A BLACK KING’S RANSOM

A BLACK KING’S RANSOM Outro: [Music fades to a low, rhythmic drone] [Spoken with cold, sovereign authority] Intro: Usually, "nightmares" are associated with darkness. However, The "Black King's Glow" (The Light) is the nightmare for the system of oppression. The "Bail Bond," is a $2 billion industry that profits off pre-trial detention, disproportionately extracting wealth from Black families to "buy back" a King who was born free. Saying "No" is the ultimate act of sovereignty (as seen in the works of Hegel or Fanon). When a Black man says "No" to the system, he ceases to be a subject and becomes a King. The "Ransom" is what the system charges him for that refusal. Verse 1: Before the ink of the Magna Carta hit the page, A Kushite King sat center stage, 25th Dynasty sage. From Mansa Musa’s gold to the Songhai breeze, We navigated stars while they were falling to their knees. But the fear took root in the white man’s dream, To turn a Sovereign Spirit into a cog in the machine. They saw Haiti rise, saw Louverture break the chain, So they taxed the revolution, made 'em pay for their own pain. $150 million francs—the original ransom demand, For the "crime" of being free on their own damn land. Chorus: They’ll trade the King for a Bail Bond, a soul for a cell, From the throne to the cage, it’s a living hell. Incarceration or gunned down, the choice is the same, A micro fraction of the price of the crown they claim. They fear the nature, the birthright, the glow, A Black King’s Ransom is the price of the "No." Verse 2: The whip evolved into the Black Code and the Clause, A nation built on "freedom" with a thousand hidden flaws. From Medgar to Malcolm, the pattern is a mirror, The closer we get to the Truth, the higher the terror. Check the math of the "Justice" they claim is so blind: Black men are 5.9 times more likely to be confined. Than a white man for the same gram, the same vice, The War on Drugs was just a War on Us—cold as ice. They see Amadou reaching, they see Tamir at play, And claim "fear for their life" while they take ours away. Chorus: They’ll trade the King for a Bail Bond, a soul for a cell, From the throne to the cage, it’s a living hell. Incarceration or gunned down, the choice is the same, A micro fraction of the price of the crown they claim. They fear the nature, the birthright, the glow, A Black King’s Ransom is the price of the "No." Verse 3: We are the Inherent Authority, the original source, A power that doesn’t require a permit or force. In the dead of the night, when the Sovereign stands tall, The White Supremacist nightmare is the fear of the fall. Not a fall into violence, but a fall into truth, That the King was never broken, from his elder to his youth. The Ransom is high because the value is deep, But you can’t bill a man for the soul he chose to keep. Chorus: They’ll trade the King for a Bail Bond, a soul for a cell, From the throne to the cage, it’s a living hell. Incarceration or gunned down, the choice is the same, A micro fraction of the price of the crown they claim. They fear the nature, the birthright, the glow, A Black King’s Ransom is the price of the "No." Verse 4: In the dead of the night, when the statues are still, Black Sovereignty moves with a quiet, iron will. It’s the White Supremacist nightmare: a King in his prime, Who doesn't ask for a seat, doesn't wait for his time. He doesn't need a permit to breathe or to be, His very existence is a Reckoning—naturally free. They built a world of shadows to hide from his light, Because a Black King’s peace is their terror at night. The "Ransom" they demand? It's the silence of his tongue, But the song of his Authority has already been sung.