Original rap/poetry by Larry Montague. Copyright © 2012 Larry Montague. Permission required for reproduction.

"you are what you are"

thirty-three hundred years after pharaoh Akhenaten praised the sun god
we rally up for the solar revolution
a hip hop – Planet stewardship confluence
back to the heart, back to the land—it’s congruent
a bright future’s no place for crepuscular rhythm
feel the beat, far from discreet; a thumpin collision
wall street can’t corrupt the vision
they sign the checks but you sign the petition because (you are)
the youth that’s gonna reinvent simple
and excel outside of microsoft windows
so what’s the word?
everything but mum, we are anything but dumb
hardships unanchored, close friends become chum
corporate world’s not swell, they are for whom we toll the bell
in 2012 when the nots become undone
this is music for the movement
motivation for the new beat generation

before the dust settles
before the smoke bites the dust
before the angels descended from the heavens with a message to your brain from your soul from afar
you should already know—you are what you are
that little voice of truth up in your ear, hear me?
it’s that fire in your belly, don’t tell me that you don’t feel me
and if it ever seems like you’ve roamed a little far
no matter where you go, you are what you are

it’s that writing on the wall up in the hall, see me?
it’s that flow before the falls then the fall frees me
you can try to pick and choose but the truth is in your heart
no matter what you do, you are what you are

a couple owls chill above me in a cottonwood
unimpressed by a talon-less two-legged idealist that accepts the word waste
and it feels good to get the bird from nature
in any moment i’m a leading candidate for atonement
i scramble on the street and i fill the air with dinosaurs
rollin round on tree blood from the amazon
in grasses from the far east
and all of it assembled by hands i’ll never greet
i repeat and seemingly ramble on the beat
stretch the rules of rhyme so i can handle what i seek
i leave the keys and ponder the universe on foot
knowing every small step i take’s a quantum leap
who’s about to put the science out there?
them? no. not them? hmm, you’re gettin warmer like a polar bear
they’ll rap about their ice until the poles are bare
suddenly burst and we’ll feel it indirectly like a solar flare
we listen to a second-hand account about here from speakers over there
they cloud up the air between them and us with heady dust
sick beats bring us close, choking off their secondhand quotes
welcome the antidote, first hand anecdotes that reflect the public sentiment
can those panelist votes
i am what i am and it’s what i wrote
it’d be a drag to hear me blowin butt-smoke, so i don’t