About the song
A story for this song hasn’t been added yet.
Words from the artist’s archive
The Whole Script lyrics
Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.
Read the lyric sheet
Intro
They gave us the highlight reel... But I'm here for the raw footage. Four hundred years? No. Try four thousand. Let’s talk about it.
Verse 1
Open up the ledger, let me show you where it started Before the Atlantic, whole empires were heartless The word is "Slav," look it up, white folks in chains Egyptians and Romans, yeah, they all played the game It wasn't just skin, it was power eating weak From the sand to the sea, history is bleak Now look at the map, look at Rio, look at Brazil The jungle was a graveyard, man, the labor didn't heal They worked 'em to the bone, no survival, just death But up in the States, we survived, took a breath We built families here, through the mud and the pain We the ones who made it through the fire and the rain
Chorus
It's bigger than the ship, it's bigger than the lie I'm reading the whole script, looking in the eye They teach you to be broken, I teach you how to build We survived the trap, look at how the cup is filled Not a victim in the mirror, I see a king standing tall Knowing where we came from, so we never fall
Verse 2
Now fast forward, past the chains and the laws To the sixties, when the system put the claws in the paws The family was solid, even under Jim Crow Business booming, fathers home, making sure we grow Then came the "help," yeah, the Great Society Handed out a check, fueled the anxiety "Kick the man out the house, and we'll pay you the rent" Trading fathers for a voucher, wondering where they went The government became the daddy, signed on the line Destroyed the village structure by design, not a crime The hustle got replaced by the handout, tragic Now we gotta break the spell, reverse the magic
Bridge
Don't let the classroom keep your mind in a box Teaching you resentment while they changing the locks The Royal Navy loaded cannons, sailed into the wave Died on the coast just to empty out the grave The West stopped the trade, yeah, they flipped the whole track We got the power now, and we ain't looking back
Verse 3
So don't tell me I'm oppressed when I'm holding the keys I'm standing on the shoulders of the ones who didn't freeze History is ugly, yeah, the blood is on the floor But knowledge is the weapon that can open up the door No poison in the lesson, no chip on the shoulder I'm getting wiser, getting richer, getting bolder We survived the global trade, survived the jungle too Now watch what a free mind is about to do
Chorus
It's bigger than the ship, it's bigger than the lie I'm reading the whole script, looking in the eye They teach you to be broken, I teach you how to build We survived the trap, look at how the cup is filled Not a victim in the mirror, I see a king standing tall Knowing where we came from, so we never fall
Outro
Yeah. Read the whole book. Not just the page they folded for you. We stand tall. The Whole Script.
Inside the recording
They gave us the highlight reel... But I'm here for the raw footage.
It's bigger than the ship, it's bigger than the lie I'm reading the whole script, looking in the eye
Yeah. Read the whole book.
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.