I Ain't Got An Answer - Propaganda, Sho Baraka

When it’s apparent that you have failed as a parent

Too busy tryna pay rent

Homie now what?

Long gone are the days

You ain’t takin yo little big head

To AYSO scrimmages no more

No football practice lil league movie nights no

You drive him too his cute little puppy love girlfriend’s doctor’s appointment

She got a date with the sonogram

Your boy is officially a statistic — now what?

Your lil man, He barely sproutin' peach fuzz

He wanna be just like you

He writes poetry

He feel kin to Buffalo soldiers you chuckle

We live in the Suburbs

I work too hard for you to not struggle

You don’t know what you talkin' about

You soon find that socio-economic status does nothing for a skin color

To them he just a well dressed coon whose parents got lucky

He’s the butt of subliminal jokes

Like his friends refer to rap as jungle jive

They see him and go «Yo homie yo!

That’s how ya’ll talk right?»

He’s checked out

He’s found other outlets

His good grades don’t fix his

Depraved brain

He believes the gospel of Young Money — huh, YOLO

Yo, and as your momma drops you off at the mall

Remember as you scope out them Dunks

That every bite you take of that number 1 Animal Style is a bite you stole from

your daughters tummy

Them Dunks is about a month’s worth of diapers and food you finna put on your

feet

Homie this is your fault

Your job

Your responsibility

Don’t get mad when momma won’t give you 20 bucks

It’s your turn, I don’t know what to tell you

I ain’t got an answer

I ain’t got an answer (x3)

When it’s apparent, that you have failed as a parent

Homie I ain’t got an answer

Man I ain’t got an answer

Homie I ain’t got an answer

I don’t know

It’s apparent sometimes I think I’ve failed as a parent

And my son having autism is rough

But maybe he don’t speak because words don’t say much

Maybe he don’t need words to communicate his love

And sometimes his silence causes me to stumble

It’s possible he’s a version of me that’s more humble

And I think my child finds more joy in playing with my phone

Playin' on his own

Will he shed a tear when I’m gone?

I’m wrestling with the shame of an outsider view of me

His life is a spotlight on my own insecurities

But I know his laugh, it lights up a thousand rooms

And when he speaks to me, it’s just like a flower blooms

This has just become my own digital diary

I’m at the doctor’s office just hoping they would lie to me

That my son would be alright

But if he’s not, my son would be alright because he is God’s

Autism, Sickle Cells, or Down Syndrome

Still keepin the faith in the midst of hard livin'

We stand together cause we have no other place to go

My son and I we live and fight even tho…

I ain’t got an answer (x3)

When it’s apparent, that you have failed as a parent

Homie I ain’t got an answer

Man I ain’t got an answer

Homie I ain’t got an answer

I don’t know

When it’s apparent that you have failed as a parent

You cancel a quinceanera, cause lil mamas finna be one

Scroll through your brains iPhone and unopened emails

How many daughters hugs did I not reply to?

You ain’t lyin to me I know that song that you sing

And that promise ring was real cute but it’s really for the parents

She ain’t savin it for marriage and never had plans to

She in a fetal position now carrying a fetus

Your worldview officially has left the philosophical

And is layin in your living room considering abortion

Them eighth grade boys is textin naked pictures of your daughter to each other

Now what?

And baby girl them is yo panties as his Facebook picture, now what?

This is your fault and I ain’t got an answer

Dad sit in it, soak in it, stew in It

You failed

Better get it together boy, she needs you more than ever

And I ain’t got an answer

It’s like that moment when you realize the pinnacle of modern psychology has

failed you

At the end of modern psychology homie.

All that junk, it fails

And yo little girl, yo little boy he ain’t the person you trained him to be

Look, I don’t know.

Man, I

Don’t know, I don’t know the answer.

Sho, you know?

(Nah homie, I ain’t got an

answer.)

Homie look all that stuff we gotta get our heads outs the sand homie

Life is happenin with our children

Look I’m not the answer, this album, this song, these records they ain’t yo

answer.

I don’t know the answer

But I know, I know who got the answer.

And let’s all point to the savior

together boy!

Look I ain’t perfect — neither is you.

But let’s look to the man

that knows it.

I’ll walk with you boy I promise you

Pray for me, I’ll pray for you

Let’s raise our kids boy, we don’t have to many models out there

I know like you know Let’s set a new standard for fathers

Let’s be there for our kids