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Song for the Ocean

 

Yemaya

Madre del mar

Rock me in your arms

Rock me to sleep

With your songs of the deep

Take away all that brings harm

 

Yemaya

Madre del mar

Your shores we can’t replace

This life you renew

As we fall deep into

Your embrace

 

Baila baila baila con Ochun

Your tides caress my soul

Beneath the mantle of the moon

 

Vaya vaya vaya Olokun

As defenders of your waters

We cleanse the world with you

 

É Mama É Mama É

​

Yemaya 

Madre del mar

Wash away these tears

Why disrespect

All that we must protect

You’ve loved us all for years

 

Yemaya 

Madre del mar

We chant this chant for you

A beautiful tune

kiss the salt on your wounds

It can’t come too soon

 

I-Shea

tu fuerza me da 

resiliencia

me hace acordar

mi existencia

no puedo dudar 

que en tu belleza

me doy una limpieza

total  

 

Metete en olokun 

metete en olokun baby 

metete en abundancia 

que la banda no se va baby 

metete en olokun 

metete en olokun baby 

pa yemaya vamos a celebrar 

 

É Mama É  Mama É


Àgò l’ònà o ‘yá le

Àgò l’ònà o ‘yá le

‘Yá le ‘Yá lu ma o 

‘Yá lé

Omi ‘yá le

Ayaba omi o

 

Là ‘dì òkè. Là ‘dì òkè.

 

Òkè òkè, là ‘dì òkè

(òkè, là ‘dì o)

 

Nature’s law 

 

What’s that odd feeling in the air?

Seems like a change is everywhere

All you, hope for, all you fear

The time has come, you know a change is near

 

Every change, has a price to give

Ask now how you want to live

Lay down your ebbo on the ground

Set your compass, what was lost is found

 

New doors open into a new dawn 

The doors of what, once was are gone 

You feel it break, the past now outgrown

Now the only, law is nature’s own

 

Resonance

 

Listen

To the planet’s breathing rise and fall

Listen

To the resonance within us all

 

Let the rhythm wake you

dance and you’ll be whole

Leave despair behind, unwrap it from your soul

Fill the silence with your songs 

that ancient history foretold

An our heartbeat’s song unfold

​

Listen

Their whispers play upon the wind

Listen

Let them drum the echoes deep within

 

Let the rhythm wake you

dance and you’ll be whole

Leave distress behind, unwrap it from your soul

Hand in hand the land calls us

To our true nature to behold

As our heartbeat’s song unfold

 

Canta con TapRoots

Es una cosa diferente!
 

Cantamos con Elegua, 

Ochossi y Ogun

Y si quisieras ayuda con el amor

Cantamos para Oshun

 

Bailamos en un bembe para

Compasivo Obatala

si tu quieres conocer los misterios del mundo

ve a un babalawo, nada mas!

 

Canta con TapRoots

Es una cosa diferente!

​

Gumbo

 

Come into my kitchen

Sit round the table

It's a deep blend, this recipe

 

I hope that you’re hungry

and you’re willing and able

Breaking bread with a stranger 

makes them family

 

Pot likkin of greens

Another helping of rice and beans

Friends at the table you know who you are

Just a little more spice

This sofrito is paradise

Come on y’all let’s get together now

From near and from far

 

Mix up the flavors

The world’s wealth to behold

Where love sets the table, food is king

 

If hunger’s the best spice

And music’s food for the soul

Then this is for whose bread I eat

and all whose songs I sing

 

Pot likkin of greens

Another helping of rice and beans

Friends at the table you know who you are

Just a little more spice

This masala is paradise

Come on y’all let’s get together now

Step on up to the bar

 

We’re cooking up some Gumbo Gumbo

for the body soul and mind

We’re cooking up some Gumbo Gumbo

Such a heavenly mix

For all of humankind

​

Force:

It’s Force

I brought a cornucopia tryna cope with the

Notion it’s open season this soul food

I’m seasoning

Oh we goodie mob in the streets

Till finally we can feast or at least get our portion

I’m screaming bonapetit

 

Catalyst: 

Taste magnifique, 

delicious to say the least

When force and catalyst make mixture

to spice the speech

beasts when we on beats, 

like chefs wit recipes

Best believe, its homecooking wit all the flavor received

 

Force:

Still Most parlance is parfait

The hard truths of today

A bitter root to taste

A bit intuitive stew in this 

First class ingredients

The neediest are served first

Last (s)upper echelon

Crew ton of (crouton) pressure on

 

Catalyst:

Quick to prep it all, 

flow come wit the roux

Taproots we thick as thieves

so I break bread wit the crew

Culinary genius put my foot all in the food

Everytime we rhymin its like magic

when we mix the stew

 

Pot likkin of greens

Another helping of rice and beans

Friends at the table you know who you are

Just a little more spice

This harissa is paradise

Come on y’all let’s get together now

Everybody’s a star

 

We’re cooking up some Gumbo Gumbo

for the body soul and mind

We’re cooking up some Gumbo Gumbo

Such a heavenly mix

In our lives entwined

​

Forgotten Ghost

 

Who is the forgotten ghost

Who travels with you

Raise a toast

They’re waiting in the rain

Don’t just leave them outside

 

Who will come and make the most

And call ‘pon the

forgotten ghost

It's time to learn from those

Who live in memories

Long gone by 

​

Who will come and lift their prayers 

To Ones left out

Without a care

And bring into the light

All that’s been hidden in the shade

 

Stories told from coast to coast

To welcome the

Forgotten ghost

Ancient voices call us

Walking balanced on the blade 

​

Come bear witness to the rainfall

Feel your part within the whole

Seek your wisdom in the teachings told

Look deep within and call upon 

the memories in your blood

To guide you through tomorrow

___________________

Dance of the Forgotten Ghost

___________________

​

Who is the forgotten ghost

Who travels with you

Make the most

Of your time in this world

Listen to the songs around you

 

Songs of power, freedom’s cry 

Whose voices shake the earth and sky

On whose hands the woven strands

That braid our lives as one

We rely

​

​

Everything is Rumba

 

Everything is pandemic

Everything is alive

Everything is Moderna

Everything is survive

 

Everything is la rumba

Everything is lock-down

Everything zoom bombing

Every loss wears the crown 

 

Everything’s vaccination

Everything is AOC

Everything’s tiashpe 

Everything is Green New Deal

 

Everything is No Pipeline

Everything is Say Her Name

Everything a new dawn

Everything is just the same

​

Obatala

 

Ä– lú Obatalala

Ruling as the Sky Father

Ä– lú Obatalala

Creator of land and water

 

Obatala

 

Make your white and praise

Give thanks and praise

And praise the ways

For much brighter days

The light of bliss

The light of consciousness

Bodies of divinity

Bodies of purity

 

Protector of the most vulnerable

Father of the human race

And the most gentlest
 

Ä– lú ayé ‘mí ‘mò sÄ— o

Ä– lú ayé ‘mí Baba

 

Ä– lú ayé ‘mí ‘mò sÄ— o

Ä– lú ayé ‘mí Baba

 

Obàtálá ta wíniwíni

Sè ku’re

Gbogbo la nyá sè rere
 

sè rere Baba sè rere-o

Gbogbo la nyá sè rere

 

 

Ojalá

​

Ojalá que las hojas no te toquen el cuerpo

cuando caigan

Para que no las puedas convertir en cristal

Ojalá que la lluvia deje de ser milagro que baja por tu cuerpo

Ojalá que la luna pueda salir sin tí

Ojalá que la tierra no te bese los pasos

 

Ojalá se te acabe la mirada constante

La palabra precisa, la sonrisa perfecta

Ojalá pase algo que te borre de pronto

Una luz cegadora, un disparo de nieve

Ojalá por lo menos que me lleve la muerte

Para no verte tanto, para no verte siempre

En todos los segundos, en todas las visiones

Ojalá que no pueda tocarte ni en canciones

 

Ojalá que la aurora no de gritos

que caigan en mi espalda

Ojalá que tu nombre se le olvide a esa voz

Ojalá las paredes no retengan tu ruido

de camino cansado

Ojalá que el deseo se vaya tras de tí

A tu viejo gobierno, de difuntos y flores

 

Ojalá se te acabe la mirada constante

La palabra precisa, la sonrisa perfecta

Ojalá pase algo que te borre de pronto

Una luz cegadora, un disparo de nieve

Ojalá por lo menos que me lleve la muerte

Para no verte tanto, para no verte siempre

En todos los segundos, en todas las visiones

Ojalá que no pueda tocarte ni en canciones

Ojalá pase algo que te borre de pronto

Una luz cegadora, un disparo de nieve

Ojalá por lo menos que me lleve la muerte

Para no verte tanto, para no verte siempre en todos los segundos

En todas las visiones

Ojalá que no pueda tocarte ni en canciones

​
 

Remembering

​

Walking out that door

Will you bring Peace or war?

We all got to choose

 

Wide awake or numb

What will you become?

We all got to choose

 

From the day to night

Will you live wrong or right?

We all got to choose

 

With each waking breath

Do you want life or death?

We all got to choose

​

Every time 

you’re through that door

You decide

Who you are

Nothing more

We all got to choose

​

Build it up

Or tear it down

Will you crawl

In mud or 

Wear the crown

We all got to choose

​

Song for the Ocean (traditional)

 

(D)ibù, lóni èmi l’ówó

Èmí, YÄ—maya t(w)ìyá ‘re

 

(D)ibù, lóni èmi l’ówó

Èmí, YÄ—maya t(w)ìyá ‘re

 

Èmí t(w)ì ‘yá ‘re ilé t’ Olókun

Èmí t(w)ì ‘yá ‘re ilé t’ Olókun

 

(D)ibù, lóni

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Opening

 

Headed to the crossroads

Time to make a choice

Three dimes in my pocket

Casting shells to hear his voice

 

All crossroads are my temple

All doors my altar stone

Paradox my native tongue

Pour me rum to call me home

​

Every choice we make, new possibilities

As libations pour

Find the door

… to set you free
 

You are the beginning

And always at the end

Going backwards to go forwards

This tricky path will bend

 

I am every doorway

Each entrance a guessing game

Once you cross a threshold

LIfe will never be the same

​

Every choice we make, new possibilities

As libations pour

Find the door

… to set you free​

 

Everything

​

everything is darkness

everything is free

everything is river

everything’s memory

 

everything is ISIS

everything is breath

everything is Orisha

everything is death

 

Take a look about yourself

You’re a part of this song’s wealth

Close your eyes, the sounds you see

from me to you and you to we

hear your breath upon the wind

As the ageless cycle spins

know the love I sing is true

know this love from me is you

 

everything is Zami

everything is oak

everything’s vibration

everything is smoke

 

everything is reggae

everything’s possessed

everything is Obama

everything is blessed

​

Take a look about yourself

you’re a part of this song’s wealth

Close your eyes, the sounds you see

from me to you and you to we

hear your breath upon the wind

As the ageless cycle spins

know the love I sing is true

know this love from me is you

​

everything is everything

 

Truth and Lie

 

I hear you whisper

In the moonlight

In the twilight space of dreams

Your faces changing in the mirror

For nothing is as what it seems

​

Go into hiding in these dark times

And follow tracks across the sky

Run now deep into the forest

Where you can spread your wings and fly

​

Truth and the Lie

Walk the land together side by side

Truth and the Lie

From the two there’s no place you can hide

​

Truth and the Lie

Walk the land deceiving all mankind

Truth and the Lie

Behind one the other you will find

 

Truth and the Lie

When we speak how do you know what’s true

Truth and the Lie

Can you tell me which face speaks to you?

​

patakin:

When Olofi created the world

he made it complete.

He may the day and he made the night.

He made good things and bad.

Olofi made the Truth and also made the Lie.

He made the Truth beautiful and strong.

The Lie wasn't so pretty;

it was skinny and ugly, as if it were sick.

Olofi felt sorry for the Lie

and gave it a machete to defend itself with.

 

Time passed,

and everyone wanted to walk with the Truth.

No one wanted to walk the Lie.

 

One day, the Truth and the Lie

came across each other upon the road

and like enemies, they began to fight.

The Truth was stronger,

but the Lie had the machete that Olofi gave it

and when the Truth wasn't looking, the Lie

- soc! -

cut off the head of the Truth.

So the Truth had no eyes, no head.

And with its hands it looked

and looked for its head.

It eventually touched the head of the Lie

so … it wrenched off the Lie’s head

and put it where it's own head belonged.

 

Ever since, the Truth has walked the world deceiving all people.

 

The body of the Truth with the head of the Lie.

​

Walk Lightly 'Pon The Land

 

As I walk these roads alone this sleepless night

I feel you close, right next to me

You are my breath, my life,

my comfort in this world

The hurt I caused I could not see

 

We should not wait

the day the rivers all run dry

The coasts are lost into the sea

She cries for you to fight

instead of walking by

Our survival is ecology

​

Trod lightly ‘pon the land

The hurricane is coming

Trod lightly ‘pon the land

The wild fires glow

Trod lightly ‘pon the land

The oceans are uprising

Trod lightly ‘pon the land

or reap the seeds you sow

​

Force:

Every step I take

and breathe 

It stings

it seems the seasons longer 

See the conquerors

the ones who write the history

The mystery is this

how'd we miss the signs 

Amidst the rising falling,

call it tides (tied)

 rope provided by on high 

Hanging dry your eyes it's dire times 

The dialect selected 

Natural progression

precipice

I'm pressed against it 

Present tense the President

convinced the climate isn't climbing

I'm inclined to jest but just can't justify

or find a way to tie rants (tyrants) in.

Flint's flooded in lead pipe lines

government spending instead 

Incentives are giving for companies drilling 

Building a wall

when all is said and done

nowhere left to run and hide

seek the meek shall inherit what we reap so (sow....)

​

Hallowed Ground

 

This is the new Jim Crow

The ballot box filled with strange fruit

One of these mornings

you may find your brothers and sisters gone

Who’ll be there when they come for you?

 

The hills will sing our songs

But is anyone there to hear their sound?

so what you gon’ do?

(Your silence won’t protect you)

Plant your feet on hallowed ground

 

Hands Up

​

Here we are

Another mother’s boy

died in the streets today

By the hands of the man

who swore to serve and protect

 

Just in the park with a toy

It ain't no game we play

It's a two-way street

to live with love and respect

 

Put your hands up if you stand with us today

Against the hateful and corrupt

If you fight for the right of all to live free of strife

So march with us, put your hands up

 

Another senseless shooting

fills my mind today

And the rage from the page of the sage

lights my soul on fire

 

They won't convict the criminals

in this tragedy

And our dreams are left to smolder

on the funeral pyre

 

Put your hands up if you stand with us today

And see we drink from the same cup

If you fight for the right of all to live free of strife

Come walk with us, put your hands up

​

Catalyst:

Hands up!

I'm still tryna understand what the man want

Black man livin like he in a manhunt

Cant wait for the system to man up

From a place where they wont come 

unless they roll up on you wit the big guns

Put ya team up inside the hand cuffs

Mama wishin that they would unhand us

Nappy hair dark skin they can't stand us

Stand up, fist up, lift up til my times up

Look like me get picked out the lineup 

I swear the times suck

Stuck, inside a mindset of racism 

 So take it til we make it need to break the schism 

Cant even give my son hope

for him to take wit him

Break system til my people ain't the worst victim 

Its all a downward spiral

When we don't want reform

we just wanna go viral

Don't know who to hold liable

Feels like a solution ain't viable

In the end we all people

Wit a mind and a heart to speak to 

Beat to police you look how they treat you 

 

We just wanna be equal!

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