Trapped in the Cage

true stories.2005

My name is Big E from EP you might know me
On stage with the energy of poetry
Tlazokamatli Xochipilli for delivering
The gift flowing from me, the timing, the rhyming
Attacking my enemies like Huitzilopochtli
Written like the prophecy of 2012 AD
Leading my family to final victory- Mexica Tiahui
Got no clue to what I been saying
Then read up on your motherfuckin history
It just might be my f****n destiny
To be locked behind a penitentiary
My family history is etched in the cell
My family name is embedded in this hell, in the air
But I defy this reality, you ain’t gonna find me there
More like in school being lectured on my ethnicity
Xicano studies, got whitey telling me who I should be
At first it didn’t bother me, til he had the audacity
To talk about nuestra lucha, libertad y gente
Like we lacked ganas y intelligente
What you know about being a minority
What you know about being assumed guilty
What you know about paying for what was once free
What you know about honor, respect and loyalty
What you know about family, dignity and unity
Nothing cos we more than studies in anthropology
By nature we revolutionary, we visionaries
Realizing what we once owned, taking back what we are owed
From the cities to the villages, as citizens we the villains
But we just normal civilians up in the millions
Traveling around town to town in stolen cars
Nah f**k that, we’ll be in every other local bar
Spittin’ truths what’s written in our past
Warn the ignorant and negligent
That this is the last stand for the white house man
Cos damn man we takin back our f****n land
Aztlan, Anahuac where it all began
We gotta do this on our own man
We gotta get justice before we get peace man
Otherwise this kinda s**t ain’t gonna cease man
Run up in Congress and watch us on C-Span
Hold up the senator, make him s**t in his pants
When we demand reparations with a pistol to his nose
It sounds brutal, but that’s the way it goes
Cos violence is the only thing they know
Welcome to the way of life on my calle pinche puto
Central side of El Chuco, Tularosa Ave
Where beer, whiskey and s****y tittie bars is all we have
It ain’t pretty but there’s one in every city, look all over the map
Where crazy gangs bang for crazy things, a nick of dank
Walking tall on a plank with a shank after so many drinks,
Can barely think, it’s like you gotta get the real enemy
You know, dem boys in blue who specialize in brutality
Who make mothers cry when they children die
At the hands of the state when we stay out late
This s**t happens everyday, that’s why we livin day to day.

Like being trapped in a cage tryin to get by
I’m 25 years of age, this is my life
Working for minimum wage, I’m a slave to the grind
Expressing my rage poetically in rhyme
Words come alive from the page to the stage

I got harassed a couple weeks ago
By police in unmarked vehicles
Told me we’d like to meet with you
You write them poems, we got beef with you
So they cuffed me up, said they were gonna lock me up
Threatened to smack me up, but I didn’t let them crack me up
Didn’t have anybody to back me up
Where the f**k you at, thought you had my back
Through thick and thin, you supposed to be my friend ‘til the end
Or did those promises blow with the wind
See where I’m from, honor is all a man got
Even if he got shot, caught, it’s all about how he fought
To maintain his family and dignity
What you know about the running,
The stressing, the gunning, the weapons,
The rules, the guessing,
The jewels, the lessons,
The pretending to be who we see on the TV,
The dream to leave, the slap by reality,
The cops, the shots, the crack, the pot,
The laying low when s**t gets hot,
The hunger, the pain, the loses, the gains,
The buses, the trains, the hustling, the games,
The perfection of your art, the dedication of your heart,
The funerals, rosarios, life in the barrio,
The crying, the dying, the lying, the trying,
The love, the hugs, the thugs,
The drugs you need when things fall apart
See, this is who I motherfucking be
Stay arrest-free, yelling f**k the police
Trying to get free from a system that’s so cancerous
Blaze up the cannabis is the only way I’m gonna get through this
These are my emotions; writing’s how I show it
So don’t call me no motherfucking poet
Cos my heart’s torn, watching this art form
Be performed by writers of wack poems with no platforms
Words fall out in flat form trying to show you all where I’m from
Do you understand, can you see how I became this man
Before your very eyes, how the world made me realize
The ones that love you the most will tell you nothing but lies
How everything’s fine just so you won’t see your mama cry
Late at night, questioning life, begging for Jesus Christ
Cos she could barely keep on the lights, cuts the wrist with a knife
Cos her perfect life never materialized, this is not what she had in mind
Three fulltime jobs but ain’t seen a dime, two baby boys but ain’t got the time
One chance to make it right, can’t give up the fight