The Lynchings In Duluth

Song: The Lynchings In Duluth

Album: [Bonus Track] Toussaint Morrison Is Not My Boyfriend

Artist: Toussaint Morrison

Written by Toussaint Morrison

Released August 28, 2012

ref: https://soundcloud.com/toussaint-morrison/the-lynchings-in-duluth

June 14^th, 1920

I guess you can’t say that you couldn’t see it comin’

Irene just turned nineteen

On her way to the circus on a Red Summer’s eve

In a small northern town by the name of Duluth

Mostly white, then- Mostly white, now. Truth.

After the show Irene ran to the cops

Said she’d been raped by 6 negroes behind the big top

The city lined up one-hundred and fifty

Of the circus workers Irene saw that evening

She picked out six, they hauled’em downtown

And lynched three of’em to an all-white crowd

They hung’em high, they watched’em die

The physician couldn’t find any signs

On Irene’s body of assault or rape

It gets worse, pass me a drink

-

Chorus

Who am I to you in any light?

Everything prologued to now, and this shit still ain’t right.

Act like you figured it out to help you sleep at night.

I wish Malcolm were around…

Our work’s never done

-

Somebody overheard police chief John Murphy

Say he’s gonna run every negro outta town

So, they fired all the black people from the circus-

Well, fast forward to right now

Minnesota’s number one in racial disparity

The schools have gotten so bad it’s embarrassing

For every twenty-some people of color to get pulled over

One white person gets the same hold up

It’s beyond words, honestly I’m all nerves

In case of emergency, I question who to call first

What’s worst: the discussion’s gone mute

Time passin’ is like an excuse to act aloof

Confrontation turned to Minnesota Nice

And we don’t talk about it ‘til it hits the headlines

No coverage on the Minneapolis northside

When they let the Metro Gang Task Force ride

Yeah, the future’s at stake,

Less than half of these students of color will graduate

They’ll gentrify the hood before they renovate

It gets worse, pass me a drink.

Chorus

They shot Fong Lee, they tazed Quincy Smith

The beat Darrel Jenkins and one out of three lived

I got homies on the force I trust on or off it

But you couldn’t pay me to buy the system’s promise

Some are born on third base, some are born on home plate

Some are born in a homeless shelter

Either you say “Fuck this game”

Or you play with what they dealt ya.

Good talk

Chorus

Lithium

Song: Lithium

Album: [Bonus Track] Toussaint Morrison Is Not My Boyfriend

Artist: Toussaint Morrison

Written by Toussaint Morrison

Released August 28, 2012

ref: https://soundcloud.com/toussaint-morrison/toussaint-morrison-lithium

If I close my eyes it won’t be for sleep

If I come back, it won’t be for peace

My brother Steve asked me how you hustle harder without gettin’ your hands dirty

I told him “I don’t know, I haven’t planned past thirty”

I courted Death herself, we’re past flirtin’

But told her I can’t go Thanos or mass murder

It’s easy to see hype’s a fast worker

When the audience can’t see past the curtain

Suicide’s on the same side of certain

The only difference is the other doesn’t plan further

I stand firm in the pasture of last worders,

Anticipating fellow working-class servers to go berserker

Table turn the burners, state it firm with purpose

And give it to’em with a vengeance in a whirling durbish

Black everything, black Jack Purcells

A half-a-step away from goin’ Josy Wales

The liquor store turned holy grail

In a middle class heaven built on a homeless hell

And I’m headed to the bar to write, café’s closed

I don’t mind the pub coffee tastin’ luke warm and sinful

I sip slow, they say the end is close

I tell’em what’s the hold up, somebody get it goin’

I got peeps on meth cos’ they can’t afford the heroin

Shin splints walkin’ up and down Lake st.

Rehab and roof, he doesn’t care for it

Smiles, and says he’ll kill a man to make ends meet

I smile back, cos’ it’s my only move

Who am I to keep him from takin’ a nap in a burning room

No one said you had to give a fuck

But don’t act like the gutter’s what you want

-

Chorus

If I close my eyes it won’t be for sleep

If I come back it won’t be for peace

I came to do what I came to do

And that ain’t to prove to the likes of you

-

Ashley says I have a dissociative disorder

I check out at the moment’s it’s most important

So, for now I’ll let crazy call me crazy

Give’er my name, and tell her “Google me, maybe”

Nothin’ short of lighting fires at the gas station

I can introduce to new methods of rehabilitation

Introduce you to the darkside of the darkside of makin’

Decisions that’ll resonate you long after you cremation

This is happening, there’s no damage controllin’ it

The diagnosis doesn’t match the dosage

Save your street credit, I work for the hopeless

Rock-bottom-state-of-mind rollin’ stoners

Turn the volume down and the noise to dead

I can hear you ‘less you speak over the voices in my head

You wanna chat about divine logic

First, explain to me 4-year olds on anti-psychotics

Chorus

Royce White

Song: Royce White

Album: [Bonus Track] Toussaint Morrison Is Not My Boyfriend

Artist: Toussaint Morrison

Written by Toussaint Morrison

Released August 28, 2012

ref: https://soundcloud.com/toussaint-morrison/royce-white

Real talk, hands down fists up

Black power to the people in the district

I’ma take it there, the place ya can’t go

Where they fight day to night, Ginu and Afro

My skin’s hardened, but I’m not six man

I speak a frequency similar to a low pitch blast

I’m the Avenger off screen you don’t see. Vision.

Get Milwaukee, go buck, go Bizzon

Feel it before your hear it, listen before you fear it

I’m in your city down your block and I ain’t even near

Been outta town cos’ that’s how I’m getting’ down

Gotta leave when you gotta breathe, fight for it or drown

Money underneath and on the table couldn’t pose a done deal

When your whole city’s talkin’ sideways and uphill

They sayin’ “I can only imagine how it must feel,

Born on the border”. The life of a Dunpeal

Either you run scared or come real in plain sight

I walked the opposite direction when they joined the flight

Had to leave town just to get my aim nice

It’s got me feelin’ like Royce White

Chorus

We got to- we got to- we got to

Find a way outta here

There must be- there must be- there must be

Some way outta here

Minneapolis- Mi- Minneapolis…

Raccoon City gritty, but I’m live on arrival

Even with no umbrella, the sound’s goin’ viral

Movin’ like a cyclone, coursin’ through your iPhone

It’s goin’ somethin’ like elections in Cairo

Unprecedented, for the people, for the rightful

We serfs in the streets like Teen Wolf and Styles

Hated, triple excommunicated

Hijackin’ your buzz bandwagon at the gas station

I ain’t waitin’, if I got the shot, I’m gonna take it

Worse that could happen is the press writes Nathan

I make no amends, the slate’s out my hands

You could clean it if you wanna, either way I ain’t goin’ to bed

I been packin’ for the road I have to answer

And the future that can’t happen ‘less I step from where I’m standin’

No goodbye, I’ll see ya soon. I made the choice tonight.

To relocate the faith, I’m on that Royce White

Chorus

I’m back to the future, while I got the present wrapped up

And soundin’ like Hall & Oates with Oakenfold and Daft Punk

They don’t want the conference, they want their stats up

I never played for less than the title of champion

You play the numbers, we play Cool Al Lover

And get Ravishing Rick Rude to your mother

It’s funny, I laugh it up while y’all can’t understand

The sponsor’s the only winner at the battle of the bands

Buzz all you want to, give it an updo

We ‘bout to run the school, you can keep the lunchroom

I’m used to the scrutiny I can’t avoid

Although it had me cursin’ at your writers worse than Will McAvoy

This city’s buried under 6 inches of cold blood

I’m goin’ 35 south and can only go up

They say I’m doin’ wrong, claimin’ I’m nothin’ nice

But I know I’m goin’ right, you know what it is

Chorus