An Unknown [Bronze/Kevlaar] Assortment of Broken Down Lyrics..

"My people is ready, start strong-arming the wealthy"
-K7

With the mass global uprising going on today, October 15th 2011, I want to take a look at a joint from "Unbutton Ya Holsters" that exemplifies everything that's going on, the bubbling anger and upheaval.

This track is basically a preview to the full-scale revolutionary EP "Who Got the Camera?" that came soon afterwards. It's got a Rastafarian flavor, the beautiful chorus invoking Haile Selassie and the "Suns and Daughters of Jah" with extremely heavy drums and blaring chops. Lyrically it's a lot of raw emotion but I want to show how much meaning and intricacy is packed into these verses.

Suns and Daughters- Kevlaar 7 feat Bronze Nazareth
(Produced by Kevlaar 7)

[Kevlaar 7]
Verse 1:

We rest in halls/ walls built by Prophets
Markets overflowed/ with lies and false ballots

The first lines conjure the Egyptian pyramids within which prophets or Kings were buried inside halls. Kevlaar frequently uses Egyptian imagery (pyramids, kings, pharaohs) in songs and here he's bringing it into a reflection on today's world, a juxtaposition of past and present. At the same time, not only could those first lines be referencing Egypt but they can be seen to be describing a prison scene---surrounded by "walls built by profits" which ties in to the theme of the song. (The prison system in this country is a for-profit enterprise.)

The markets that are overflowed with lies is the fluctuating financial markets (also overflowing with debt) as well as the "market" that is the media itself, spreading lies (Fox News and the rest of mainstream media) while keeping the minds of the public flooded with bullshit presidential ballots, campaigns, etc that pretend to try to fix things. This is the brain rape that brought us Obama.

I think the word "markets" can also represent the pervading fakeness of the hip hop industry (another exploitative and prosperous big business) and then in that case the next lines could be "lies and false ballads."

Palate hit by bullets/ pull it/ think twice
Pamphlets offer templates/ delayed thoughts are spliced

Not totally sure what the first line is saying but my guess is that it's a description of stress similar to the "raining grenades" and "storming javelins" in Tarantula's Web. He's summing up the reaction to this world with its overflowing markets of deception. "Palate hit by bullets" can mean one's taste is being sickened by all the bullshit in the air or, when considering the whole line, a homicidal or suicidal thought of putting a gun in somebody's (either your own or somebody else's) mouth, then the next lines "pull it, think twice" are saying pull the trigger, no wait, think twice about that.

There's a lot that's being said in just these two lines. This is what you frequently see with these guys, they can squeeze so much thought and meaning into a phrase, bar, or couplet. The second line is saying, after having reconsidered the violent reaction, to use "pamphlets" or written verses to offer positive "templates" for change. Notice then that the last part about "delayed thoughts" echoes "think twice" and concludes that we should all think twice before an initial violent response because "delayed thoughts are spliced"---meaning they lead to connection, union, building (see the definition of splice).

Advice is given/ by hood poets with wisdom
Living forced ways of life/ in time turned victims

This is the pamphlets, the underprivileged and oppressed "hood poets" delivering templates and advice from the bottom to the rest of the world who may not fully see what is going on. I saw this fact somewhere recently that in the year 1970 there were around 100,000 black men in prison; today there are well over 1 million. What's crazy is that it was in the 60s and 70s when blacks were supposedly being granted basic civil rights whereas today people pretend that we all enjoy the same freedoms.

Most black males in the United States are living in such a way that they're "forced" into violent or drug-riddled atmospheres until they inevitably "turn victims" to either death or the prison system. The prison complex, the justice system, etc. are a main aspect of this song.

System-atically/ I'ma rattle trees
And shake the snakes out/ Just like Sparks steak house

Intentions to rattle the snakes from out of the trees, conjuring the serpent in Genesis but also he ties it to the mob hit where John Gotti killed Gambino crime boss Paul Castellano at Spark's Steakhouse. The anger is growing like a volcano through this verse as you can tell and it hits a high point in the next line:

Douse nooses with gasoline/ it's payback
for 16th street Baptist scenes/ I'm sincere

16th Street Baptist church is a famous church in Birmingham, Alabama where a lot of Civil Rights leaders (including MLK) would gather and speak on things during the first half of the 20th century. In the midst of the Civil Rights movement in the 60s it was an important spot where meetings and rallies were held. On a Sunday morning in 1963, members of the Ku Klux Klan set up bombs in the church that exploded and murdered four young girls. It's incredible to think that such a blatant and violent act of terrorism doesn't garner the same type of vitriol our politicians and media aim at fabricated, exaggerated Muslim terrorists these days. While the Klan continues to flourish to this day and even hold public rallies.

Shed tears for Yvonne/ you and Malcolm's with God
Our war rages on/ Joy Road is the Audubon

According to Kevlaar, Yvonne is Malcolm X's sister who was a close family friend when Kevlaar and Bronze were growing up. He's saying the movement and the fight for freedom continues today despite the fact that so many blind people think everything is fine (and I keep stressing that particularly because of what Bill O'Reilly barked in an interview with Cornel West and Tavis Smiley--"don't gimme that black stuff"---as if to say that because we have a black president, the notion of oppression is an illusion, whereas the black president himself is an illusion).

Joy Road is referenced in a few songs, I believe it's the neighborhood in Detroit where the original Black Day in July recording studio was. He's saying that right here, right now the Audubon Ballroom essence is alive.

Iraq is Saigon/ and the Red white and blue's
the new Klan uniform/ bearer of bad news
I choose to teach the babies/ but maybe it's past noon
The moon is out/ with 9 planets in full bloom

Great conclusion to the first verse here. Just as he began the song by juxtaposing past and present, here he's saying that the Iraq War is another Vietnam War, and the red, white, blue is just a subterfuge for the Klan uniform, not only here but around the world as our military pillages countries.

"Bearer of bad news" he's bringing some ugly and controversial material to light but (and I'm guessing here) "it's past noon" meaning it's almost too late and shit is about to hit the fan (witness the new threat of World War 3 because of yet another fabricated terrorist plot), signified by an alignment of the planets. ("Planets in full bloom" is also a way to describe babies and children.)

The final lines about the planets or future generations leads into the chorus, the whole message of the song, "the Suns and Daughters of Jah."

Now Bronze has an interesting verse in which he details, in a cinematic way, the story behind him getting arrested and charged with murder and robbery. He mentioned this predicament briefly a couple times on The Great Migration on "Hear What I Say" and "The Pain" ("next thing I know, the Feds at the door/ for a robbery that happened back in 2000/ looking at 14 years in jailhousing").

In a pretty brief verse, he jumps between a bunch of different scenes to present the story. It starts out in some random person's house.

[Bronze Nazareth]
Verse 2:

Yo.. Lance was in the back room, watchin some old rap tunes
Clancy yelled "niggas is here!! Get the fuck-- move!!"
"Niggas I'm tryna break, the jakes got me
hey poppy, I need 2 things, tools to make the street ring"

It begins with some dude named Lance chilling out and watching some "old rap tunes" on TV when somebody busts into the house screaming. He's running from the jakes and demanding somebody hook him up with a gun. Now we get the background story:

He opened up on officers, lost his first born
shattered her ribs, he back at the crib, unnoticed

He had fired shots at police and in the midst of trading bullets his daughter got shot in the ribs and died. He managed to elude the cops and get back to "the crib."

Cops lost trace, I kinda look like him but anyway
I'm at the lab smokin'

The suspect managed to avoid the cops and now it's revealed the Bronze kinda looks like the guy but he's chillin at home doing his thing. (The scene parallels the opening of the verse with Lance chillin and watching TV.)

when Glo' came chokin in the room
I'm arrested in boxers watchin Apollo

"Glo" must be short for Gloria (just guessing, I might have heard the lyric wrong) and she bursts in crying, choking as Bronze is handcuffed and arrested right while he was just relaxing and watching "Showtime at the Apollo" (just like Lance was watching "old rap tunes" when somebody burst in at the beginning).

Detective Barlow said I murked two cops across the block, near Joy and Schafer
and robbed two stores later

They accuse Bronze of the crime which we hear more details about. The shooter not only lost his daughter but he killed two cops and then robbed two stores afterwards, and this is all being pinned on Bronze.

"Wait a minute, gimme a lawyer! Public defender, I'm broke as fuck!"
That's how we end up, repent what, so
let's jump off the bridge into the river, they setting me up

In this brief but eventful verse, through a personal story, he has summed up the criminal-justice system that Kevlaar rails about in the song. Bronze is getting fucked over, accused of a major crime that he didn't commit, and his best hope is a state-appointed public defender. In the stressful realization of the walls closing in, being set up with no way to fight back, he thinks about jumping off a bridge but then reconsiders (and this ties back to Kevlaar's line above "think twice"):

Life in a 6-by-9, shit ain't much different than my 9-to-5
I might survive...

He comes to the realization that serving life inside a 6-by-9 foot prison cell might not even be that different from being a free man and spending 9-to-5 as a slave. Great line.

[Kevlaar]
Verse 3:

My tomb is ready/ Empty the Serengeti

this seems to echo the Egyptian tomb image, the halls of pharaohs with "walls built by prophets" that open the first verse. The Serengetti is the northeastern region of Africa. Not sure what the full meaning of this line is.

My peoples is healthy/ start strong-arming the wealthy
Burning and looting/ heavy dilemmas and shooting
What's wrong with a takeover?/ U scared of a makeover?

In many ways this song is a preview to the "Who Got the Camera?" record. It's also a preview for the revolution we're witnessing now. He's explicitly calling for a full-scale uprising against the wealthy, a plea now shared by those in the Occupy Wall Street movement and its constellation of satellites. Thus far the dissent has been mostly peaceful but here Kevlaar is calling for a violent takeover and overthrowing of the ruthless oppressors in power. There are waves of emotion and anger throughout his two verses and yelling for "burning and looting, heavy dilemmas and shooting" is about as blatantly furious as this kind of music gets.

America did it/ My sentence/ the rape's over
Snatch that land and/ hand it over/ back to original
The world's not feeling you/ the people's not either
We caught a bad case of heated Kill Bush fever

Again, we see this exact kind of grievance reverberating throughout the entire world right now, especially here in the US: "Snatch that land and hand it over back to original, the world's not feeling you"

They keep us on corners/ with no job offers
Feed ya fam selling white/ next week meet the coroner

A concise description of the situation, the "forced ways of life" he mentioned in the 1st verse.

Sound familiar?/ they pre-cautions'll kill ya
It's a set up/ Ready to steady aim/ fuck, I'm fed up

Echoing Bronze's words "they setting me up" and the feeling of being trapped in and ready to fight back, so fed up that he's pondering steady sniper aims.

I'm set up in a wicker chair/ in my clutch a rifle and spear
I told you fake ass niggas/ I'm sincere

A classic line painting a famous image. He's envisioned in the same position as Huey P. Newton, the leader of the Black Panther movement, in this legendary photo from the 1960s:
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/k...8P6md2NQMX.jpg

In 1967 Newton had been involved in an altercation with two police officers, one of whom was killed. Despite no physical evidence (the whole story actually sounds much like the shooting Troy Davis was convicted of), he was convicted and went to prison. But there was a national uproar, "Free Huey" rallies occurred all over the country and in 1970 the conviction was reversed and a new trial set up. The case was dropped after two subsequent mistrials.

My heart echoes/ my seeds hopes and fears
I'm serious/ we got to rise from the ashes/ seen Cassius?

Poignant poetry, he worries for the life his offspring (Suns and Daughters) might have to live in the future within a world that can't seem to overcome its problems. We do need to rise up from the ashes, indeed, though I'm not sure if Cassius is referring to Cassius Clay (another prominent black figure of the late 60s) or Cassius the Roman Senator who organized the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar. I'm assuming it's referring to the former.

The 60s was an extremely turbulent era and the fact that many people are comparing the current uprising to that time period should show you just how serious and historic things are right now. While the Vietnam War was going on, young men were being drafted into the military and forced to fight (and die) in a war we didn't belong in. Professional boxer and world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali (formerly Cassius Clay) was drafted to the military but refused to join. "I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong... no Vietcong ever called me nigger" he said, echoing a sentiment shared by Malcolm X who had been saying that it's insane for black men to be out fighting millions of Vietnamese on the other side of the world when their real opponent and oppressor was right here in the US.

For avoiding the military and the War, Ali was arrested and even stripped of his boxing title and suspended as a boxer. He didn't fight again for four years as his case went through the courts, eventually winning an appeal with the Supreme Court.

People, Bronze told you how it happens
angles Barlow had, mad interrogation
they frame us for anything, we forced to let the shots ring
black steel and chaos on my mind, in a 6-by-9

To conclude, he draws attention back to the story told in Bronze's verse and the detective who was out to frame him for a murder/robbery. It ends with Kevlaar nearly losing his mind with violence and chaos, thoughts of overthrowing the system as he's envisioned now inside of the same 6-by-9 prison box that Bronze concluded his verse with.