Lyrics

[Verse 1] They called you "The Rise of the Black Messiah" Like so many boys before ya And there will be more, more to follow Threatening and hard to swallow [Verse 2] I'm sitting underneath that hanging tree Just me and the ghost of the KKK Poor man's gallows in the middle of the woods The saddest tree that ever stood [Verse 3] My friend I heard you tell of slavery's end But have you heard of mass incarceration? That ol' Jim Crow, he just keeps getting born With a new hanging rope for the black man's scourge [Verse 4] Ol' Man River, what do you know 'Bout a plantation they call Angola? Devil spawned a prison there The saddest farm that ever lived [Bridge] Now your great-granddaddy, he worked that land With shackles on his feet and on his hands He built them levees, he chopped that cane He died in the mud in his chains Now you stand where he once stood Shackles on you all the same [Chorus] But he's gonna rise He's gonna rise And all them lynchers are gonna be damned When outta that mud walks a brand new man [Verse 6] They called you "The Rise of the Black Messiah" Said they'd do any damn thing they could to keep ya— You and your brothers from spreading the word The gospel of freedom and the black man's worth [Verse 7] Forty years in solitary Consider the man that they just can't bury I got this letter in my hands Saying tell this story when you can [Chorus] And he's gonna rise Yeah, he's gonna rise And all them lynchers are gonna be damned When outta that hole walks a brand new man