Little weapon, by Lupe Fiasco... song highlighting the ills of children handling lethal weapons

Lyrics

Little Terry got a gun, he got from the store,
He bought it with the money he got from his chores,
He robbed candy shop told her lay down on the floor,
Put the cookies in his bag took the pennies out the drawer.

Little Kalil got a gun he got from the rebels,
To kill the infidels and American devils,
A bomb on his waist,
A mask on his face,
Prays five times a day,
And listens to Heavy Metal.

Little Alex got a gun he took from his dad,
That he snuck into school in his black book bag,
His black nail polish, black boots and black hair,
He's gonna blow away the bully that just pushed his ass...

[Lupe Fiasco]
I killed another man today,
Shot him in his back as he ran away,
Then I blew up his hut with a hand grenade,
Cut his wife's throat as she put her hands to pray,
Just five more dawgs then we can get a soccer ball,
That's what my commander say,
How Old?
Well I'm like ten, eleven, been fighting since I was like six or seven,
Now I don't know much about where I'm from but I know I strike fear everywhere I come,
Government want me dead so I wear my gun, I really want the rocket launcher but I'm still too young,
This candy give me courage not to fear no one,
To fear no pain, and hear no tongue,
So I hear no screams and I shed no tear,
If I'm in your dreams then your end is near.
Yeah

[Chorus - Nikki Jean]
Little Weapon,
Little Weapon,
Little Weapon
We're calling you
There's a war
if the guns are just too small for you
You find you're something small to use
Little Weapon, Little Weapon, Little Weapon
Yanked you now, pow

[Lupe Fiasco]
Now here comes the march of the boy brigade
A macabre Parade of the toys he made
And in Shimmer shades who looks half his age
About half the size of the flags they waved
And Camouflage suits that made to fit youths
'cause the ones of the dead soldiers hang a little loose
And AK-47's that they shooting into heaven
Like they're trying to kill the Jetson's
They struggle little recruits
Cute Smileless, Heartless, violent
Childhood destroyed, devoid of all childish ways,
Can't write their own names or read the words on their own graves
Think you gangster popped a few rounds,
These kids will come through and murder a whole town,
Then sit back and smoke and watch it burn down,
The grave gets deeper the further we go down

[Chorus]

[Bishop G]
Imagine if I had the console,
The family of those slain,
I slain on game consoles,
I aim I hold, right trigger to squeeze,
press up and Y one less nigga breathe,
B for the Bombs press pause for your moms,
Make the room silent, she don't approve of violent games,
She leaves resume activity,
Start and blew hearts with poor harsh wizardry,
On next part I insert code
To sweeten up the purses of murder work load
I tell him he work for
CIA with A
A operative, I operate this game all day
I hold a controller connected to the soldier
With weapons on his shoulder he's only seconds older than me
We playful but serious, now keep that on mind
for on line experience

[Chorus x2]

Africa

What goes through my mind when I hear that 6 letter word? Its just a mixture of emotion, facts, sadness, contradictions, misconceptions, mystery, intrigue and hope! I mean Africa for me is home. That is where my heart is. I love Africa, we have incredible spirit in Africa. People have suffered so much at the hands of nature, colonialists, wars, and bad leaders but they can still smile. Africa brings memories of innovation and doing what you can with what you have. I get that image of making a football out of string and plastic, playing on a field without an inkling of grass and having the time of our lives! People play football with rocks for God’s sake! Africa gives me hope. People sing songs at all occasions. Happy, sad, somber and uplifting songs! It’s a way to let out the emotion and get through the the day. Africa brings thoughts of hospitality, you must greet people when they come by you. It is important that you be the best possible host and show hospitality to your neighbor since you will need it some time! Africa is my favorite place in the whole world, is that a surprise? The thing is we (Africans) have lived in a cycle of suffering for so long and I am beginning to think that we are getting too used to it. I hope to see a day when people will flood back to their countries to lead various recoveries. A time when people do not have to leave their own countries in search of opportunity. There is a vicious cycle in Africa and our leaders are exacerbating it. We as a continent have made little economic progress and some people are worse of than they were under the colonizers. The first thing that I feel should be addressed is hunger. People should not be starving, there are ways and means to make this work. I am currently doubting Western capitalism, I feel that we should not necessarily strive for the same standards as the west, rather we need to ensure that our people have a sustainable way of life to start off. The fact is African spirit encourages supporting each other, ensuring the family is happy and really uplifting familial relationships in society, recognizing that we rely on each other rather than stepping on each other. I feel capitalism tends to promote competition more than co-operation. Our leaders have embraced capitalism and have exploited it to their advantage, the corporations are happy as they get cheap labor and big profits while paying off corrupt governments. Look at the oil money in Nigeria, is it really helping the regular guy? If he’s not working for big oil I’m not sure if he is gaining anything. Yesterday we celebrated Africa day, remembering the formation of the OAU and the formalization of Pan-Africanism. When I look at this phenomenon I see greedy or timid leaders propping each other up and resisting criticism. Very rarely do you hear an African leader really go in and criticize another leader. I guess it goes against their code of "ethics" because you never see it, this is one of the things that is killing us. The silence of other leaders is giving free reign to dictators to do their will knowing that they have the support of fellow Africans who refuse to criticize each other. How do we progress without opposition, we don’t. We stagnate like this. The people of Africa have suffered enough and I hope and pray that the younger generation sees the incompetence of our leaders and have the passion in their hearts to change things. We have a talented and intelligent generation of people all living abroad. We have the tools to lift ourselves out of poverty, we just need a window to get in. The more success stories there are the more other nations will seek to follow suit and Africa will be a better place! I hope to play my part by learning more about my continent and the things we need and actually inspire my peers to make a difference. Now is the time to act, there is no time like now!
written 6/26/2008