Rise Up

This is my family

These are my friends (these are my friends)

This is what I'll die for

And this is why I live (this is why I live)

And if you truly love me

Then, you will not pretend (you will not pretend)

This is why we rise up

It's an outlaw nation

I got people in the backwoods

I got people in the pen (I got people in the pen)

Momma, will you pray for me

In this life full of sin? (Life full of sin)

If you truly love me

Then, you will not pretend (you will not pretend)

This is why we rise up

It's an outlaw nation (it's an outlaw nation)

See, I know my people relate

Outlaw nation's more than a title

Broken souls that need revival

Broken homes that found survival (yeah)

That little boy with no daddy around

But somehow found a smile (yeah)

And his momma's poppin' pills

Now on the edge and suicidal (uh-huh)

These are my people that's been through hell

Doing time up in a cell (yeah)

All my people that's been disabled

And cannot fend for themselves (yeah)

All these drug fiends on codeine and probably need some help (yeah)

All this bad luck got us fucked up, but still we live to tell

It's all my old folks that can't afford the medicine they prescribed

And all them sick folks that go to war with cancer and slowly die

Saw all my broke folks that hold on and try to survive

In this cold world we live in, just trying to get by

'Til the day that we die, we gon' ride up in this bitch

And we gon' pray, so, close your eyes

We gon' rise up in this bitch

It's do or die for me and mine

And I ain't worried about your click

Outlaw nation you can't deny it

There ain't no other side to pick

It's a crazy world we live in

All these kids out here get molested (damn)

And beaten black and blue

It's me and you that's their protection

That ain't no justice

They just focus in the department of corrections

Touch a kid and you get bail

But sell some weed and they gon' stress it (c'mon)

Especially at election

'Cause these politicians so crooked

And all this corruption hitting the system

And they do it like nobody's even looking (uh-uh)

They don't give a damn how you feel about it

Be real about it, you notice

You just turned the other cheek

And be a sheep and let them control us

I see my best friend's baby mama die from overdosing on meds

Paramedics got them shock pads and stuck them to her chest

It brought her back for a good second (yeah)

But really, it was nothing left

She was long gone by then and her brain was dead

So, that second day, they pulled the plug and she no longer lives

And to make it all even worse, she did it all in front of the kids

Man, something's gotta give, until then, we hold it down

Outlaw nation represent

All our people make us proud

This is my family

These are my friends (these are my friends)

This is what I'll die for

And this is why I live (this is why I live)

And if you truly love me

Then, you will not pretend (you will not pretend)

This is why we rise up

It's an outlaw nation

I got people in the backwoods

I got people in the pen (I got people in the pen)

Momma, will you pray for me

In this life full of sin? (Life full of sin)

'Cause if you truly love me

Then, you will not pretend (you will not pretend)

This is why we rise up

It's an outlaw nation (it's an outlaw nation)

It's these kids that's in the gutter with no father and no mother

Now, your teenage sister pregnant

With a baby inside of her stomach

But the baby daddy done dip down

He say that he don't want it

Now, he tell her to get an abortion

Man, that sounds like bullshit, don't it?

Plus, your brother then caught a case

And now, he's faced with 20 to life

And he can't afford an attorney

So, he probably gon' lose that fight

And at the same time, you pay the price

You stay awake 'til daylight

As you grow old, you grow cold and learn how to hate life

Still, you can't escape life on the big stage with stage fright

In a fishbowl, trying to duck and hide

Watching out for great whites

I'm talking about them fake types, knife wounds and snake bites

It's late nights with cold chills

Hungry as hell with no meals

I've been backstabbed so many times by the ones that I call friends

And they crossed lines you never crossed

When I was locked up in the pen

Hit my lady up and talk about she needs some better man

But I'm the best she ever had and I'm the best that she gon' get

Now, they're both trying to make amends

And apologize for what they did

But fuck 'em both, I cut the rope

I had to learn to not forgive

I let God do His job, and as for me, I keep prevailing

Keep on rising through these ashes

And let these haters just inhale it

They only hate me because they jealous

Envious and plus, they bitter

I put in hardwork to get here, I ain't never been no quitter

You go big, then I go bigger

Never scared to pull that trigger

I raise hell and tell myself, it ain't no mercy no surrender

I'm being an example for all of my people

To keep it moving and never to break

They keep on pushing when losing faith

Just keep your head up and pray

It's got to be a better way

That's the better half inside my head

But the other half wanna cause war

Cause pain and hurt instead

So, Lord, I beg and plead to set my people free from misery

All these young kids and group homes

And grown men in penitentiaries

These broken homes we come from

We're praying for our enemies

When it's said and done, we overcome

We're going down in history

This is my family

These are my friends (these are my friends)

This is what I'll die for

And this is why I live (this is why I live)

And if you truly love me

Then, you will not pretend (you will not pretend)

This is why we rise up

It's an outlaw nation

I got people in the backwoods

I got people in the pen (I got people in the pen)

Momma, will you pray for me

In this life full of sin? (Life full of sin)

'Cause if you truly love me

Then, you will not pretend (you will not pretend)

This is why we rise up

It's an outlaw nation (it's an outlaw nation)

'Til the day that we die, we gon' ride up in this bitch

So, we gon' pray, so, close your eyes

We gon' rise up in this bitch

It's do or die for me and mine

And I ain't worried about your click

Outlaw nation you can't deny

There ain't no other side to pick

'Til the day that we die, we gon' ride up in this bitch

And we gon' pray, so, close your eyes

We gon' rise up in this bitch

It's do or die for me and mine

And I ain't worried about your click

Outlaw nation you can't deny

There ain't no other side to pick