Ex-Slave (circa 1836) Lyrics

[Proph]

Spent my whole life livin on this plantation
All I know is devastation and pain from the lacerations
Papa died when I was five, committed suicide
Say if he couldn't be free no point in bein alive
So I took his advice tried to run 3 times
But I swear this time y’all, it ain't gon be the same
Word round here is they got an underground railroad
And Ima be the first one up on the train
Harriet Tubman picked me up round 8
And I was surprised cuz honestly I thought Moses was a dude
But anyway, before I leave tell my people goodbye
And ask the house slaves to poison massa food
Shouldn't a told nobody, now they told somebody
Now they want my body they got a price up on my head
And got the nerve to offer $100 if they grab me by da collar
Dey don't care if I'm alive or if I'm dead
And I don't care neither, and I ain't scared either, gotta make it North
Got some folks in Chicago
And if I die before I make it, somebody tell my descendants what I died for
We gotta make a way...

[Malcolm X]
So we are all black people, so-called Negroes, second-class citizens. Ex-slaves. You're nothing but a ex-slave. You don’t like to be told that. But what else are you? You are ex-slaves. You didn’t come here on the “Mayflower.” You came here on a slave ship — in chains, like a horse, or a cow, or a chicken. And you were brought here by the people who came here on the “Mayflower.”

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About

Genius Annotation

“Ex-Slave (Circa 1836)” is by Proph (also known as Prophecy), a Chicago-based artist, who was a student at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville at the time he produced and released this piece in March 2010. The composition was part of a larger project entitled “The Malcolm X Mixtape,” where Prophecy produced a series of tracks based on Malcolm X’s speeches. He presents this piece from the first-person perspective of an ex-slave.

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