North Coast

Time rolls by, what have we built for the youth
Been so long, still searching for we roots
So much lies, make it hard to see the truth
On the North Coast, no need to brag and boast

North Coast
The land of snow mist, and polar drift
A nd some wish, and some pretend we didn't exist
Except in gangsta flicks, good sport for hicks
Flashback to whips, and lynch tactics, switched to electronics
Now that shit is slick, the image sinks into the mind
Disguised in sound bites, and shock headlines
So you remember, the intellect dismembered so no wonder
Hate runs deep like arctic ice in mid-December
In the glacier, the beast is sanctioned now to waste a brother
What's your reason? Reaction's why I hate you
Anti-hero, youth is lost up in the sub-zero
Politics corrupt as Nero, in two official lingos
I know you wish that I keep singing swing-low
That ain't my thing, though I'm like a lion, born free
Now my North Coast style's above a hundred odd degrees
About to catch a fire, melt down your deep freeze
Swift like Bailey, kid's deported daily who's fault for the rage?
They was born up in the tundra from small
And even if born here, passports will be revoked
When job's disappear the best of minds are still broke
And pride-choked, with each rejected application
i.e. fuck qualifications, act up like Six Nations
As you lay the ground for your own demise, brag and boast
I await your downfall, my time, North Coast

Time rolls by, what have we built for the youth
Been so long, still searching for we roots
So much lies, make it hard to see the truth
On the North Coast, no need to brag and boast

On cue it's the poet who can bring the pain
Recall centuries ago, my family used to cut your cane?
Infest your brain, with voodoo terrors you made profane
In your sick frame of mind, and the guilt still remains
I'm now your neighbor, but what high walls and dogs could save you?
A history of greed's revealed to investigators
Of the anti-conquistador, invaders cross Gibraltar
And overlords, never born to be a target for
The beast in blue, or stand accused in kangaroo court
Where inquisitors and grand wizards rule and hold forth
While in holding cells, and roach-infested stairwells
Rage swells and shines, in eyes of youths craving nines
And families are ripped apart with the intensity
Of another young baby mother in labor as she screams
In agony, another mouth to feed, How can it be?
More and more at food banks, one in four can't read
In a so-called first world society where economy
Is like Monopoly, with few equipped to play properly
And desperation takes the shape of lottery, astrology
In a crown colony, founded on felonies and robbery
The Arctic quadrant, where the blood turns cold
And bells toll at the sight of Ites worn by bold Black squadrons
Who look around and don't see any better place to go
For now we buckle down, stand our ground
North Coast, jus so you know

Time rolls by, what have we built for the youth?
Been so long, still searching for we roots
So much lies, make it hard to see the truth
On the North Coast, no need to brag and boast



copyright A. Bansfield, 2002