This is the only full song I wrote in the year 2020. Suffering through the pandemic, locked in my apartment, witnessing the brutality of the Minneapolis police and the subsequent burning of Lake Street and other beloved neighborhoods in my hometown, what could I possibly write but a protest song? I love the upbeat instrumental by Swamburger (of Solillaquists of Sound and Mugs and Pockets) and the contrast it provides. The protest audio at the end of the track is from downtown Minneapolis, April 19, 2021, the day before Derek Chauvin was convicted for the murder of George Floyd. Fuck the police, forever and ever, amen.
lyrics
Buckle up for another rugged disgusting discussion
The repercussions of reductive counterproductive reluctance
To rupture the structures we in love with, tongue-kissing repugnance
Blissfully unaware of subjects we don't believe directly touch us
This soul-sucking republic regulating guns and reproduction
Will burn us down to nothing just to profit from the destruction
And when the slums run in the streets to fuck up normal functions
They send punks in with truncheons to harness the eruption
We stuck in prisons of luck and physics
We must get rid of restrictions they giving us
Nothing limits us but the timidness of the innocent women and children
That's in the scrimmage against their wishes, it's a call to kill your sons
Mourning all that's lost and gone and all that's still to come
Yeah the winners write the history books
So there's misdirection about which direction history took
But the one thing politicians and cops have in common
The ones we want in the job are the ones who don't want it
I invoke the strength of street knowledge
We scholars, even those who never made it near colleges
To the internet we pledge our first born
All praise be to the hubs of grub and porn
One thing we gotta cope with down the line
Is that it's ultimately hopeless, we all gonna die
Said it before and I'll say it again
Fuck the police forever and ever, amen
This sullen and fervid nation urges disturbed turgid skirmishes
And vermin get your funds and never divulge the hurt it furnishes
Assurance isn't certain, it depends on what it's nourishing
And earnest men will burn in sin when perjured with superlatives
I take a complacent racist and burn his face to ashes
The President's calling you a terrorist for hating fascists
Debating his tactics on not same-naming the Klan
In fact it's a power grab to radicalize his rabidest jackals
The hour isn't early but we powerless from cowardice
The powder keg's about to blow it out and that's just how it is
I take you through this sacred litany first
The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse
I invoke the strength of street knowledge
We scholars, even those who never made it near colleges
To the internet we pledge our first born
All praise be to the hubs of grub and porn
One thing we gotta cope with down the line
Is that it's ultimately hopeless, we all gonna die
Said it before and I'll say it again
Fuck the police forever and ever, amen
A flurry of misinformation has been loosened upon us
They talking about one bad apple when the whole institution is rotten
And the looting and robbing and shooting ain't gonna be stopping
The revolution is popping, call it the nuclear option
Goons who abusing the population, truly abominations
Human-removal skills polished and waiting, it's time to abolish you Satans
It ain't enough to just say fuck the police
We gotta get em off our streets, no justice, no peace
I invoke the strength of street knowledge
We scholars, even those who never made it near colleges
To the internet we pledge our first born
All praise be to the hubs of grub and porn
One thing we gotta cope with down the line
Is that it's ultimately hopeless, we all gonna die
Said it before and I'll say it again
Fuck the police forever and ever, amen
credits
from Medium Talent,
released August 13, 2023
Produced by Swamburger. All lyrics and vocals by Tom Swifty. Turntablism by Elsewhere. Recorded at Stickout Studio (Minneapolis, MN) and engineered by eRok4a.
Born in Springfield, Illinois, and raised in the southern Midwest of Missouri, Ezra Stead became Tom Swifty in Minneapolis
when he began rapping live and recording quality tracks over ten years ago. Before that, they were... not so quality. Back in Minneapolis after 10 years in NYC, Swifty's latest albums prove that he's never been better....more
Chicago emcee Phillip Morris and French producer Tha TruthTella team up for one of the most endlessly replayable albums I own. Phillip's lyrics are super-clever and his delivery is crisp and flawless. Tom Swifty
My man Sean Anonymous is one of the sharpest emcees in the game right now, and he's currently blowing up in our hometown of Minneapolis. This is his debut solo effort. Tom Swifty
