[Verse 1]
I woke up in a country
that don’t want me to stand too tall.
Yeah I woke up in a country
that don’t want me to stand too tall.
They love my work, love my taxes,
but they pray on me to fall.
They call me “privileged, dangerous,”
say I’m part of the power game.
But I was born with nothing,
had to carve out my own name.
Ain’t nobody gave me mercy,
if I eat, I earn that flame.
I bled on gravel for my dollar,
I bled my knuckles for my pride.
Now they look down from them offices
and try to tell me how to live my life.
World’ll call me the villain
just ‘cause I don’t lay downs and subscribe to their ideology.
[Refrain]
I’m a man in the cold, and the cold runs deep,
Ain’t nobody saving me.
You preach about love but you profit off me,
Ain’t nobody saving me.
You make the rules, break the rules, smile on TV —
Ain’t nobody saving me.
[Verse 2 – “my body / your rules”]
They said, “Roll your sleeve up, boy,
take that needle, don’t complain.”
“If you don’t do what we tell you,
you can’t work, you can’t get paid.”
They said your body ain’t your body
when we might get afraid.
Same mouths turn around and shout,
“My body, my choice, my womb.”
Say life ain’t life ‘til they say it is,
and choice is holy in that room.
But when I said “my body, my choice,”
they tried to lock me out the room.
You tell me this is freedom?
You tell me this is fair?
You say “your safety over my body,”
then say “don’t you dare tell me what to do in there.”
Which law is real, baby —
or you just choose by who’s scared?
[Refrain]
I’m a man in the cold, and the cold runs deep,
Ain’t nobody saving me.
You talk rights, but you pick which bodies get to be free,
Ain’t nobody saving me.
You change the truth, change the rules, call that “equity,”
Ain’t nobody saving me.
[Verse 3 – cost]
See I ain’t crying for a handout,
I ain’t begging for a pass.
I just want one set of rules
that don’t bend around a delusion. Objective facts are real.
‘Cause you got saints in designer suits
and devils wearin’ masks.
They say men are the problem,
they say men had all the power.
But a man can lose his kids, lose his name,
and lose his freedom in an hour.
And if he speaks on it out loud,
they’ll say “fragile,” call him “coward” and try to cancel is mouth.
They sell you victimhood, darling,
like liquor in a paper bag.
Keep you drunk on being angry
while they plant another flag.
They get richer off division,
and we just choke on the rag. Sad, it’s time we fight back.
[Bridge - spoken over guitar / trumpet]
I ain’t your enemy, baby,
I ain’t your war machine.
I’m just tired of being guilty
for the things I ain’t even seen.
You say “silence is violence,”
‘til it’s your turn to come clean.
[Final Refrain]
I’m a man in the cold, and the cold runs deep,
Ain’t nobody saving me.
If truth don’t matter, then talk is cheap,
Ain’t nobody saving me.
If I gotta kneel just to get to eat —
Ain’t nobody saving me.
[Outro]
So I’ll bow my head to God,
‘cause I ain’t bowin’ down to you.
God- help these foos
CheckNate
