or any country for that matter, you know what to do.

(Hook)

Right on! And if you don’t mind, I’d like to make a pit stop in South Africa. When I say Amanda, you say Awethu. Freedom awaits. Let’s get it.

(Hook)

Right on. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a pit stop in my birthplace, Guyana. Celebrating 50 years of independence. GT! No doubt.

(Hook)

Call it coincidence. But I’d like to give a shoutout to 50 years of the Black Panther Party. And for that we raise a fist and we say

(Hook)

Right on.


2. ENOUGH ft Barack Obama
(D. Lawrence)
Produced by Cee Goods

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(Verse 1)
Just seen a homeless woman sleep in front of city hall
Thirty feet from her, there layed the holy bible
Both of them abandoned, neither one could see the fall
I started thinking am I here for my own survival
The irony hit me, and lit a fire within me
Her guidance was literally a stones throw away
If Goliath can get beat, then why can’t I empty
My pride for my pennies and fill a hole in her day
Is a dollar enough? Is a dollar enough?
Is that all that I can spare, she could probably call my bluff
Is a dollar enough? Here a dollar’s enough.
But what happens to the dollar as soon as it leaves my clutch
Isn’t ‘In God We Trust’, Isn’t ‘In God We Trust’
On the money for a reason or am I making this up
And if it’s God that we trust, IF it’s God that we trust
Then why not give her the bible, why didn’t I pick it up, huh?

Barack Obama: Fixing the Homeless Crisis

(Verse 2)
Single mother, victim of abuse
The web she’s caught up in got her feeling recluse
Ex husband, just to spite her (just a spider)
Won’t pick up the kids before she works an all-nighter/ two jobs, true survivor Provide the type o life her kids would like to live
So they won’t freeze, no eve without the ribs
Minimum wage pays for a maximum rage
Sinking lower like a casket so she asks for a raise
Is a dollar enough? Is a dollar enough?
A dollar more still couldn’t get her on the bus
Is a dollar enough? Here a dollar’s enough.
By now she’s thinking she should have never fallen in love
Is her daughter a crutch? Is her daughter a crutch?!
A mother shouldn’t have to think that way about her pups
Is it bothering us? Ain’t it bothering us?
That the system missed the point and now we amidst all this dust

Barack Obama speaks on Women and the Economy

(Verse 3)
Dear Brock, if your name was Barack
You wouldn’t make it this far/ you’d a been slain by the cops
Though this is not about race/ this is about disgrace
This is about a woman who can barely show her face
But he’s a star so she must’ve kissed him
Just a slap on the wrist, a couple months in prison
The justice system says ‘it’s just his system’
Well there’s some real killers inside that’ll adjust his system
Is a dollar enough? Is a dollar enough?
That’s gotta be enough for her to keep it on the hush
Is a dollar enough? Here a dollar’s enough!
Spent the rest on a lawyer who painted you as a lush
You think locking him up’s/ not worth the horrible cut
That she has to live with daily, I’m sorry your honor, what?!
He graduates with honors while she can hardly conduct-
I’m at a loss for words, I think I’ve said enough.

Barack Obama: Rape is Rape


3. ONE DAY (feat. Saeeda Wright and Nehemiah Booker)
(D. Lawrence)
Produced by Cee Goods, Guitar performance by Evan Simko

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(Intro)
As the campaign trail moves on. It feels so Good. It feels so Wright. It’s one for the Books.

(Bridge)
Treat each other fair/ see each other in the mirror
Regardless of race, sex, creed, color o’ hair
Love who you want as long as love is in the air
Let em up above know we care
(2x)

(Hook – Saeeda Wright and Nehemiah Booker)
It’ll happen one day
We gotta start today
It ain’t gon take one day
It ain’t gon take two days

(Verse 1)
Long live the King, King, and the right thing to do
Long live the fight for the truth
Lets set aside our differences and set our sites with emphasis
On giving longer lives to the youth
Redistribute the funds/ reinstitute the fun
Resist from using guns/ on our discontinued sons
We in a state of mass incarceration
Reinstate jobs and education
And redefine global warming
As having one heart that so enormous
We can fire up compassion so all are nourished
With the finest of fashions we’ll clothe the homeless
The Strength to Love is my Constitution
The Strength to Love, that’s my Declaration
I say we cut down on pollution, smell the celebration
With a breath of fresh air, we can vent elation/ it’ll happen

(Hook)
It’ll happen one day
We gotta start today
It ain’t gon take one day
It ain’t gon take two days
It’s gonna take all us together
A promise to never
Give up on each other
Make the world better
One day

(Verse 2)
The policy needs editing
Equality is the medicine
Democracy’s even better when
Economies can benefit/ all, not just the wealthiest
Your perfect lives with your perfect wives
Perfect colonies, your perfect hives
While we work to survive/ it only hurts to divide
And God forbid we ever verbalize
There’s too much month at the end of the money
And too much money spent defending the country
And too much country with nothing to eat
And too much to eat but it’s just for the elite
And too many sick, poor, hungry and dying
Who can’t afford to care when the youngest is crying
And too many crying from the social injustice
I still have a dream, I know it’s amongst us/ it’ll happen

(Hook)

(Outro)
I need everybody to put one finger in the air like this. And let’s turn one day into day one. How wonderful would that one day be? One day of love, one day of peace. Then imagine day two and day three.


4. GUN CONTROL
(D. Lawrence)
Produced by Cee Goods

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(Intro)
President Obama on the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile

Crowd chanting “No Justice, No Peace” in front of Police Department in Oakland, CA

(Hook)
What if we shoot back?
What if we shoot back?
What if we shoot back?
What if we shoot back?

(Verse 1)
Murder in the first degree/ with no urgency/ to get his body to emergency/ just left him in the Ferguson street/ for the world to see/ god damnit how perverted are we/ and it’s burning in the 3rd degree to see our dreams deferred and be referred so fervently/ as the reason it occurs like we yearn to be gunned down to the ground like a herd of beasts/ wait, I just heard the police/ kill another brother in broad day light/ we don’t tell our kids about the birds n the bees/ they learn how to freeze/ and lose all their rights/ that’s not propaganda/ there don’t ever stop Amanda/ you lucky if you meet Miranda/ when the cops say hands up it’s… (Shots)…To all the Katie’s who want ’em a mixed baby/ better hope he turn into another Curry or a Drake/ what you gon do when they say the family picture you painted is tainted/ he gotta wash the dirt off his face/ that’s the color of his skin/ your his mother you’re his kin/ but the prisons are filled so they killing at will and next they could be coming for him/ Why must I be mortified everytime someone’s immortalized/ why does it take a sole to rise like Jordan 5s when 6 ring out from the .45/ he was only 23… He had all his life/ he was only 12 years old, you saw 21, you not qualified

(Hook)

(Verse 2)
What if we shoot back/ what if we each had at least 2 gats/ one cast steel for Castile, one new Mac for move back/ what if we was out for vengeance/ what if we go pay they house a visit/ what if we go ahead n Malcolm X them right out of existence… (shots) Man Down! … what if we call up the leader of Isis/ tell em there’s really a crisis/ tell em we gon need some advice kid/ cops killing kids out here and they bleeding for life it’s/ gone way way way past brutality/ this is now bad for humanity/ this is now mad, it’s insanity/ all at the hands of their vanity/ n still no recourse/ for militant p’lice force/ we’re starting to get really impatient/ still no convictions/ we’re boa constricted/ to thinking that the laws ain’t changing/ we should Grant him an Oscar for Shootvale Station/ way to play innocent, standing ovation/ clap for him or clap at him, what if we change the conversation

(Hook)

I bet them street cameras work then!

President Obama on the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile


5. SEE THE SUN ft. Steam FISH
(D. Lawrence)
Produced by Cee Goods

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(Intro)
President Obama on the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile

(Verse 1)
They stuck with us now/ put up wit us now
Never thought we’d run the town when we ducked underground (we runnin’)
Though How to Make a Slave by Wiilie Lynch is still applying
Keep the body, take the mind, I swear they got it to a science (Go!)
Like, first ship em dope and let em deal to brothers (then)
Give em guns, step back, and watch em kill each other (then)
Devour, then deflower n devalue their heroines
Street powder to keep power, put a value on heroin (got it)
Like D Howard we ran to the block
With outstretched hands we asked our mans for the rock
Page 4 of the curriculum/ wage war, start convicting em
Here comes Daniel with the vans and the locks (Book ’em, Danno!)
So how you feel, how you feel, how you feel
In 25, the number’s grown to 2.5 mill
Cheap labor became free, too costly to send us back
Blackmail the black male, I’m just sending the facts (fax)

(Hook)
Will I die in here? Will I see the sun?
25 more years, ‘Til I see my son
I’m buried alive, I’m gone and forgotten
Black’s the new black, bloodshed’s the new cotton
They can take my body, they can’t take my mind
Lord take my soul, when they say it’s my time
Will I die in here? Will I see my son?
25 more years, Will I see the sun?

(Verse 2)
The rules are bent, assaulted female prisoners consent
To stay content/ Who’s job is to repent?
When 12 officers have felt her breasts/ today alone
12 months from now, 12 million more arrests (oh no)
Happy anniversary baby!
Come here and peel off that orange, you ain’t been nursing me lately
Demented, sick defendants plead the 5th amendment
While trauma alters genetics of troubled and scarred descendants
I take it from your silence that I’m making you listen
State of the prison/ designed for violence n racial division
Main Mission: confine ’em to a hole
Deny ’em payroll so they violate parole (you’ll be back)
So how you feel, how you feel, how you feel
In 25, the number’s grown to 2.5 mill
800 on death row, takes 80 million to power
So much for the 8th Amendment/ when you make 8 cents an hour/ these are facts

(Hook)

(Verse 3)
They don’t educate, they throw the book, they make sure they hit ya
Jew-veniles locked up at 13, bar mitzvah
18 times more likely to be tried as an
18 year old for the same crime as them
They watching us, in the hood, 3 striKes just for burning trees
While swatsikas, in a hood n 3 Ks get to burn trees
To please cops, we cop pleas/ blood drops on leaves
They’ll eavesdrop/ we’ve got to stop these thieves/ try to keep up (facts)
Direct deposits into the bank/ fund for-profit criminal tanks
With no intentions but detention retention, inventin’ offenses for walkin’ the plank
No dental coverage, no help for the mental, suffrage
Commission off the commissary, families left to suffer
So how you feel, how you feel, how you feel
In 25, the numbers grown to 2.5 mill
Born with a death sentence, the burden of being black
These ain’t feelings, see these are facts/ there ain’t no taking em back

(Hook)


6. LIGHT THE FIRE
(D. Lawrence, H.Eady)
Produced by Cee Goods (Contains sample from “Our House” by Crosby, Stills and Nash- Graham Nash), Vocals by Friends of the Children

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(Hook)

(Verse 1)
A great leader was born today/ don’t let him fail or let evil blow him away/ if you see him going astray/ take heed and show him the way/ teach him morality/ we gon need him more everyday/ raise her with confidence/ raise her with common sense/ she’ll raise into prominence/ and rid AIDS from The Continent/ no left wing or right/ her only angle is flight/ guide her path, give her candle a light/ am I right?/ Absolutely/ we gettin back to the future like it’s an action movie/ I do this for the kids, when they say pass it to me/ I assist like Kidd, kid, ’cause that’s my duty/ yeah, and that’s the beauty/ I got a passion for the youth, G/ they hang in the balance/ we need movement, not another mannequin challenge/ through the music, and discord (this chord), we give em a pro to call/ that’s the protocol when they prone to fall/ so I’ll

(Hook)

(Verse 2)
Let’s give the children a choice/ give their vision a voice/ so they can complete the mission/ instead of missing the point/ 2.2 mill in prison/ let’s go and visit the joint/ let em know that we miss em/ a wish will give em some poise/ fixing the system isn’t as simple as flipping coins/ let’s wick wicked decisions/ that feel like kicks in the groin/ then light the wicks of millions of little boys/ and independent young women who itching to bring the noise/ We been givin’ em toys, we need to give em the tools/ if not now, then when, there ain’t a minute to lose/ no child left behind, can’t pick n choose/ all hands on deck, it takes a village or two/ Free Breakfast for Children is still/ a good idea, it was then and it always will/ as long as the meal/ keeps em all fulfilled/ with a spark in their heart /if they start to chill/ light the fire

(Hook)

(Verse 3)
Let’s get em ready, let’s line em up/ We need em all, no that’s not enough/ Set em ablaze, Let’s fire em up/ give em fuel that’ll make their desires erupt/ Teach em how to climb, get em higher up/ hands to the sky, get em higher up/ go ‘head and light a match, let’s ignite a rush/ and wave em side to side, put your lighters up

Children discussing super powers

(Hook)


7. TAKE A BOW
(D. Lawrence)
Produced by Cee Goods, Vocals by J. Sanders, Elijah Flowers, Guitar by Avery Gilbert

[bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2639236222 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=e32c14 track=184455652]

(Intro)
Comedic rant by Elijah Flowers

(Verse 1)
Uh, So they keep on raising the roof/ prices
They ain’t giving raises to you/ bias
Cost of living is through the roof/ highest
It’s ever been, it is evident, there is proof/ liars
Life is suicide in itself
Breaking our own backs/ We die to assume the wealth
What we assume is wealth/ is really doom to our health
The root of all evil moving in stealth
Instead of focusing on job creation
they change the make up of the population
And got the nerve to holla beautification
Now I don’t know what mirror you been facing
But we’ve all been desensitized
To our own homes gentrified
The definition of appropriation
Take it from its roots, treat it like your own creation

(Hook)
Ohhh so you just gon come and take our swag
Ohhh so you just gon come and take our style
Ohhh so you just gon come and take our sound huh
Ok well go ahead and take a bow
Go ahead n take a bow
Go ahead n take a bow
Your forefathers would be so proud
Go ahead n take a bow
What you takin now?

(Verse 2)
Uh, Now you can’t just come and take the culture
And not even embrace the color
Not very bald eagle of you
That in fact makes you a vulture
Just because we wear dreads
That don’t mean that you gotta fear us
We telling you our lives matter
And it’s obvious that you don’t hear us
You don’t want us in your back yard
So you feel the need to build gates
Got fences ’round the mighty dollar
All hail Bill Gates
And now we’ve all been desensitized
To our own homes gentrified
The definition of appropriation
Take it from its roots, treat it like your own creation

(Hook)

(Guitar Break)

(Verse 3)
Uh, Now how are we supposed to build
If we always gotta rebuild
And you the one getting money
From the things that we build
And since they won’t share the for-mula
We hit licks for moola
You know what you think the next stop’ll be
It’s either Jake or the jeweler
I’m saying hey Mr. Monopoly
I got the money for your property
But here’s the part that bothers me
This the same land you got from me
So we’ve all been desensitized
To our own homes gentrified
The definition of appropriation
Take it from its roots, treat it like your own creation

(Hook)


8. GET UP ft Wynne & Elin Skei
(D. Lawrence, S. Holwerda, E. Skei)
Produced by Cee Goods, Vocals by Elin Skei

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(Intro)
The problem’s been created, but we can’t perpetuate it. We gotta get up. We gotta govern ourselves and stop expecting anything from Washington. We gotta get our own capitalWe gotta raise our children with pride, to honor where they come from. It starts in the home, in the classroomsThen back out to the community and it spreads worldwide.

(Verse 1)
Whether you black, white, brown, purple or Asian
Right now would be the perfect occasion
Put EVIL in reverse, we been cursed since the first generation
Right now could be the birth of a nation/ let’s LIVE!!
One full of dignity, richer than all of history
Change is in the pockets, they profiting off our misery
Imagine all of the progress if nobody gets the credit
Crabs in the barrel, barrels of bullets, we gotta dead it
Time for us to value our lives a little bit more
Then they can’t just come n kick in the door
We won’t stand for that like quarterback for the Frisco 4
I can’t breathe, stop n frisk no more/ uh uh
Let it be peace and longevity when we speak of our legacy
Through a beacon of integrity, we can weaken the enemy
But here comes the weekend and we can’t live without Hennessy
We can be the deacons of our destiny/ we gotta get up!

(Hook)
We gotta get up, we gotta get up (4x)
We gotta get up for the ones who refuse to stand for the ways of an abusive land
We gotta get up for ourselves if we stand a chance to ever do that brand new dance
We gotta get up

Break

(Verse 2)
(We gotta get up) Now we can wait on the state
And we can stare at debates/ and we can make some complaints
That’s adjacent to complacent, we don’t claim our mistakes
We on time for the latest make/ but what’s making us late
Late for work, ground work that could pave a new way
If we hasten our pace/ we could save what’s at stake
You know them stakes is high just like De La would say
Now which direction are we headed, it’s a maze not a race
We can take it to the left [to the left]
We can take it to the right [to the right]
We can break it on down [on down]
We can do this all night [all night]
But we ain’t going back to the mutiny that’s ruining community
Onward and upward for the unity
Right foot forward, no one left behind
All in and we can all shine/ but we gotta up

(Hook)

(Verse 3- Wynne)
I know I’m not the only one who’s afraid of it
The rains coming I can see the cloud now
Over the horizon but the timing is impeccable
They want us divided they want us down and out
I’m drowning out the sounds of demands
I see them in the air waving their hands
Don’t shoot, we won’t move
My boots are glued arms linked you won’t bruise
The soul of a soldier no no we can’t lose
We are the hope of the future and they know it
Told us we had the ship but they never let us row it
They’re supposed to support us not deport us thats who we are
Immigrants building resilience oppression giving the scars
History repeats itself the proof is in the pudding
Like Emmitt Till now Trayvon wearing a hoodie
For all the times they told us that we couldn’t
For when we got up every time they said we wouldn’t
We gotta get up

(Hook)


9. TASTE OF VICTORY (feat. Champagne James)
(D. Lawrence)
Produced by Cee Goods, Vocals by J. Gray

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(Intro)
Since victory in the making (Cool)
Now victory’s for the taking
Time to bring home the bacon
Don’t keep the people waiting, break out the

(Hook)
Champagne! Bring them bottles to my section
Champagne! Looks like we won an election
Champagne! Lighters up. Get lit wit me
Champagne! This the taste of victory

(Verse 1)
For the first time in franchise history
We have overcome our disenfranchised history
The people have spoken, they got they hands high, fisted, we
Took the competition in a landslide victory
No mo buyin’ your votes, No mo lying to folks
The people know what’s up, They told me that I was dope
They told me that U was nope, They told me they couldn’t cope
No more dirty politics, told em I’d bring em soap
They told me that I was HOPE
Now I’m top of totem, the polls are bringin results
I told you I wouldn’t choke, You trolls have been tellin jokes
Tryna don a chump, Low and behold he’s broke
Knowin that you’d get smoked you tried to bury my message
Safe to say that you wasn’t very impressive
I turned rock bottom into rock stardom
Goodies say the word and I got em (get em!)
Cue the confetti n bring out the hats/ the real is back, reveal the facts
Drop the banners, stop the banter, pull out the cameras, I killed the act
Go head n show me the podium/ over n over they quotin him
Devoted, they voted in both of em/ somebody open the

(Hook)

(Verse 2)
For the second time in franchise history (two terms!)
We have overcome our disenfranchised history
The people have spoken, they got they hands high, fisted, we
Killed the competition in a landslide victory
The people are cheerin, they came from miles to hear him
The White House lawn look like a coliseum
What he’s established meant nothing to the establishment
Soon as he turned his back they smiled and thought about stabbing him
But we ain’t runnin’ mate
Now we may party like its 1999 but we gon keep it ? mate
To say me and my running mate is/ underrated
Is an Under Statement/ that’s under investigation at the federal
The throne is my home, where is the pedestal
Front page news this is incredible
I’m feeling real fresh, call up the Mint
Tell em bring me more money and more refreshments
Cue the confetti n bring out the hats/ the real is back, reveal the facts
Drop the banners, stop the banter, pull out the cameras, I killed the act
Go head n show me the podium/ over n over they quotin him
Devoted, they voted in both of em/ somebody open the

(Hook)


10. TRUE LEADERS ft Jonny Cool
(D. Lawrence, J. Sanders)
Produced by Cee Goods

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