A REVOLUTION RHYME
FOR THIS HISTORIC TIME

Read by Roosevelt, Revolution Club, Chicago; 
Music from Nas & Salaam Remi [© Columbia]

Some still think it’s smart
to act a fool,
with make-believe cool
to mock    
and stalk 
and kill each other,
using and abusing one another,
selling women, slanging dope,
chasing money, squashing hope
when what we really need is heart
to fight 
for what is right
and know
how to overthrow
that big-time enemy
that keeps us all from being free— 
this system, with its savage power,
keeps us down, makes life sour,
to hell with politicians posing as our “friends,”
with them this nightmare’s never gonna end;
or living dead who straight-up hate us,
twisted fascist zombie brains
prejudice makes them insane,
like orange head Donald Trump, 
that woman-hating racist chump.
And all those who want us dead, 
or living in constant dread,
down on our knees prayin
while they keep on slayin.
The police who slaughter, suffocate and smother,
then do it to another,
and smirk with the vicious grin 
when we kill each other again. 
With this shit
we're done, 
there’s nothin ever really won.
It’s time to quit.
Revenge that endless cycle,
kids can’t play or ride their bicycle.
So let’s go for the real solution,
get with the revcoms—revolution,
get thousands, then millions just like us,
don’t let the capitalist powers psych us,
get us making bad decisions,
when there’s the science, strategy and plan, 
leadership and vision
from, no lie, an old white man
BA, Bob Avakian,
he's for real, not fakin it,
revolutionary from the days with the Black Panthers,
he’s kept on, deeper, this whole time after.
There's a real chance coming to get free,
because those who rule us
are now at each other’s throats.
But will we dare to make the most
of this rare time we're living in?
It's harder now to fool us
with their talk of “democracy for all.”
Their system needs to fall.
We got the science to school us.
Their whole thing’s ripping apart,
but do we have the heart
to rise above this shit
and get ourselves fit
to do what cries out to be done,
with so much that could be won?
We need to get busy,
make the oppressors dizzy
as we get organized and ready
working steady
for the hour
to bring our power.
If you’re Black or Brown
or any other color,
show that you've got the valor,
the heart to fight
for what is really right.
Don’t listen to any mess
about going for something less
than bringing down
this system and the clowns
who front for it,
they’re not fit
to rule the earth,
their system’s worth
less than the foulest trash.
We need to smash 
it, break it apart 
heal the scars
from living how they’ve had us.
So join with the ones that next street over,
no more trying to blast us,
unite with people far and wide,
sisters, brothers,
all justice-lovers,
who can be on our side.
These capitalist oppressors, 
cold-blooded aggressors,
even with all their guns
the time has come
to work so we can put them on the run,
fighting together to put an end
to all their madness and begin
to make a world, a way
worth living, a new day,
a better way to be,
emancipation for humanity.

A REVOLUTION RHYME FOR THIS HISTORIC TIME by a Revcom poet, read by Roosevelt

ALL PLAYED OUT
Words by Bob Avakian
Music by William Parker
Centeringmusic BMI

Yoni Kretzmer, tenor sax
Ben Syversen, trumpet
Zhenya Strigalev, altosax
Drum track by Brian Forbes
William Parker, bass
Music and arrangements by William Parker

soundcloud.com/allplayedout
(CC) by-nc-nd


"All Played Out is a cathartic message by Bob Avakian who like all political strategists is a mover and thinker who is trying to shed some light on this fog of ignorance and gullibility, that is the backbone of our existence here in America. He is telling us that since 1492 when Christopher Columbus landed in Hispaniola and killed the first Tainos Indians things have gone down hill from there. The founding fathers were all gangsters, thieves and liars. He is telling us that we are not free and we have never been free there were never any good old days. Racism, sexism, extreme capitalism has been the word for the last five hundred years and continues to be present at the core of America today. All Played Out is a 12-minute rap with a message to America and anyone else that is listening to Wake Up! Revolution Now!

Music is political because it inspires us to think to see beyond the horizon so it was my intent to give Avakian’s message some lift but also to become the words to bring them to life in another way too. A word is sound, a sound is a word."

William Parker 

"All Played Out" by Bob Avakian, music by William Parker

revcom.us/Revolution Newspaper brings alive a scientific analysis of major events in society and the world—why they are happening, how different events and developments relate to each other, how all this relates to the system we live under, where people's interests lie in relation to all this, how revolution is in fact the solution to all this and what the goals of that revolution are, how different viewpoints and programs relate, positively or negatively, to the revolution that is needed, and how people can move, and are moving, to build toward that revolution. Revcom.us/Revolution is the guide, the pivot, the crucial tool in drawing forward, orienting, training, and organizing thousands, and influencing millions—fighting the power, and transforming the people, for revolution—hastening and preparing for the time when we can go for the whole thing, with a real chance to win.

A REVOLUTION RHYME FOR THIS HISTORIC TIME by a Revcom poet, read by Roosevelt

revcom.us

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