All I Want is Peace

By Marlon Solomon, featuring Malik Green

 

we lived in peace the whites came in locked us in chains

didn’t want us to learn tried to put a lock on our brain

black kids came in the world enslaved since birth

until they died they been a slave on earth

to eat food the whites would barely let ya

they would lock you in chains hit you with whips just to test ya

didn’t care what you had to say nobody would respect ya

nowadays we’re locked in jail still under pressure

government doesn’t care they want blacks to fill the jails up

innocent people everyday get killed. for what?

because we was at the wrong place at the wrong time

black man reaches for his wallet and gets shot five times

this world’s full of hate it’s like it can’t get worse

when all we really need is peace on earth

 

(chorus)

All I want is peace. Who can ask for more?

All I want is peace. Everyday I ask the Lord.

All I want is peace. We gonna make it through the storm.

All I want is peace. Why can’t we get along?

 

all I need is peace sometimes I stop and I pause

cops approach us without a probable cause

they’ll find any little reason to lock me in a cage

and throw me on the ground cause I’m a black man with braids

I can’t sleep this war got me turnin’ in my bed

terrible thoughts of 9/11 burnin’ in my head

can’t turn on the news without hearin’ somethin’ bad

attack on America, now we’re attacking in Iraq

so many families destroyed and so many lives lost

innocent people have to die for Bush to feel like a boss

even where I’m from you wouldn’t imagine what I go through

there’s a shootout at every party that I go to

all I need is peace, that’s really all that I’m askin’

all I need is peace, but it’s up to you to make it happen

 

All I want is peace. Who can ask for more?

All I want is peace. Everyday I ask the Lord.

All I want is peace. We gonna make it through the storm.

All I want is peace. Why can’t we get along?

 

we’re gonna make it through the storm sleet hail or rain

United States at war I can feel America’s pain

scared to ride the train hoping that I don’t blow up

every year’s getting worse so I don’t even wanna grow up

can’t sleep at night the terrorist got me shook

real life is much more different than a book

the fights we had is terrible lead to blood baths

the nights that passed wishing that life would pass

with Christ at last is where I wanna be

God take me home like them bone thugs and harmony

it’s harming me this war got me thinking ‘bout the kids

spending money to kill and people with no place to live

since 9/11 that’s when my war began

it seems the only way that we’ll have peace is if the world would end

Fly

By Zach Flannery

 

I'm so high above the clouds, I can see the world spin and the birds fly in the winds.

Wish you were here to catch me when I fall but you weren’t there at all. 

I wake up, don’t know where I am, it’s like I’m stuck in a dream,

my temperature rises.

I don’t know why, please little birds in the sky tell me why, tell me how to stop,

tell me how to stop myself.

I don’t want to fly, tell me why I fly, drop me like a gentle flower, not tomorrow,

I want to be dropped between the hour.

I don’t want to be high anymore, let me down, I can't take this anymore.

Drown sorrows in your tears and I’ll show you my fears

so we can go somewhere safe and let our past escape.

Nothing’s ever built to last. 

Black Rainbow

By Corey DePina

 

Everyone needs somebody else

We all have times when we need help

There are those times when I’m in need

Life gives me reason to believe

That things will change and as I grow

Things aren’t the same and still I hope

I can get through all that they do

Feel I was fooled and so have you

 

Everyone needs time to believe

Time to relax, reflect, and breathe

Life moves on when I feel stuck

So many times I’ve tried my luck

Only to fall we all have needs

Give me the strength to move my feet

Give me the courage to move my soul

Upside down, out of control

 

Please don’t let go we can get through

All of the things they put you through

Trust me I know its all unfair

Trust me I know that someone cares

 

Black rainbows, makes us all the same

Wash away the differences that make them act that way

Black rainbows after all the rain

Let the sun come out to shine and dry the tears away

 

Everyone knows but no one cares

Time to let go of all your tears

Time to hold on to your beliefs

Things aren’t as different as they seem

Nobody wants to live alone

 

We all need a place we can call home

Hold up your head show some respect

We still have love when nothing’s left

Everyone’s running in this race

I’m tryna’ keep a steady pace

Knowing the chances to win are slim

Don’t know where to end or to begin

 

I’ve lost all my friends mixed my beliefs

Confused all my wants with all my needs

Fell victim to the society

That’ll never accept me for being me

 

Black rainbows, make us all the same

Wash away the differences that make them act that way

Black rainbows, after all the rain

Let the sun come out to shine and dry the tears away.

Zach Flannery

Am I

By Big “O” & Wikked Kid

 

Am I taking the right choices?

Am I listening to the right voices?

All the things that I dream are they what they seem?

Or am I hypnotized by the T.V. screen?

 

Yo I gotta play precise if I want the glamour life

Keep my eyes on the prize losin’ that sight

And neva losin’ the grip to my mic.

I sit in my chair sometimes I wonder

Am I ever gonna rise from the under

Ground how you like that sound?

Tell me if it’s worth it?

‘Cause it all seems so perfect

The cars and the ice is it really that nice

All the money and girls will it ever be mine.

Yo I’m living on the grind

So I gotta take my time

Cause I’m living like a blind

I gotta watch my step and I don’t know what’s next

I just wanna say I wanna go away.

Come back some other day when things are ok

Somebody tell me what’s the deal

Tell me if it’s real we need to seek the truth

Cause they lying to the youth.

 

See my thoughts go in sync when I start to think

That the music ain’t the same the game has changed

And all the fake super stars are the ones to blame.

You need to put me on the top

So I can show what is hot

So I can show you how rock

The real, the real hip-hop

So many people might have thought that it drop

But hip-hop it don’t stop

If you forget about the chains

And start speaking from the brain

All you doing is destructions

When you need to be constructing

It’s kind of strange and it strikes me insane.

That you’re not using your brain

Trying to create a name

And no it’s not coincidental

You lost what is essential

Let me teach you how to flow

Matter of fact let me teach you what I know

Before the Diddy it started in the city

The south side man, the south side Bronx

The b-boys would dance in the streets

And the dj broke the beats

So let it sink into your head

Think about what I said

And next time you grab a mic, grip it tight,

Close your eyes and do it right

Malik Green (left) and Marlon Solomon

Members of the Streetwise program, who are working on putting out a CD. From left to right: Matt DiFeo, Linecker DaSilva, Ramsel Lara, Corey DePina and Ashley Aceto.