In the efforts of challenging myself, I challenge those I admire and respect. In the efforts of challenging hip-hop, I challenge the message. This is about accountability and love for the genre as well as the people. It is not enough to highlight lack and suffering, we are responsible to offer solutions to alleviate suffering and countering lack with the abundance of hope.

Sojari- Uncontrolled Verse (Inspired Response)

in dedication...#thefeels

Erykah Badu "Didn't Cha Know" Remix

The Way You Feel (dedicated to a Queen)

Honey (Remix)

Temple

Got this 
worship song 
engraved at the helm 
of my mouth
my mouth
my mouth

praying that love
and victory    
will come out
only 
come out  

(yeah)

got a heart full of prose
like gold an overflow
to spill out
spill out
spill out

(yeah)

Cuz I’ve spent too long
Fightin my fears and my doubts
My doubts 
My doubts
My doooubts yeeaaaah

Cuz  this body is a temple
(yeah)
Not an apology
(No)
And I am ready 
To unleash 
What’s inside of me
(yeeeeeah)

Like this poetry, this singing, and this emceeing
Yeeeaaah

Gold all in my heart, my heart
Praise all in my thought, my thought
Gold all in my heart, my heart
Praise all in my thought, my thought
Don’t believe me just watch, don’t believe me just watch (x2)

Lyrics © Sojari 2013 
Instrumental: Schoolboy Q "Yay Yay"

Temple 1/30

The closest I've ever written about being in love...

I dream of Cleopatra(s)


At times
Silence has served as a sanctuary 
To memory 
I’ve constructed whole monuments
From breath, eyes, and memory alone
Countless nights, lifting hands
To form the mortar and brick 
Of my love and my loss
Like pyramids dedicated to 
My Cleopatras 
Along a frank, ocean of tears
There is no denial in these rivers
Only life, resurrections, hints of 
Places where I have died and been 
born again

Lyrics/Poem © Sojari 2013
Instrumental: Teddy Bear by Elaquent 

I Dream of Cleopatra(s) 2/30

Kendrick Inspired (duh)

Lyrics © Sojari, 2013

Good Kids Mad Cities 3/30

thoughts conjured from the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's assanination 4/4/1968 

Bearing Crosses

Everybody wants to bear a crown
But its much harder to bear your cross x2

There are days 
Where a stage 
Reminds me of 
A Memphis Balcony
Days where I confuse 
Applause 
For bullets ricocheting
Off my body
In the tradition
of wise men & women
Who carried their faith
Inside carnivorous crowds 
Like Daniel did inside the lion’s den

 Too often 
Crowns and Crosses 
Are confused for 
One another 
Sacrifice should   
Never be considered 
Glamorous
The carving of martyr 
Out of hallowed bones
Should never be considered
fashionable

the day your mouth 
begins to resemble
a place where truth 
goes to die
like a mausoleum 
of praise meant 
for the walking dead 
is the day you 
have had hand 
in your own crucifixion
having auctioned 
off the best of yourself
for recognition instead

I do not suffer 
For reward 
But for the purpose 
Of bearing an inherited 
Burden 
That makes speaking 
Of love, equity, and justice 
A threat to those 
Who invest themselves 
In the game of thrones
I have no desire for titles 
Or precious medals 
Only to deconstruct 
Constructs of supremacy
With the power of the tongue

Lyrics/Poem © Sojari, 2013
Instrumental: Carlos Nino & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson: Nag Champa
MLK Jr. Speech: On Bearing the Cross

Bearing Crosses 5/30

a rendition of Bilal's Reminisce 

(Bilal has served as an inspiration for me for years) #RIPJDILLA

Just when I think I forgot to
I'm reminded of what you know you gotta do
Just when I think I forgot to, to
you gotta 
Run Your Race X2

In the midst of heartache 
and closing doors
My mission seemed 
very, very obscure
My vision of truth
shined
If only for a short time (yeah, yeah)
Feared my mistakes would cost me
years down the line

I reminisce 
On being the 1st born
2nd to everything 
To a mother,
Queen of insanity
And a father
Called Home
Before I ever 
Formed coherent 
Syllables
Remember my composition
The Intro to All That I Am
As scarred Love Poems

Grew up thinking 
My Loves for Sale
Any one willing to 
Pay attention
Was Someone,
& Something Worth Holding On To
told myself I did it
All for Love
That committing
Myself to the underserving
Would Make Me Over
Was fed on 
Sorrow, Tears, and Blood
A Sweet Sour Truth
I’d grown accustomed to

After a while,
I could no longer 
Keep my balance 
On faulty alters 
Could no longer 
Sacrifice the best of 
My fruit altered 
Into a flat palm wine 
Splattered against 
Crumbled shrines of false love
I prayed to like idols of an imagined God
It was when I could no longer block
Out the question, (Who Are You) that I began to Think It Over 

Now I find love Right At My Core
Can feel it flutter the depths of my belly
To the very edge of my throat 
Like butterflies scattered 
Across the fields of my being
No longer waiting, or succumbing
To the slipping away of things 
I am lost for now
In the climbing towards
The origin
Back to Love

Seems the effects of Love and Time
Taught me how to ge on by
Now all I do is seem to fly
All I do is seem to fly
Lyrics/Poem: © Sojari, 2013
Instrumental: Reminisce - J Dilla, Bilal