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"I Can't Breathe​.​"

from "I Can't Breathe​.​" (Single) by Rising Sun All Stars

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about

"I Can't Breathe" was written in the wake of recurring national tragedies. Recorded just a few feet from the scene of our personal friend Eric Garner's untimely death, the songs lyrics reflect both anger and sorrow, while the music carries the backbeat of our Staten Island roots.

All proceeds will be donated to the Garner family.

lyrics

<Verse 1> (Nenjah Nycist)
Dragging my feet through the ghetto
Busted ass Tims
ghostly pavement
The street is haunting
These Yups upping the rent
I can't with this shit
could never switch to Clark Kent
Air 'em out I gotta vent
Somebody mother in the street
Cursing her demons fiending
And she ain't got no teeth
Rather keep leaning
Because the drama that she in
Ain't far up outta reach
Some hit rock bottom
Problems they got 'em
health care is weak
All we get is a "sorry"
Hard to sleep
When these cops on the beat
Choking out motherfuckers that look like me
no mystery just misery
That change consist of me
Until I leave physically
It's 'bout time you niggaz mention me
Infatuated with making my latest the greatest in history
So when you play this envision me
In the desert with a mask and a guillotine
killing peasants by any means 
Got a fifth in the mezzanine
Steal the queen of my enemy
Gnaw the kitty I'm mini me bitch
Its the trinity bitch, motherfuck deputies 
Heckling cops like my record clean
Getting under they skin I'm leprosy
Stepping with weapons I reckon we
Should feel threatened but the lack of one
Is stressing ain't nothin pleasant
In my residency only thing setting me free is R.S.G

<Chorus> (Michael Costello)
In the city where they take no plea
Lord knows what they'll do to me
They speak in angry tongues as many men
But the devil makes his way in sin



<Verse 2> (Nenjah)
Family members need providing
I'm the only one who got em
So whatever you need I got 'em
I'm 9 to 5in, barely surviving
But the babies gotta eat
I'm no stranger to these streets
Everybody know me
I never start beef
Ain't no time for that to say the least
Everything is peace
Until the beast comes to steal my free
But today I can't let it be
Harass and threaten me
Fuck you mean?
I can't stand here I pay ya salary
Get the captain, lieutenant
Hold hold hold up let me finish
I ain't smoking weed or drinking Guinness
I'm standing here minding my business
You don't serve or protect
you pretendin'
You back down. I gotta appendix
To you, every man with my skin is
Supposed to be doing a sentence
Revolutionaries can't be politicians 
Rising Sun militia in fruition and thats the mission

<Bridge> (Ariana Smith)
God are you here, or have you gone?
I tried my prayers, tried singing my song
But
Sometimes it seems like
You don't know what's going on

<Chorus> X 1

<Verse 3/Outro> (M. Costello)
My god talks with a New York accent, and skips the bled truth, no predicate, auspicious with his absence and has since blacks, Spanish and Arabs been captured in calamity.

(Nenjah)
Statements rebuked
Leaders are mute
Propaganda is truth
Funds go to guns
Just shoot 
Murder a man and won't puke
Bullets whistle by the youth
Hit ya group
All for the love of the loot

(M. Costello)
With a crooked smile hiding still demeanor from the hilt/ they watched your god use his apathy and pity just to guilt/ Rid the still...of the cut... that the fiendish use/ force fed the hood guns and undercooked fast food 

(Nenjah)
America's nightmare
my race and my gender
Uncle Sam ain't no kin to
Me just my enemy
No guns no revolution
you ain't saying none
I'm a don to the dumb
Never succumb 

(M. Costello)
Fuck the cop that killed Eric
Fuck that stupid ass medic
And anyone that ain't said it
Fuck his underpaid brethren who abandon my city. 
They were sworn to protect it.

(Nenjah)
Now we got snipers on the roof, ready to shoot, stars in my boot,
rioters loot,
wires are loose
death is aloof
surrounded by troops
Overturned coupes
Explosions and nukes
We at war

credits

from "I Can't Breathe​.​" (Single), track released December 5, 2014
Lyrics written by Nenjah Nycist, Michael Costello & Ariana Smith
Music written by Gary Nieves Jr

Nenjah Nycist - Vocals/MC (verses)
Michael Costello - Vocals/MC (verse 3 & chorus)
Ariana Smith - Vocals (bridge)

Pat Nowak - Lead guitar
Dave Giordano - Rhythm Guitar
Gary Nieves Jr - Bass, additional fuzz guitar
AJ Pantaleo - Drums
Ruben Nieves - Additional Percussion

Chanting recorded August 23, 2014 @ the "We Will Not Go Back" march in Staten Island


Recorded and produced by Gary Nieves Jr @ Cobra Sun Studio in Staten Island, NY 10301

Copyright 2014 Rising Sun All Stars, all rights reserved

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Rising Sun All Stars Staten Island, New York

The Rising Sun All Stars are a hip hop music collective from Staten Island, New York.

From its inception, the group has consisted of a live band. The brainchild of Gary Nieves Jr (Redman, RZA, Joey Bada$$, Nicole Wray) their sound has gone through several iterations over the years, ranging from soulful R&B to gritty underground Hip Hop.
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