Devils to My Left (Dedicated to my black and brown germ)

By Ridgely Abdul Mu’min, 1999

Devils to my left,  Devils to my right,  Devils behind me, Devils in my sight.

But that’s alright, We still have to fight, Time to shed some light On some devils tonight.

So stick with me brother, hang with me tight, Time to shed some light on some devils tonight.

They tried to hide the truth, But hiding ain’t no use. Black man found the light Time to break loose.

It’s time to rock and roll, Fire down in my soul, Time to tell the story that never been told.

You thought you burnt my books, You dirty little crook, But your mind was too small to take a better look.

Yeh, we wrote it down, And put it on the ground, But made it so big that you couldn’t see around.

You only got six ounces of grafted brain. Here comes the light of truth, Time to start the flame.

You threw your evil rod, Now here comes the God, Muhammad, first name, Master Fard.

Taking down your god, Bust your little heart, Muhammad, first name, Master Fard.

But you don’t have to cry, And go away and die. Just give up your stinking little lie.

Why don’t you submit? Ah, the hell with it. Soon you’ll be a burning little bit.

Devils to my left, Devils to my right, Devils behind me, Devils in my sight.

But that’s alright, We still got to fight, Time to shed some light On some devils tonight.

So stick with me brother, hang with me tight, Time to shed some light on some devils tonight.

Time for us to start Playing with the gods, The black and brown germs in our hearts.

The devil came to visit my room one night. It scared me so bad, I almost died of fright.

He rose up on my ceiling Like a movie screen, He scared me so bad, I thought I had to scream.

But when I cooled down, And took a better look, Wasn’t nothing but my Brown germ from Muhammad’s book.

Then I turned back around, But I couldn’t hear a sound, But there was a war going down Between the black and the brown.

 

We are still arguing in our meeting halls, About why the Black man’s got to rise and fall, Trying to put the blame on everybody else, When we no darn well it ain’t nothing but our self.

Trying to point out who is the they and the them, When we are the they and we is the them.

We still are trying to act like we don’t understand, Yakub took him out, stood him like a man.

Took him out the sky and stuck him on a guy, And we still acting like we don’t know why.

We got 6,000 years of history, To help us solve this human mystery.

He pops up every ‘bout 2,000 years, Here he is again whispering in our ears.

He came up to me on my tractor one day, Trying to be my friend but nothing good to say.

Messing with my head, speaking in my mind, “Why you out here, just a wasting your time?

Them people up there don’t care about you. They are living large while you’re making do.”

Shut up satan and get thee behind, I ain’t got time for you to mess with my mind.

If I get off this tractor and go to my bed, Can you promise me we’ll all be fed?

If I quit now, go home and go to sleep, Can you promise me my soul to keep?

No, I didn’t think so, So you gotta go. Here’s my foot and there’s the door.

“No, the white man’s the devil brother, And I’m your friend.” Shut up Brown Germ, You ain’t nothing but the jinn.

See the brown germ is what The Egyptian called “Red”, And that’s what messed up Malcolm’s head.

We got Supreme Wisdom, But we don’t want to learn How to make them devils inside us burn.

We talking about cutting off four devils’ heads. What about the one hanging in your bed?

And I’m not talking about Your pretty little spouse. I’m talking about the devils in your God’s house.

“Oh no, not me, I’m not the one. I’m all down for the revolution.

If I got a chance To sit in that seat, My head wouldn’t swell up with conceit.”

Easy to say when you ain’t got power. Give him a position and sit him on the tower.

Give him a post With a big fat title, And watch that devil blow up like an idol.

“Alright now, I’m the head nigga in charge, Everybody get back, ‘cause I’m go be the god.”

Yeh, come out, come out, Where ever you are. I smell a skunk so you can’t be far.

Devil hiding on the Black man’s D.N.A. Trying to stick around till Judgment day.

Well now it’s time to come out and play. We got something for you to blow you away.

But you don’t have to cry, And go away and die, Just give up your stupid alibi.

Why don’t you submit? Oh, the hell with it. Soon we’ll be a burning little bit.

Devils to our left, Devils to our right, Devils behind us, Devils in my sight.

But that’s alright, We still better fight, Time to shed some light On some devils tonight.

We should have learned our lessons from the stories from the past,

‘Cause ain’t nobody here but our black….

We should have learned our lessons from the stories from the past,

‘Cause ain’t nobody here but our black….