⸻
HOOK (whispered, hypnotic)
I’m free… but my shadow still follows
I breathe… through the cracks of tomorrow
Who are you when the lights get low?
Who are you when nobody knows?
I’m free… I’m free…
Still asking me—who are you?
⸻
VERSE 1
Mirror talkin’, but it ain’t my face
Voice sound ancient, say “remember your place”
Mama stress, daddy gone, spirit raised me
Learned to read signs before they tried to cage me
Chains in the mind, not the wrists, that’s fact
They sold fear wholesale, I ain’t buyin’ that
Huey P. in the room when I think too hard
Fred Hampton whisper “feed the people, guard”
They don’t teach that part, they just show the clips
Erase the mind, then wonder why the body slip
Books got redacted, names stay shadowed
Truth get heavy when it ain’t been padded
Every martyr tried to free the block
Got labeled dangerous ‘cause they taught us how to think, not just how to talk
⸻
PRE-HOOK (spoken / doubled voice)
They killed the messengers…
then edited the message.
⸻
HOOK (full voice)
I’m free… but my shadow still follows
I breathe… through the cracks of tomorrow
Who are you when the lights get low?
Who are you when nobody knows?
I’m free… I’m free…
Still asking me—who are you?
⸻
VERSE 2
Assata runnin’ through my thoughts when I pace
Truth labeled “terror” when it don’t behave
Malcolm warned us ‘bout the smile and the knife
Media clean hands, dirty advice
They never talk Garvey when they talk success
Never talk Claudia when they talk progress
Erase Paul Robeson, mute the song
‘Cause a free Black mind make the system wrong
I ain’t conspiracy, I’m just well-read
History talk different when the dead ain’t dead
They live in the rhythm, the breath, the drum
Every time I say “I’m free,” they hum
BRIDGE (echo, almost sung)
If freedom was legal
Why they kill the teachers?
If truth was harmless
Why erase the preachers?
I stripped my name, stood in the flame
What survived is what I am
HOOK (half-time, darker)
I’m free… but my shadow still follows
I breathe… through the cracks of tomorrow
Who are you when the lights get low?
Who are you when nobody knows?
I’m free… I’m free…
Still asking me—who are you?
OUTRO (whisper → spoken)
They don’t talk about them…
‘cause if you heard them clearly,
you wouldn’t be asking permission to be free.
