We are live in the belly of the beast
A two-headed monster
I'm a child of the East
Africa, my family were all refugees
Scattered round the planet over continent and seas
Some of us landed in land that just wasn't free
Found contradiction where we tried to find peace
Real ground friction, that'll make you find a piece
It sounded so different, they were selling us a dream
Some of us were force-conscripted into beef
To become the face of another person's grief
Some of us in homes to which others hold keys
We're not treated equally
We are not here peacefully
We repeat everything
That is unhealed here
Victims are us and we victimize others
At the same time
With the same line they used on us
Occupied Palestine
Where the soldiers show up and they look like us
All of us got our own blood-stained hands for something
While the same state would just kill us for nothing
Here on stolen land there can never be justice
Like a rock in a slingshot
The last hope when your options are all gone
Against an army and a twenty-foot wall
Under all these apartheid laws
My cousin's a different kind a second-class citizen
The worst kind of warden in this prison
He'd be locked up if he isn't
Their enemies are not different
Life in the belly of the beast
A two-headed state, way they operate and think
We are separated now by continent and sea
And over here they talk about "the land of free speech"
Until you critique Zionism or police
You can boycott something based on your beliefs
But if you're talking Israel, then they got beef
They even passed laws against organizing meets
That mention BDS, just depending where you be
We pay all these taxes to build a war machine
That takes Palestinian land and ways of being
I know it's depressing
They say it's a different oppression
But a story is the most potent form of a weapon
They create fear to keep us all in suspension
While they made the whole world's biggest open air prisons
Listen, this isn't religion
This is just capitalism
And if our oppression's connected
Then our freedom is too, so let's get it
Like a rock in a slingshot
The last hope when your options are all gone
Against an army and a twenty-foot wall
Under all these apartheid laws
My cousin's a different kind of second-class citizen
The worst kind of warden in this prison
He'd be locked up if he isn't
Their enemies are not different
If we want to get free, then Palestine must be
If we want to get free, then Palestine must be
If we want to get free, then Palestine must be
If we want to get free, then Palestine must be
credits
from From the Ashes of Our Homes,
track released November 25, 2022
Produced by Moka Only
Pre-production by Gabriel Teodros
Mixed & Mastered by Dume41
This album by Khingz was created in conversation with my latest 'From The Ashes of Our Homes'. Playing the two albums back to back tells a bigger story. Gabriel Teodros
CopperWire is the trio of Meklit Hadero, Burntface & Gabriel Teodros. 'Earthbound' is the soundtrack to a science-fiction film that was never seen. Nnedi Okorafor wrote the liner notes. Gabriel Teodros
supported by 7 fans who also own “Open Letter to My Cousins in Israel”
God I'm so glad there's organisations like NPR Tiny Desk, Audiotree, and chief among them all KEXP, to carry the torch of live studio sessions like the John Peel / BBC radio sessions of yesteryear. Hell, KEXP's sessions have themselves been going for a couple odd decades already, so good on them for continually showcasing fresh and upcoming talent.
I ***REALLY*** wish more full sessions would be commercially released, but if that's left to the bands themselves, then that's more than fair enough Xtra Happy