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Color Lines (Prod. By AbJo)

from It Was Needed by YoAstrum

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about

This song came together after watching a video of two little boys on the STEVE HARVEY SHOW talk about how they wanted to be brothers. One white and one black.

My mom showed me the clip late at night while the instrumental was playing in the background. At the time in 2020, we were seeing more and more police brutality disproportionately affecting communities across the country. Seeing people who look like you or a family member be murdered by people sworn to protect over and over again was something I felt essential to speak on. All this happening at one time made me think of my own experiences and how when I was little me and first real friend resembled those 2 young boys in that video. Color Lines became an outlet for me to organize how I was feeling at that time and put it into words.

lyrics

I've been coloring out of the lines
since I was raising my hands
at gunpoint twice in my life
before even teenager damn
both times by cops while having clean record and
trauma was on a timeline before it hit your timeline man

momma, i thought we was born innocent?
dad can you tell me just how im so different?
grandma from the south but Harlem where she started the fam
reminded me, black boy dont u ever forget
gentrification is genocide of neighborhoods that we couldn't own
maybe only if it's the other skin tone
honestly on the other hand
I cant really speak for another man
when I was little my best friend went by the name Dan
different complexion
never noticed til society would try to force my hand
I'm not a fan of long division cause you know
the homies be the homies
so i close any divides
always my niggas, thats for life, thats no lie, get it right
we dont die we multiply
and i sure don't live for pretend
i mean i learnt most this of shit by the time i was 10
word to all men, amen, this the beginning of ending all that shit

for now still standing inside of this circle
like maestro
breaking all the cylces
bubba wallace
nascar, gas card
unlimited mileage nigga we can go far
i can ride my bike with no handlebars, still

BLACK PEOPLE DON'T CALL EACH OTHER COLORED, WHAT THE FUCK YOU REPRESENT
throwing in my 2 sense
we been to hell and back
singing songs of this land
crosses aint nothing but throwback lynchings
2020 and some scum of the earth still that wicked


now where the fuck they do that at
I ain't even see color, til mothafuckas brought it to me
pardon my tongue
FOR A LANGUAGE I DONT FUCKING KNOW
KNOW GOD IS LOVE AND ALL THAT WORKS AGAINST ME LET IT GO



breaking all these curses at heaven's gate
Harriet Tubman once walked through where niggas used to stay
Lawnside where I was at
the grass surely getting greener
passing through these train tracks
wait a minute bring it back
bring it back, bring it back

credits

from It Was Needed, track released December 8, 2021
Produced by AbJo
Written & Performed by YoAstrum
Mixed & Engineered by YoAstrum

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YoAstrum Jersey

YoAstrum is a rapper-singer songwriter hailing from New Jersey. The South Jersey native began during high school as a producer, however, began piecing his first songs together while living in Harlem, New York 2012. After a long hiatus gathering inspiration through life and his musical predecessors, he continues to create and share his perspective through an atmospheric feel and expressive lyrics. ... more

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