[Intro: Fatoumata Diawara]
Woman cry, give life
Mother Mary and baby the burden she carry all time
Woman cry, when give us life
And she beg He forgive us, the sin and dem sinners all time, whoa

[Verse 1: Fatoumata Diawara]
Foreign man take me from land
Banished my name, I survive all the same
Nuff commotion, way across ocean
Through whip and chain, I survive all the same

[Chorus: Fatoumata Diawara]
So dem a go make war before we free
Why dem a go make war before we free?
So dem a go make war bеfore we free
Why dem a go makе war before we free?

[Verse 2: Fatoumata Diawara]
Tie my neck, ship, it don't wreck
Bind me to tree, I survive, they will see, ah
Whip they crack, scar me 'pon back
So we gon' see who survive make us free

[Chorus: Fatoumata Diawara]
So dem a go make war before we free
Why dem a go make war before we free?
So dem a go make war before we free
Why dem a go make war before we free?
[Verse 3: Lauryn Hill]
Follow, follow, people, they know they follow
People all know they copy, people all in my grotto
They see me like a genie, try to keep me in a bottle
Petty, petty people, keep them incommunicado
They tie you up in strings, they play n***as like pizzicato
Lose sight of the picture scripture, now they not so steady
Meanwhile I'm like Curtis Mayfield, getting people ready
To see into the future then cut through like a machete
Or Cutlass, all these trappings leavin' n***a gutless
You can't make moves for justice, you can't make no adjustments
Drowning in corruption, Charlie addict to convenience
Now they got you caught up and callin' freedom extremists
We're not in agreement, I won't lay down politely
I closed my mouth for years and they still tried to fight me
I sat down on the sidelines and they still tried to bite me
They think they buried my career and promoted my peers to spite me
But they can't tell me nothing Charlie, they don't underwrite me
I've had a lot of money thrown at me but none of that shit excites me
It's just another kind of cage to get up in my psyche
To use me as an instrument to further push their puppet show
But I'm not inexperienced and this not my first rodeo
I'm not so shallow Charlie, I call it too precisely
Separate bone from marrow, so much soul that they dislike me
Intuitives (Intuitives) Charlie, we be like fugitives (Fugitives)
Until the universe responds to show them who the student is
[Bridge: Lauryn Hill]
Woman cry (Woman cry) gives life (Gives us life)
Mother Mary and baby the burden she carries all time (Burden she carries)
Woman cry (Woman cry) gives us life (Gives us life)
And she beg He forgive us, the sin and the sinners all time (Begs He forgives us)

[Chorus: Fatoumata Diawara]
So dem a go make war before we free
Why dem a go make war before we free?
So dem a go make war before we free
Why dem a go make war before we free?