Where I’m from, people don’t call you by your first name.
They call you slim, shorty, mamã, baby, girl it’s all the same.
The women set you up, only to later tear you down
The men see you as a “sex symbol” instead of who you are:
“Young lady virtue in her prime
Don’t need no man to waste her time.

Time, where I’m from, stands unnaturally still
Unattractively appealed
To those who sit around and waste their god given skill
And still
Can’t make up their own minds
“Maybe my baby’s father will make it home on time”
This time
She won’t live that life full of crime
Put her in an environment where she can unwind
An environment where she can progress in
Until once again
Mama sees her same mistakes from back then

Where I’m from, the streets are paved with lost dreams
The people who live, never really lived
They make up excuses why they did what they did
“For my son, my daughter, my husband, my wife”
But in the true reality, they just afraid of equality.

Where I’m from, these twin houses stick together
Like my mother and four kids who got nothin’ but each other
She works indefinitely sellin’ her Mary Kay
‘Cause she knows we’ll all make it out…someday.
¬¬-Ashley Browning