The Roots, Ursula Rucker - The Return To Innocence Lost

[00:04.15] (Ursula Rucker) [00:30.50] Muffled sound of fist on flesh [00:32.88] Blows to chest [00:33.84] No breath [00:34.50] Air gasps [00:36.03] You ain't nothing but white trash, bitch! [00:38.28] With each hit, each kick, each... broken rib [00:40.31] Crack, Crack! [00:41.46] Bones are crying [00:42.95] Mommy's crying and bleeding [00:44.66] And pleading [00:45.52] And then... [00:46.25] Daddy wants to fuck [00:47.83] Dick hard, swelled with power rush [00:50.52] And as if all that wasn't enough [00:52.44] Mommy's seven months heavy with birth [00:54.70] As... Daddy grunts and cursed drunk nothings in her bloodied ear [00:59.10] (Singing softly) [01:01.71] First... lullaby [01:03.32] First... Son... will... ever... hear [01:07.13] And never forget [01:15.69] Mommy almost bled to death when she have him... finally [01:19.58] She'd already lost... three [01:21.48] Uterus-bruised, shredded, and weak [01:23.75] >From being daily beat [01:25.10] And Friday nights were the worse and... [01:26.93] Daddy never came with flowers [01:29.74] Instead he spent hours at some corner spot [01:32.46] With some bar pop named Cookie [01:34.49] Putting his thing down [01:35.68] Soiling Mommy's sheets with... [01:37.20] Sweet... talk shit, [01:39.09] Cookie's cheap lipstick, [01:40.46] Hair grease, sperm, and jezebel juice [01:42.34] To hell with the good news that... [01:44.59] He was a father for the first time [01:47.09] His thirst for wine and women [01:48.43] Clouded his vision... [01:50.40] No warm welcome for mother and son [01:53.46] Just... [01:54.09] The rank smell of ass-crack, funk, and cum [01:56.97] But Mommy's prayerful strength-her best defense [01:59.39] She... burned the dirty linens [02:01.24] Made a fresh bed [02:02.70] Laid sleeping First Son down [02:05.41] And never made a sound [02:07.39] As she purged her scourge [02:08.62] With birth-blood and quiet tears [02:11.13] Watching as her fears and love and sacrifice [02:14.41] Lie there in his soft skin and new life [02:17.53] Breathing, dreaming, fresh from God's eye [02:20.65] Mommy's little survivor [02:22.30] Like... her [02:24.32] Mommy called crazy and scorned [02:27.12] 'Cuz she two more born [02:28.85] One boy soon after [02:30.13] The girl much later and... [02:31.47] Although they were both sung the same lullabies of hate [02:34.50] Her... First Son, the first one [02:36.99] Whose... womb-world was profaned [02:39.95] Came of age playing street games [02:42.08] With Stewie, Rezzie, and Little Brother [02:44.89] 'Till his heart start to wither [02:46.55] In pain and shame [02:48.44] Blamed Mom for the wrong she let Daddy do to her [02:52.24] And him... [02:53.14] Let... sins of the Father cause his Innocence to wander [02:56.04] Found out amongst thieves [02:57.98] Chose to squander his dreams [03:00.44] Stopped believing in himself [03:02.61] Become prodigal with his life [03:05.27] Make impossible shit right with... [03:07.32] Gang-ties, crime, lies [03:09.22] Erase wise, woeful words of Mother [03:12.54] Replaced them with absurdities of others [03:15.46] Who had also lost their way [03:19.67] Played a different kind of street game now [03:21.79] First Son plunged deep [03:23.28] Speak street-family vows [03:25.42] Espouse no causes but his own [03:27.42] See, he couldn't protect Mommy's neck from Daddy's grasp [03:30.78] Or... protect Mommy's ass from Daddy's wrath [03:33.78] Couldn't shield her ears from... [03:35.30] Daddy's foul-mouthed, liquor-breath jeers [03:38.80] His only defense-served be confidence [03:41.86] Brown bottles housed his swift descent [03:45.53] Phones called cops on block frequent for his shenanigans [03:49.66] Now... Daddy and him twins in addiction [03:52.92] Driven to false-hearted heavens and friends [03:55.75] By liquefied demons [03:58.85] Had become what he despised from Conception 'til End [04:02.68] Destined for a demise [04:04.97] Survived nine lives of staying high [04:08.56] Conning, jewelry-pawning, arrests, theft [04:11.57] Womanizing... only for money, never for sex [04:15.06] Bullet in chest, baseball bat to the head [04:17.72] Left for dead [04:19.41] So, eyes wide and glassy [04:22.15] Speech... slowed and slurred [04:24.35] Lips twitched with caked-up codeine candy [04:27.19] And mouth corners one December 24th [04:30.05] Mr. Hide and False Friend [04:33.19] Took final ride to suburban supplier [04:36.63] Shots were fired by the gray man [04:38.68] With shaky hand [04:40.24] But not shaky enough to miss... [04:42.38] Hit... Lost Boy in back [04:44.25] So-called Friend runs for door [04:46.93] Leaves First Son blood-born [04:49.37] Lying alone in blood on cold floor [04:53.27] Death was the cost of... [04:55.25] Returning to Innocence Lost... [04:59.66] Baby 'Sis awake for dawn on Christmas morn [05:06.47] To Mommy's sobs and shakes [05:08.95] Daddy's silhouettes of regret [05:10.66] All past, omitted, and absolved by lost [05:14.72] As they clung to each other [05:16.59] Knowing... [05:23.63]