Picket Fence-Brother Ali

[ti:Picket Fence] [ar:Brother Ali] [al:Shadows On The Sun] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]Picket Fence - Brother Ali [00:16.59]I was up and out my mothers house at 17 [00:18.54] [00:19.44]Been a grown a** married man ever since [00:20.90] [00:21.82]Family reunions I'm talked about but never seen [00:24.15] [00:25.01]Cause I learned that some of them [00:25.99]Can be your nemesis [00:26.90] [00:27.59]Got a lot of scars on me [00:29.43]I'll now tell you the stories [00:30.80]If you promise not to take offense [00:32.63] [00:33.52]Homie sit back then hand bring the beat in [00:36.87]I'll try to find a place [00:37.98]That starts to make sense now [00:39.09] [00:39.66]The first time I was pushed out blind [00:42.07]Cold and naked spanked on the a** to breathe [00:44.91]An immigrant from heaven on earth [00:46.64]With a word piece [00:47.42]I announce my self with gasps and screams [00:49.74] [00:50.73]Before black and white [00:51.99]Supremacy heighted my innocence [00:53.67] [00:54.25]I was living out life behind the picket fence [00:56.79]Happy go lucky scared of no one [00:58.65] [00:59.17]With the only exception I'm allergic to the sun [01:02.13]Didn't know I had a image [01:03.08]That a camera couldn't capture [01:05.01]100 on mars manufacture [01:07.94]But then came the laughter and outside I'm battered [01:10.44] [01:10.97]Picket fence shattered [01:12.48]I saw my self as bastard tagalong harassed and spat upon [01:15.85] [01:16.51]By the children of slave masters who passed it on [01:19.26]The saddest songs been sung at the hands of [01:21.67]Who I call the race from hell [01:23.67]Its a disgrace from hell [01:25.33]Fell face first in the self hate [01:26.77] [01:27.34]Burst into tears when I hear my own hellish name cursed [01:29.92] [01:30.52]If I seem timid its only because every mirror [01:32.91]That I saw back then had the [01:34.70]Earths ugliest human being in it [01:36.60] [01:37.80]And with that said they would kick me till [01:40.01]They got tired or I act dead [01:41.70]And I have to tell ya'll that the obvious part [01:44.37] [01:44.92]That I always feel free when I'm talking to god [01:47.29] [01:47.84]Alone on the playground friday afternoon [01:50.21]And the old sister who hums gospel toons [01:53.26]I saw her notice getting closer [01:56.32]She approached me [01:57.24]And put a knowing hand on my shoulder [01:59.39]And booked my feelings [02:00.85]Cause she looked at me in a way [02:02.39]That adults very seldom look at children [02:04.64] [02:05.17]And with the wisdom only earned by years [02:07.28] [02:07.84]She read my thoughts and [02:09.14]She welled up with tears and said [02:10.54]You look the way you do because you're special [02:12.75] [02:13.29]Not the short bus way I mean [02:14.87]That god's gonna test you [02:16.31]And all of this pain is training for the day when you [02:19.21]Will have to lead with the gift god gave to you [02:21.78] [02:22.40]Grown folks don't see it but the babies do [02:25.25]And there's a chance that you can save a few [02:27.68]And time will prove that she started my movement [02:30.63]She didn't tell me to take it she told me to use it [02:33.25] [02:45.03]The second time poppa ripped the womb open early [02:47.59]And exposed me to the coldness life prematurely [02:49.97] [02:50.96]Where mom's love used to live now housed denial [02:53.35]And when that decayed it made it bitter and spiteful [02:56.53]But me and my runaway we share something special [02:59.19]Rode into the sunset can barely can tough the pedals [03:02.28]No strings attached screaming f**k geppetto [03:04.72]We may live in the gutter but we cling to each other [03:07.76]A week before my son came I caught a bad bounce [03:10.58]And had to step to mom with my hands out [03:13.14]And momma proved the two of us could not live in that house [03:16.31]She lied to the police so they would throw us in the streets [03:19.31]And separating from you is something that I feel I must do [03:22.03]Its not that I don't love you its more that I don't trust you [03:24.96]Its been a year since I've seen a living relative [03:26.96] [03:27.76]And it's just now that I'm starting to live [03:29.62] [03:30.33]But while I'm sitting here choking on tears wishing that I didn't care [03:33.72]Feeling all alone in this hemisphere I swear upon everything I hold dear [03:38.21]And then my wife comes near and I hear a voice whisper in my ear [03:41.45] [03:42.14]You're going through all of this because you're special [03:44.68]Not no superstar sh*t I mean that god had to test you [03:47.82]And all of this pain has been training for the day when you [03:50.83]Would lead us with the gift god gave to you [03:53.91]Your parents might not see it but your babies do [03:56.16] [03:56.72]And there's a chance that you can save a few [03:59.19]And time will prove that she started my movement [04:02.08]She didn't tell me to take it she told me to use it [04:04.72] [04:06.39]So I use it