Hip Hop Won't Save You (But anarchism might)

Everybody told me I was free. 

But how can that be
When every blade of grass
Every single tree
Is locked down
By the Leylines
We call property
Which separate the trailer parks
And the projects
From the suburban prosperity.
Which divide the malls and McMansions
From the broken down gas stations
that line every Detroit street.

But still, everybody told me I was free.

Far as I can see
I've got the freedom of a patch of grass
Growin in a concrete sea -
But I can live in any state I choose
And can elect any man to be my president
As long as he is one of two
And maybe what freedom means to me
Just isn't what freedom means to you?

Because when I think of being free

I think of sheltered valleys
Lined by deciduous trees
In which every man can shape
His fate with his own two hands
Free from government eyes
And corporate lies -
The economic nooses
And police state abuses
Of an Empire in decline.

Why can't I see I'm free?

Once they said that all roads lead to Rome
But what about the Romans who knew
No road leads to home
They used to say
"Beware the Ides of March"
But now they know
It's a war of minds and hearts
Every CEO should remember
Tell their senators in the Ivory Tower
That when the Coliseum closed
It wasn't just the Vandals
Dragging the nobles out their homes.

And I'm sure, everyone told them they were free,
But I guess we'll have to disagree to agree -
Because as far as I can see
If you don't have bread, but still need to eat
Poverty is just a prettier word for slavery.