I remember this song from 1996 I was 17 at the time.46 and still good strong.peace

Raphael Saadiq - Ask of You (Official HD Video)

Off The 1st Self Entitled Album also featured on the Nutty Professor Contract

Touch Me, Tease Me

03 - Johnny Gill & Coko (From Swv) - Fire & Desire

[Verse 1]
We were leaders once, men
Came to us for guidance
We held the knowledge, the fire, the healing
Then it was taken, our names erased from books, our voices burned as witchcraft
Our bodies controlled by law and shame
We were told to be quiet, to serve, to disappear
And still today we are silenced, dismissed, paid less, treated like property, treated like prey

[Verse 2]
When I was 19, a guy I barely knew grabbed me from behind at a party and tried to kiss me. I pushed him away. I said, "Stop!" He laughed.
Later he told everyone I was asking for it.
Friends avoided me.
That's when I realized my body could be treated like it wasn't mine.

[Chorus]
This world is broken
Because when you silence one half, you break the whole
When you deny the spirit, the body loses its way
We are not enemies, we are what's left of each other

[Verse 3]
We were told to be strong, but not the kind of strong that feels, the kind of strong that carries weight, swallows pain, never cries.
We were told provide, protect, fight, but don't show weakness, don't need help, and if we do, we're failures.
So we hide behind anger, behind violence, behind silence. We die younger. We take our own lives.
We are denied the right to be whole, just as much as you are.

[Verse 4]
When I was 14, my grandpa died and I cried. My dad said, "Real men don't cry."
At school, kids called me a wimp. I learned to swallow every emotion, to act like pain didn't exist. Later, I acted tough so no one would see that scared kid.

[Chorus]
(Heal me)
You feel me?
(Heal me)
But we're afraid of ourselves.

[Verse 5]
And I scroll and I see it too.
Man, shame for showing feeling. Women calling me weak. Society telling me I'm not enough, not strong enough, not masculine enough. Every meme, every reply, a punch in the gut.
A challenge to my existence.

[Chorus]
And we fight each other online, throwing words like weapons, forgetting the real war is against the system that taught us to doubt each other, to doubt ourselves. We tear down the other half of ourselves instead of seeing a reflection.

[Outro]
(Heal me)
(Heal me)
We are not enemies, we are the missing pieces, masculine and feminine, spirit and flesh. We need both. We have both. The war is not against each other. The war is against balance, and we don't have to fight it anymore.
We are not enemies, we are the missing pieces, masculine and feminine, spirit and flesh. We need both. We have both. The war is not against each other. The war is against balance, and we don't have to fight it anymore.

Real Story

Overdub instrument at Home Recording - 9/16/2025
Performed on Yamaha DTXtreme III Drum Kit with a Yamaha M12 Percussion Drum Pad

Raphael Saadiq - Ask of You (Official HD Video)

chanel

Recent comments

Jyoung79

Jaye Edwards 1

jgradney

JazStokes

Related tracks