North Philadelphia, North Minneapolis

Song: North Philadelphia, North Minneapolis

Album: Breathing Without A Pulse

Artist: The Blend

Written by Toussaint Morrison

Released December 6, 2011

ref: http://theblendmusic.bandcamp.com/track/north-philadelphia-north-minneapolis

Runnin’ like a parkin’ meter on its last minute

At the point ya just can’t tell how much is left in it

You could run this village down to the grain

Tie it up in handcuffs, but the color doesn’t fade

Or answer to your highness, lights and sirens

Drillin’ the surface to find another Osiris

Criminal minded or survivalist

This ain’t the East, South, West or North side of it

This is just lopsided math

This is the other side of the badge

This is the other side of the badge

I said this is the other side of the badge

Your lieutenant gots a band vendetta

Slams the office door twice a mornin’, I think he’s fed up

Rookies on the squad just don’t seem to let up

And the DA’s back on the bottle with Celexa

Shoot’s the afternoon at the range with a Stella

Kill’s a few brain cells, drains the beretta

Tries to forget it, so goes the city

Ghetto gorgeous, but ain’t a damn thing pretty

So enormous that can’t a damn frame fit it

Some try and hold it, but they can’t lift

Threatenin’ to jump off the curb again

Shiiiit, it ain’t nothin’ but an urban ledge- it goes

Church is closed and the time for prayer is over

Brother, I don’t understand what ya waitin’ for

They gonna reach for their piece ‘for your reachin’ Jesus

Your lord ain’t the one in charge

Ooooooh, yes it’s on

It’s all about what ya can’t afford

This is survivin’

My, my, my

Born unadorned, against the wall, underneath a storm

Baby, don’t blame nobody for defendin’ what they call home

Holdin’ a gun up against the law

So, it goes simple

As full names and info get blown, exposed and swindled

Through the wire shootin’ fire, barterin’ with souls

Makes me wanna throw the fuckin’ kitchen sink out the window

Still in limbo, they’re still on patrol

You’re in the middle of a building tryin’ to build a home

And it’s irony entirely the building is owned

You’re doin’ everything you can between a ceiling and floor

Maybe home isn’t the place to bleed the cash just to sleep in

Dreamin’ of just the feelin’ to walk the kingdom

Maybe it’s the hole in the floor you wake up to and ask the question,

“Where the hell’s it all headed?

How much longer can we walk in this war without sweatin’,

Holdin’ a weapon as our only leverage?”

Our chest’s holdin’ our hearts in a deadlift

No objective- Just death and acceptance

Either your patience is runnin’ paper thin with rough edges

Or life is just a rough draft without the edit

Whatever. Kids are gettin’ shot before high school

A low-income life lost, but what was it to you?

What was it to you?

What was it to you?

What was it to you?

What was it to you?

What was it to you?

What was it to you?

-

Chorus

I’m walkin’ twilight

In a blind fight

Might be your law

But it ain’t mine

-

Eric Floyd seemed to got the drop on your boys

You say he better run, but runnin’ ain’t a choice

Get smart, drop the gun, let’em claim a coward

This side of the equation been runnin’ since the Mayflower

Nobody ain’t about to wait for your approval

Before they wipe the slate clean with blue stain removal

One cop, two cop, three cop, four cop

Got the whole squad kickin’ in the door knob

We say “hold up” to make time stretch

Countin’ cash or countin’ on a blind guess

Subsidized housin’, but it’s still high rent

Payments of innocence, time- payin’ with debt

Payin’ with childhoods, daylight, spray paint and sweat

Payin’ to death, but still paid no respect

Ghetto war veterans sittin’ still

Either waitin for a bus, or waitin’ for a miracle

I can hear the shrills, the prayers, affirmations

The conflict of stoplights and tires against the pavement

Broken safe nets and morals

Where no grand jury can tell between the Joes and the Cobras

Lock our hopes up, but we keep alive yet

For runnin’ so much you’d think we were destined for flyin’

Findin’ peace in a losin’ game

Believin’ in the water in a city of loose flames

Chorus

Know Me Now

Song: Know Me Now

Album: Breathing Without A Pulse

Artist: The Blend

Written by Toussaint Morrison

Released December 6, 2011

ref: http://theblendmusic.bandcamp.com/track/know-me-now

What it is- what it do-

What it ain’t- ‘sup to you

What’s the point and the proof-

Give’em hell- make’em move

Make’em run- make’em fly-

Make’em fall out the sky

Make’em love- make’em fight- yeaaaaaahhhhh

This ain’t a game y ou could play

This ain’t a face you can paint

This ain’t a style you can take

This ain’t ya savin’ grace

I don’t care

I don’t care

I don’t care if you don’t care

Snatch your life and sunshine out the air

-

Chorus

I get it now

I get it now

What goes down comes back up

See me smile, while on the ground

‘Cos this is far from done

-

All the king’s men and king’s sweat

Couldn’t hold a sparkler to my set

You don’t wanna mess

With a mess

Ain’t afraid of ya name

Ain’t afraid of ya flame

Consequence ain’t a thang-

Yeeeeaaaaaahhhh

Paint it white, red, blue, black, pink

Color of the feelin’ and the empty space inbetween

What it seems

What it seems

May not be what it seems

Snatch your life and your rainbows

Out your dreams

Chorus

See the shine glow from a broken light bulb

See the grass grow from the cracks in sidewalks

Got a problem, and I don’t want to fix it

Nothin’ wrong with nothin’ that’s right with this

See the shine glow from a broken light bulb

See the grass grow from the cracks in sidewalks

Got a problem, and I don’t want to fix it

Nothin’ wrong with nothin’ that’s right with this

Know me now

Know me now

Know me now

Know me now

Keep it cool- keep it calm-

Keep it true- keep it on-

Keep it you- keep it comin’-

Keep it tall

Are you sure why you came

Are you sure what’s at stake

You’re ‘bout two words away

From settin’ off the flames

Seen’em come- seen’em go-

Seen’em jump- seen’em float-

Seen’em sink rock bottom

In a good boat

Can’t complain if ya take

Half ya gave-

Ain’t got time to feel shame

For a couple rules and heads ya break

Chorus

Wish You Would

Song: Wish You Would

Album: Breathing Without A Pulse

Artist: The Blend

Written by Toussaint Morrison

Released December 6, 2011

ref: http://theblendmusic.bandcamp.com/track/wish-you-would

I told her I wanna feel the gravity against my shoulders

Enough to leave a footprint on the street corner

I want my old heart stitched in over the old scars

And wage war with the night until the streetlights go dark

Came to a quick death from a slow start

Once my mornin’ sun, now my old spark

Somehow we still connect ‘cos I guess she’s knows me best

Not ‘cos she’s from Minneapolis or the fact that she’s my ex

Maybe it’s because we can reinvent what’s left

Of good things lost to senseless arguments

Like our parents- Now that it’s done, it’s all fairness

Whether or not the past is apparent

I would call her queen, but I don’t wanna give her that upper-grip

Seein’ the coffeeshop’s the only place we co-exist

We know the script, but improve communication

Like free-versin’ over Thelonius and Miles Davis

She doesn’t need the ground ‘cos she’s her own foundation

And she holds her people down like cigarettes and conversation

As we sit, once again, caffeinated at a table

Gazin’ aimless and unable to explain

-

Chorus

How I’m starin’ at heaven, but I’m feelin’ like hell

Standin’ on earth under the same spell

She’s beautiful as the Boston Commons

Can’t ya tell, can’t ya tell

Queen without a crowd and she’s queen without

And when she leaves me, she leaves me without

Beautiful as she is honest

Can’t ya tell, can’t ya tell

-

It was a good lookin’ guy with a good lookin’ gal

Walkin’ down the street singin’ “Can’t Ya Tell”

They hold together like this moment almost never came

And coulda swore that they would first wither and fade

Together again, and not because it’s usual

But because it feels like they’re swing dancin’ to a musical

With traffic so immovable it’s singin’ in the streets

And homeless hands on drums somehow supply the beat

And they’re happy- and maybe that’s all you really need

Along with groceries, house keys, bicycles and coffee

Anything to keep you movin’ through this Rubic’s Cube

Like watchin’ these two give words commute with undisputable truth

She tells him when I look at you I wanna carve your name in my skin

So when I lose my mind, I’ll never forget

Y’see both her parents are schizophrenic

And in the natural selection of genetics, she’s next to get it

So as the chemicals in her brain begin to twist

The subtle details of reality, her brain begins to miss

Her pragmatic castle shattered broken

Fragments of rational thought float in an ocean of serotonin

Like scattered branches skatin’ the surface of Lake Huron

Retracin’ a path against the current of neurons

Dismembered memories of how she once held him

Standin’ like a tree beneath her cerebellum

And crazy goes hand-in-hand with “I love you”

They don’t take sane for granted because taking leads to trouble

They breathe with ease and pace like a city breeze

If they can handle schizophrenia then I can handle coffee

And now my heart’s offbeat from the music outside

She’s shootin’ me down with those brown eyes

Had no clue I was fallin’ ‘til ya cut me

There’s nothin’ left, but to smile and just breathe

Chorus

She doesn’t have a cuss jar, she has a bottle of Jack

And she can walkaway from a car wreck and not look back

They call her crazy because they’re afraid of her confidence

And she never says maybe ‘cos she’d rather move on with it

Her lawlessness is her common sense

Gravity gets lost when her sanity walks off the cliff

And I’ve been to the bottom with her

She sacrificed her mind climbin’ out instead’a me havin’ to help to lift her

Break-ups aren’t convenient as relationships

And she’s mastered the art of not taken shit

Weathered by disappointments and bad boyfriends

She bends for no one, her back is jointless

And her spine, like the pillar of the Ottoman Empire

Can split a smile while her eyes set fire

An uncommon goddess, unattainable as the wind

Speaks her words like a promise, not a thang to gain or give

Wields her fists like bricks, gunshots don’t make her flinch

Eyes that hath no end, I never know where to begin

III (The Third)

Song: III (The Third)

Album: Breathing Without A Pulse

Artist: The Blend

Written by Toussaint Morrison

Released December 6, 2011

ref: http://theblendmusic.bandcamp.com/track/iii

Joe Sodd the third

Couldn’t get it out my head, or get it off my chest, so I wrote it on my shirt

It’s kinda funny bein’ human nowadays,

I can feel the minutes swimmin’ relay races through my veins, but

If death wants to flirt

She can find me at Sadies dancin’ with taxes and every other common curse

I cut the grin, she drops the smirk

We save the talk ‘cos we both know she’s crazy like a fox

And not worth a promise first if I can’t even promise earth

That I’ll be back every time my shoes lift off the dirt

Love your life and it’ll love you back… sure

I’ll hold to that as much as gravity’s just a word

Because to learn how to fly, you gotta learn how to fall

And if you can stick the landin’ then you can fool’em all

Y’see the queens in recess never needed kings or crowns

They could freeze tag a game of kickball because they owned the crowd

I outran the herd and only slowed down to walk my grandma to church

She tells me stories of family fire and madness

I tell her keep it real, she tells me keep it Irish Catholic

And it’s that quick between a woman’s Sunday best

And I kid tryin’ to tame a Sunday mess

In urban warfare courtin’ cold stares

And crotch grabbin’ but it doesn’t mean you’ve grown a pair

You’re only 1 in an equation of these avenues active factors

Building with addition by subtraction

Kacklackin’ contraptions, slightly shy of dien’ laughin’

Cryin’ and smiling; for the same moment passin’

-

CHORUS

Excuse me while I close my eyes

Turn off the headlights and blow through this stop sign

You wanna find out what’s meant to be

Well, let me show you how to let go of everything

Excuse me while I close my eyes

Turn off the headlights and blow through this stop sign

You wanna find out what’s meant to be

Well, let me show you how to let go of everything

-

His gun shook like his confidence when he told me hands up

While hip-hop was hand in hand with hip-hop in handcuffs

By then I’d had enough and let the hammer drop

Pulled the machine loose ‘cos Minneapolis or not

This town can catch fire for all I care

So put your cigarette lighters and spray cans in the air

This goes to those huffin’ happiness out the zip loc

For the fallen bridges a governor couldn’t lift up

This goes to those who’ve been to the bottom of the bag

And’ve been back to take another drag

See I can spell addiction with four letters

I’ll show you how, but you’ll have to pour another beverage

It gets worse just before the good weather

So, me laughin’ at the rain- that’s just for good measure

Sometimes ya grin just to look clever

And that’s ok, ‘cos I only do it when I’m outta leverage

Understand the circumstances won’t get acceptance

So if there’s any last bullets and words- how ‘bout you send’em

See we can stare and grin and countdown the seconds,

But even death in old westerns didn’t get a moment’s preface

So, by the time ya gotta call the New Avengers,

They’ll be shootin’ messages through the messengers

You never expected it’d all come back to par

And the balance would return like the Hulk from Sakaar

Well, I’m here. Listenin’ to the wind kiss the trees

Sometimes mistook for sewage flowin’ underneath the streets

In a blink of this war, I could’ve swore for sure

I saw Joe Sodd the Third bikin’ around the corner

CHORUS

Hello Joseph, today the summer sun was shinin’ bright

But somehow the city fell frozen

You can see the traffic weave and the stoplights change colors

But for what if the earth stop movin’

Somethin’ must be missin’, somethin’ must be missin’

Somethin’ must be missin’, somethin’ must be missin’

Somethin’ must be missin’, somethin’ must be missin’

Somethin’ must be missin’, somethin’ must be missin’

Somethin’ must be missin’, somethin’ must be missin’

Somethin’ must be missin’, somethin’ must be missin’

Somethin’ must be missin’, somethin’ must be missin’

Somethin’ must be missin’…