MARS ILL - Inside Out lyrics

[Verse 1]

Building in a cell block, shocked at the mystery

Unlocked the misery kept inside his body's chemistry

And when he's by himself, he has to cry to keep on living

Reads letters from his children from far outside the prison

And it isn't enough that he didn't pull that trigger

Just a neighborhood fixture on the corner drinking liquor

A two-time offender who got caught up in the moment

Was close by when a robbery was operated sloppily

And somebody got shot and son was fingered in the line-up

Tossed into a 6x9, stuck because his time's up

Fine luck, had to beat a brother on his first day

To protect his own best interest in like the worst way

Blames the system that built jails instead of schools

Blames religion as a set of useless rules

Blames his father that he never even knew

Looks in the mirror. Yeah, he blames him too...

[Verse 2]

He starts to read books, an empowered resolution

Malcolm, Dr. King, Mumia and Huey Newton

Learns that nothing worth having is ever gon' be easy

He studies philosophy while everyone's watching TV

And after 33 weeks, he starts to do the science

Sees God's handwriting there underneath the fine print

It had been there all along just waiting for him to find it

But he'd been blinded by his time spent trying to fight it

But the spark ignited the fuel inside him

And now he holds the flame that burns the brightest

Because the slightest touch from the heavens can heavily change the tides

Or tip the scales to either side of the problems in our lives

He found faith in a cage and his mind's already free

And he can float through these walls far beyond what he can see

He sees his cell as a cross that he'll carry if need be

But of course his body wants to join his soul and be free...

[Verse 3]

So he's a new man, motivated to slice through the hatred

And radiate to those that play with death and want to take his breath

He'll make each step count for something greater

Understands that he can hate the game and still love the players

He shares his cell with another one-strike-too-many-type of Jon Doe

Who wants his rights back though

The conversation words flow and get kind of thorough

And it just so happens that they're from the same borough

From the same neighborhood, from off the same freeway

From the same ghetto and from the same PJ's

And Jon Doe knows how his situation started

How kids were busting shots at their local supermarket

On that one fateful night that changed our hero's life

And how he got knocked wrongfully and how it isn't right

But strangely, our man is calm and doesn't lose sight

He knows that he was broken so that he could find Christ

And for that he's thankful, no shank pulled got him

He's never felt so high while he was standing at the bottom

And after six months, a judge heard his appeal

Released into a city that becomes his mission field

He pulls a free breath that feels fresh despite all the smog

He used to hit the bottle but now he fights for God

And since he's seen it all, he can say what it's about

And to think this all started from the inside out...