Hope

While you were poppin champagne,
Celebrating defeat over John McCain,
I was laying in the blood stains,
Of another brother slain,
Waiting on those winds of change...
But nothing changed...
And...
...no one came...

In my mind I have lost the count of cops,
That have pushed my people from the mountain-top,
Where Dr. King had his dream,
and it seems like,
each night
is the same
is the same
is the same
black and white print
with different black and white names,
black on black crime
with different colors for each gang...
and if these sidewalks spoke
they would choke
on the blood
that floods these streets
and the stench of oppression laid beneath
these feet,
wheels, connect to stretchers,
bodies beneath each sheet
bodies beneath each sheet
bodies beneath each sheet.

Hope.
The one word we use to cope...
- the thought of a mother
as she walks around rope,
tape,
or chalk,
and stops at an
unmoving soul...
hoping
she doesn't know
who's son this is...
its the shooter's mind
hoping
the cops don't know
the gun is his...
its the victims last gasp
hoping God made his
lungs too big...
hoping...his lungs
hoping...
to take, only
one
more
breath...

This is the death...
of hope.
When the last tear
has turned from drop
to river
on a mother's cheek
and God has not delivered
a miracle...
When no number of tithes
allow a lost son to rise
like Lazarus upon the cries
of those around the casket,
someone has to ask it -
Where is it,
Where has it gone,
Where can I find it,
Where is this "hope"...

....And so I packed a bag,
with an apple and a jug
of water -
And I,
started walking.
I started walking,
and i was lonely, so i started talking
aloud,
First in a murmur, then boldly wondering how
I could possibly change the world now,
Because all my life I've been living in a cloud
Pretending to be oblivious to the world around
Following a crowd,
on a bridge to nowhere...
But tonight I choose not to go there.
Tonight I am finding
hope.
And as I chatted with myself,
A few bystanders questioned my health,
Some followed and asked if I needed help
in my quest.
"There is no time for rest" I declared,
And they stared, but followed,
curious to my destination,
wondering
with whom my conversation
was being held.
The crowd began to swell -
Hundreds turned to thousands
small
children pointed from windows
of public housing
watching with
strange delight
as night fell upon
the gathering.

I took the last bite of my apple
as the crowd slowed beside
a chapel
on the roadside.
"Its here", I whispered.

I fell to the ground,
blisters
on feet,
body scorched by the heat
of
still-air and travel.

The crowd was quiet.

"Why are we stopping", a woman cried
Thousands of people stood behind,
eyes
on me,
the sky was green
with moonlight.

I asked her where she intended to go,
and she spoke of
her family in Mexico,
Another man chimed, of how he wished
to climb
a mountain, to prove time had not
passed him by.
A young boy spoke of a school for art,
While his sister yearned to learn
how to heal the heart.

I lay there.
Saying nothing,
I felt a breeze
Splash against my back,
And I smiled...

This was hope.

The first step
and
The last step -
The feeling that what is
wanted,
Can be had.
The feeling as you close
Your eyes
That what happens next
Is for the best.

Hope is heaven.

-RUKUS copyright 2009

www.hiphopcritic.com (Under "Songs", 50: Rukus feat Sara S - Everyday)

Checkout "Beneath The Surface - Underground LP of the Year"
AND
Hip Hop Song of the Year (5)
http://www.bgdboom.com/search/label/Year%20In%20Review%20-%202008

Then checkout 81 here...
http://therapup.uproxx.com/2009/01/the-rap-ups-top-100-songs-of-2008-zip.htmlmore-10716

Its just a little encouragement...Thanks for all the support!  '09 is going to be MUCH bigger and better (both here and abroad)!

Luv y'all!
-ruk

Follow me:  www.twitter.com/rukuslive
The main site:   www.rukuslive.com
Cop the CD:  www.cdbaby.com/rukuslive2

Most of you know the story of Oscar Grant...if not here's a link to that:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/commuters-watch-as-cop-shoots-father/2009/01/12/1231608578976.html

The song on my page was written to Tatiana, Oscar's 4 year old daughter...
What would you say to a young girl who lost her father, but doesn't quite know what it means yet?  I just tried to write a letter that she might understand now or in a few years.
But its also for you guys...
The answer to violence is never violence.  We need to learn to appreciate the people that we have...take care of the kids that we have...love our significant others.  You never know when your time is, but if you love people like you would like to be loved then your legacy will be greater than you could ever imagine.

Such is the case with Oscar Grant.

You can do more though...go here:
http://www.racewire.org/archives/2009/01/5_things_you_can_do_right_now_1.html

Spread the word...
Peace and Godbless,
-ruk

Sup y'all,
For those of you who keep up with my music/page you may have noticed that I put up a new song entitled "Everyday"...the song is off my latest album "Can't Forget".

I can honestly say that this is my favorite song that I've EVER done.  Not my hardest spit, not my most lyrical, not my smoothest...but jusssst right (to me).

Will it play on the radio?  Maybe...maybe not.  Thats up to powers outside my control...God-willing though, but honestly in my heart it doesn't matter.  Its one of the best songs that I've made, and one of the best that I've heard this year because its 100% real...its 100% about everything that hiphop denies.  Its about what we turn a blind eye to...Its about the fact that black men don't take responsibility for their kids and that black women pull most of the weight in our race.  Its about the fact that black men are notorious for womanizing and not taking responsibility for the consequences of sex.  Its about all that without saying it...instead the song focuses on the power of the black woman in OVERCOMING all the obstacles set out in front of her...its about keeping hope alive in these poor economic times when it seems everyone is struggling.

So we'll see what happens with the song...you can't dance to it; you can't bounce to it; its not gangsta....but it makes you listen...and it makes you remember.

I hope everyone out there loves my favorite song the way I do...

(and if you do enjoy it cop the cd @ www.cdbaby.com/rukuslive2 or on iTunes by searching for "rukus cant forget")

Peace and Godbless,
-ruk

The John Mayer Project is a project that I worked on which basicaly fuses John Mayer's socially aware sounds with the youthfully charged street-savvy sounds of hiphop.  The project essentially "remixes" some of the more potent messages in Mayer's latest release Continuum (2006)

Please check out the music at www.myspace.com/thejohnmayerproject and let me know if you like what you hear.

Support real music...

-ruk

So put me on your ipod...here's the link so just click here and you're good to go:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=119612665

Thanks for the support!
-ruk