Get all 55 Sankofa releases available on Bandcamp and save 10%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of KCFW, Impossible Bottle Service, Sonny Kovah, Most Anything of Value, 12 Crows on a Wire, Bleeding of the Golden Goose, Kung Fu Buffet, Mystery Album???, and 47 more.
1. |
Montana Nervous System
02:39
|
|||
|
Sometimes, I wish my brain came with an off switch
But it never gets that simple, so I locked in
I’m not rich enough to own a politician
Buy myself a following, convince a flock to listen
Optimism drowned where the toxic waste leaked
Gave birth to a new form of hatred’s breed
Feels like everyone’s content to simply march along
Long as there’s a spot for their new phone charger prongs
Take a selfie by the wreckage, lift the mask a moment
Haz mat for bonus points avoid the gas that’s loaded
Catch an uber to the spot by poisoned locals dive bars
Hair and teeth falling out, better rate em five stars
Got the keep the hustle moving, perchance to buy the gas
A rite of passage on hamster wheels, surreal the eyes are glass
Might’ve asked for a breath mint to mask the stench of death
Told them have a nice day, hit the site and meant it less
I soar above structures holding the lane they claim is mine
came to find myself with a spine but then the same design
Never wary of the blade that shines, I seek the blade with rust
Tower of babel alibi, they tried to make it up
But I’m not buying it, or lease to own, the beast that roams
Over Roman streets straight shooter with the keys and phone
Belief is stone unshakable, inviolate
I’ll smiling to myself in this room alone, the quietness
Psoriasis, revival of the rhyme survivalist
Hibernating with these beats inside, until it’s time to rip
Tonight the title is reduced to lower cases
So my condolences to any trying to flow this cadence
Don’t need the color black to murder out another motorist
Phdbeats and I combine to coat the cliffs
The nerves that clack in Montana cans to avalanche
Watch them falling from the pedestal inside of Hammer pants
|
||||
2. |
Thin Blue Noose
03:22
|
|||
|
Customer service is the one packing guns
MK Ultra ultimatums Fs for the placid ones
Take a number, maybe 9, 38 or 45
Log that complaint see what happens as the glory flies
Pledge allegiance to the boot, taste the leather march forth
Blood tides lapping on the murder beach of dark shores
Authority over another is the drug of choice
That and never needing to answer for scams and puppet poise
Body cams on the fritz again, favorite song for sure
Scorpions circling the ramparts, a modern war
Arming them against us, in the name of law and order
Homan Square, Windy City, spin the pain so fraught with torture
7,000 people disappeared and these are citizens
A land of punishment and cages, neighbors and the missing st
That freedom of information act request you made
Got more blacking out than frat parties, guess the trade
What do you when the people making the rules break them
The outrage fades away, famous jewels blazing
What’s the point of knowing the truth when it can only frustrate
The best for the best the rest of us are cut rate
Organ donors, blood sweat and tears, the worker bees
Dog eat dog on pay per view a troupe of circus fleas
They’re taking what they want, we’re footing the entire bill
Fast track that new weapon systems the messiah drill
The reaper sickle steady slicing through the iron willed
There’s not a union past the cops, they won’t try to kill
The long arm of the status quo guardians
Got them thinking that they are their job, foolhardiness
Then again, who pays the bills when the cops murder
The same folk they’re aiming at, us, the observers
And taxpayers, funding weaponry it’s the same war
Blue line stickers on cop cars we paid for
Don’t even Mirandize these days, they owe us no protection
The courts have said as much, look we got the whole collection
DeShaney vs. Winnebago, abusive fathers
Castle Rock vs. Gonzalez, for dads who choose to slaughter
Warren vs. DC., no legal duty to protect
They’re serving us a slogan, while we’re catching the death
Main thing I’m seeing served here is warrants and that status quo
No need to aim, they lack and load, come back to home with grass to mow
Anthony Maclin in his grandma’s driveway
Woke up to 3 cops clapping rounds in a live way
Staten Island home to New York cops and Wu Tang
Courtesy card flashers, Matt Bianchi news ranks
Get out of jail cards for the friends of cops
Seven forty mill in overtime, spending the lot
Blue lines on flag, blue’s the blood of royal fams
Using deadly force if you use the law to spoil plans
|
||||
3. |
||||
|
Sankofa
Musical chairs, take a seat, you wouldn’t stand a fighting chance
Bruising them there, break the beat, we’re cooking grams of vital amps
Nose diving, perfect ten, fire from the frying pan
Most likely verses bend rhymers with the livest jam
No need to flex anything beyond my diaphragm
Children of the cornball Kweli can cry to Cam
The devil’s workshop, supplying mics with idle hands
Vendetta’s cursed cost, cyanide saliva glands
You might advance, standing mighty with some sign of flighty trance
Don’t need approval from a major, keep your Nike stamps
The gruesome wager, placing bets to make the main event
Day of the dead part a billion, watch them all parade again
The fatal penmanship reducing troops to bloody bended bits
Doubting thomas stigmata glory holes with benefits
Cal Ripken Orioles, Robert Horry story goals
Less believe the more he’s told, Maury with the war we glow
No Georgio Armani just an army with the gory troves
Opportunists knocking on your coffins with the door we closed
trauma units get despondent when the Silversmiths are on it
JON?DOE and Sankofa slit carotids kiss the wattage
JON?DOE:
U should know that I'm HIM I'm the genuine article
Silversmiths blowin shit outta proportion like Pym particles
Uncovered sins startle fools uttering garbled bull
Strangled on the bloody harpstrings that grim martyrs pull
We wettin whistles in the wind
Remove the thimble and the thumb pricks the thistles in the end
Them's some Mike Tythin bars
End of the world find me firing off a pistol in the din
Swarovski crystals for a chin and I'm swinging Mjolnir to top side it
All my shit is fucked up patterns is lopsided
Does it make it the right thing to do cuz the cops tried it
Your humiliation will be televised, public and not private
Boss guys that use our talents to captivate a moment
decapitate opponents, make these bastards face atonement
Raised on the teacha so i gravitate to know'n it
Positioned for perdition and then activate proponents
Base components represent a worst case scenario
A couple quick witted quacks whose quirks make it scary yo
Shaking the house like earthquakes in stereo
Virtuosos versed in verse-makin varied flows
|
||||
4. |
No Path to Eden
02:52
|
|||
|
I’m giving squatting rights to all my insecurities
deep seated, never leaving, it’s a certainty
Springs speaking in upholstery, wallpaper peeling
Sometimes it’s simpler just to suffer than to take the healing
A painted ceiling smudged with fingerprints of hope
Fingers broken failure lingers in the smoke
Nicotine inside the walls, the plaster vibrates
Radiators creaking as the building then denies fate
Each failure is given a name and thus a place to rest
Pacing back and forth, reverberating in this vacant chest
Taking steps, under the gun, but that’s a bayonet
Sharpened by the flint of every glimpse I take in stress
Rats wrestle over scraps, but the bones are bare
Ghosts visit I can tell it by the coldest air
The drafts are creeping with a pack of demons
Past the placid, staying frozen, in this passive season
No path to Eden
The only part of it left is simply cartilage
Ready for that martyrdom, harbor them, then harm again
I am that drop between the curb and street
Search and seizures certain seekers are the first to leave
The work of circus freaks
Terse amoebas floating in a pool of poison scum
Ribbon breakers testing medals that’ll hoist a lung
A toyful tongue, pierced with canines the blood it gushes
Fear the daytime, hiding in the dust amongst us
Talk is nice and cheap, but my doubts now supply the grief
Four horsemen of apocalypse pariah steeds
Straining just to take a stand, when I try to breathe
Fight or flee, immobilized in all my times of need
Behind the shrine is where they hide, maligned the tiny wreath
Advice suppliers with vices knives and pliers sliding free
Repeating with the demons teaching them to turn with me
Stuck on losses second third fourth and fifth thoughts, bursting free
Immersed in beats, my soul submerges into soulful dirges
They pray for hits, slump busters, while I wrote with purpose
The only part of it left is simply cartilage
Ready for that martyrdom, harbor them, then harm again
I’m Eric Spoelstra working your goats until they’re out to pasture
Homeward bound with molten crowns you’ve found the vocal master
No compassion, so brash I leave them broken, bashed in
Quotes are massive, a mastiff foaming at the mouth of madness
Devout combatants defy the deities they once had praised
My soul is driven, never shall succumb to wage
I run the maze from above, refuse to run within it
Begun with hatred to nudge, my taste is tongue forbidden
Refuse to budge, catch me limping with bazooka crutches
Ready to take aim and break frames, peruse percussion
Grooves combustive final call supplier we place wreaths
…Sankofa over beats straight from PHD
Keep feeding them more and more, watch them freebase greed
Souls for bid, complete with eBay fees
The auctioneers make a killing steady d day scenes
Normandy the war in me forming to reap gray dreams
|
||||
5. |
||||
|
I terraform the beat my territory ,
finding places where my words can swarm
and then I’m sure to share the story
Terror dormant turns malignant when the phrases twist
Forget a flagon, best to raise a razor blade to this
Take a sip, slash a sycophant with sickle in hand
Sick of the scams giving ambivalent missions to fans, rip it and scram
My vision scans entire lands, fire diaphragms
Acidic saliva glands embedded with venom deny the chance
Survivors hide inside the lamb, the blood is over doors
Crimson dripping on the oaken floors, soaked for sure
Most lack the protocol to go to war
Hope is all they’re coded for, focused faults and dozers snore
I forge misfortune with some notes of gore
A hint of mournfulness for those we warned, woes adorned
Black roses, crowns flooded with bloody frozen thorns
The ghosts that form overhead as we invoke this lore
G Fam Black
Mental fortified, disorder borderline
Ripped corduroys blood drip on the floor
Stop the leakin' iron press flesh cauterized
These kids mortified
More than they bargained for
All carnivore, primate irate
Toss em let these maggots fly straight out the skyscrape
Empire State sidewalk crash landin'
Black from the Dragguh camp
Slap em backhanded
Harvest moon current pullin', it's the rip tide
Cadavers washin' on the beach, limbs ziptied
Skulls split wide, removed his insides
Inside the vest got the tek, keep it spit shined
Shooter like Messi, shooter get messy,
Through fluid poolin' he manuever like Gretzky
No trail no evidence they usin against me
Epstein, hang yaself l, noose wit the bedsheet
|
||||
6. |
A League of Bruises
02:38
|
|||
|
They’ve got my running on the fumes an alien ship
80 ways to make the brain inside your cranium split
And if you start complaining, maybe you’re just aching to quit
And if you’re worried ‘bout a lady, well you may be a simp
I’m simply talking about the worry that they’re doper than you
And if they are, cheers to that, because the focus is true
Proposing to view the world, set to conquer as teams
A stronger regime responsive with the mantra from queens
So how you feeling about things man?
Oh, you don’t know where I stand yet?
You better start listening
Phdbeats, hit ‘em up!
Demonstrable dreams instead of being concerned
About somebody catching up to speedily turn
This beat’ll be burned, my condolences to PH
DBEATS, I know you put the work in, but de-ceased
No repeats, waking up short a limb, no amputee
Or polio, just your man going on a phantom spree
You can’t believe it, so you play it back in Cantilevers
Security beset by random breeches, hand to Jesus
Straight out the looking hole, a crooked soul with magic beans in
You better plant those seeds…
So let us climb to the giants we can soon become
Shine upon our own feet, ravenous consume the sun
No additives, just heart illuminating passages
A rude awakening soon consuming traits of passiveness
I will not succumb and beg for misery with negativity
Self piteous falling dredging for venom in rivers deep
I’d rather revelry prefer to set aflame to fresher beats
Dreaming of new ways for me to do this as I get some sleep
A league of bruises, memories of journeys made
Scars collected from this architect so I can burn the page
So what do you stand for?
Some of these songs take more out of me man
I’m a firm believer in doing what I believe in,
If it isn’t something that I stand for then you’ll find me leaving
A tiny demon spinning gears within his velodrome
Tire tracked calligraphy inside my skull the relic bone
wire tapped epiphany, lightning bolts striking fast
electrocuted dirges, my inspiration fried the staff
Moses posed a statue of charcoal, as a barcode
In a dark hole where the guards troll for the teeth of sharks slow
There are no parallels, everything intersects
A lion roaring at dying cinders as the winter crept,
A sardonic grin is next, a red tongued carpet rolls
Inner children hiding in Russian dolls that scarred the souls
Ajar is closed, adore what we have and how to use it
Top of the mourning, off of the hinges, docile informants offer us binges
A proper contingent, plans and clauses, causes das EFX’s rawness
And the best thing I can ever be…is me and honest
|
||||
7. |
3-S Treatment
03:17
|
|||
|
I heard that little Rittenhouse is getting skittish now
some new killer took his job then kicked him out
Another white assassin, plus daddy’s a cop
Job security a bandwagon hearse they’re happy to hop
The flock is growing thirsty for the blood of any others
Give us this day our feigned regret as many suffer
Loading up the thoughts and prayers inside extended clips
Ready to spray with festive bliss, playing guess the bits
Liquefied appendages, of perforated people
Enough holes to put upon a swastika from church to steeple
Modernized Stigmata vibes lock and load then shoot them down
Shells jump the gun for fun and fall on gruesome ground
Cops are Keith Haring fans with the chalk work
So many outlines, shattered lives and lost birth
Concrete can only drink so much
Falling down the price is crisis human Plinko pucks
Woodchipper family trees pieces of a family broken
Needing dental records to identify the scrambled chosen
Maybe swab for DNA if teeth have flown away
Cold dead hands missing fingers in this open grave
Trigger fingers staying itchy and the fear’s contagious
Christ upon an Uzi is the only here to save us
We hear the neighbors, doorbell and blast a hole in them
Death is rolling in thicker than black linoleum
Lead flying thudding into flesh, it’s been a mess
Meanwhile the talking heads begin to stretch and spin a web
Tangled over corpses closed casket fortunes
Body bags containing lumps are carried to the morgue swift
A leaden force rips, the ripple effect cripples with death
And we wonder, are we prisoners yet? Gripping a tec
Assault rifles slung over shoulders to get a 6” inch
Sandwich artist with the random carcass tricks wins
|
||||
8. |
||||
|
Better not think those thoughts too loud.
shh…
red for the blood of the people who built it
Blue for cops steady drilling the kill switch
White to wash anything that offends us
Stars for distractions they happily send us
Stripes for lines to read between, this and that
Or maybe just the bars in a prison map
Used to be hot dogs, ketchup and fireworks
Now hatred flies high atop this violent earth
Palms cross broken hearts…
Palms crossed broken hearts, stating pledges
Loyalty to a system made to wreck us
Patriotism for those who hate another
Pro-life until birth, then we make them suffer
Rubber bullets special ordinances, for the crowd
The crunch of bones, such a gorgeous sound
Make the audience the target now
Battlelines with riot gear map, we mark them down,
Any frustration a cop ever felt this is a free for all
Black and blue beat them deep inside a demon thrall
Just let time erase the memories that we recall
Bar patrons designatedly drunk, allowed to keep the crawl
Baby talking way too often, pray to power
Kneel down before your overlords and taste the sour
Baby talking way too often, pray to power
Kneel down before your overlords
Maybe a confederate rag
maybe just a simple swastika tag
Maybe diesel burners, flying ragged flags now
Maybe better to be wrong than ever back down
Man, this pride will be the death of us
Compassion cannot exist in hands that fester thus
So many flags at half mast I wonder why
They even make full-sized masts that some supply
Half turns to one quarter and then an eighth
Followed by a 16th, then a 32nd waits
Next thing you know, the flag is draped upon the ground
Covering the browned blood of those who made a sound
|
||||
9. |
Betrayal Vibes
02:39
|
|||
|
Saliva glands go into overdrive
Intestines start churning when I begin to vocalize
So close your eyes
I am the wall against which every one of your hopes collide
The Bane of your existence, leaving a broken spine
Picking spots is worthless, there is no chosen time
You won’t survive when I disperse this, a toast maligned
You’ll never reach the baubles that you seek, a frozen grind
you won’t combine your cosa nostra lies, verboten vibes
That taste of pride upon the razor’s edge, that made them sweat
Trace elements of skeletons a cage of death
Take a sacred breath and hold it close til lungs collapse
Cement mixer swim instructor, swum some laps
Watching every wraith that steps vaporize
I’ve got no faith in tribes, your lips are moving, betrayal drives
Courageous guys claiming highs pray to naked Christ
A game supplied with death, coldest winds, shake the dice
Bubbles in the devil’s levels thus survey the plight
Gaze upon the scene with vacant eyes, forsaken twice
The third awaiting the crowing knowing a certain mayhem
Blood flow is steady going down, no circulation
Crimson droplets crystalize upon the frozen ground
The first to cave in, asphyxia with a broken gown
Magi travel over camels faith is fading fastest
Running out of trees, with sloppiness they made the caskets
Replace compassion with an avarice that never settles
Forever seeking more than it is given Gretel pedals
The driven set of demons keeping me company
Misery reaping a secret seizure reaching for that something sweet,
The herald angels trumpeting a dirge, minor keys
Repossessing each believer’s essence for a finder’s fee
The beast that steps with claws retracted but its fangs agape
Keepers of the ledgers weighing hearts that start to hang the gates
|
||||
10. |
Give us Today
02:44
|
|||
|
No set of lungs can ever contain our names in the same breath
On the edge of glass vase, I’m watch them trace steps
Observant tracking the workers keep the machine moving
Learning mannerisms, just so I can seem human
Management handling damages, sadistic list of fears
hush money makes them disappear,
A slick veneer maintained to keep them all away
A non profit in my name let’s raise a holiday
Hollar hey for the photo ops, I know the spots
Cannon fodder locked and loaded at the loading docks
Teeth gleaming perfectly to hide the jaggedness
Lock it down securely, sure we know whose bag it is
Bag it up, pass it on, breaking down the next to move
Maggots swim splashing on, replace the count with extra doom
Bottles for the rest to room, orchestral guests that never knew
Just keep the money crazy, irreverent revenue
From convenience’s palms the newest weapons flew
The wings of angels with blackest feathers, my sting is fatal
Insert your name upon the placard here, we bring the fable
Rabble rousers, but I’m doing fine, the news is mine
Crucifying new suppliers with elusive titles
My move is tribal, mood survival with a gruesome idol
The host beckons and is brought to you by
An engorged lord of flies with portable eyes
No more to disguise, the fortune it climbs
Borderline Mordecai selling the torturous grind
Long as you believe lottery tickets are purchased with
Chipping away your very lives, supply the working stiffs
Another zombie army staggers for the blockbuster
Badge of war, calmly haggard, you can rot flustered
Suffer for the greater good, the monster must be fed
Just pledge allegiance, never mind the god and what he said
Give birth to new consumers, grow the marketplace
Taxpayers for the breaks to fund a martian race
Greed is good but hate is better
Provide and conjure the mantra so we can make a lever
Divide and conquer got us gobbling more
Players in a game without a thought to the score
So what you waiting for?
Silhouette inside a vacant door
Still a mess that made the war
Final fatal four, all rivals blinded lasers bore
Not enough to be a man, I need to be a god
So tithe with membership supply the christ his benefits
It's not enough to be a man, I need to be a god
Bow
Down
|
||||
Sankofa Fort Wayne
My rhymes kick in like a turbobooster.
Fort Wayne.
Sankofa recommends:
The Mr Blonde / Mr Pink Tape
by Rock Solid x Burnt Bakarak
My guy Burnt teamed up with his friend from way back Rock Solid to release a bunch of beats I want to rap all over.
go to album
Smoke Filled Room
by Juga-Naut & Giallo Point
Started following Juga-Naut upon hearing him break down life and rap relating to Kool G Rap on Crate808 and I've been a fan since. Wordplay, skill, the dope backdrops, what's not to love?
go to albumIf you like Sankofa, you may also like:
The Most Delicious Gold
by Sankofa
supported by 33 fans who also own “BLKTCHP3”
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Jun 3, 2022
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Jan 12, 2024
go to album
