Creative Commons License

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Photo by Oladimeji Odunsi on Unsplash

Some might get offended by use of the word nigga. No disrespect intended. That’s just the way we communicate. It’s not an expression of self-hate!

To all my niggas on the block,
hustlin’…slingin’…runnin’…from cops.
Time to change
elevate to the next level of the game,
because the other side is plottin’ to 
have us all back in chains.
So it’s now a must to use your brain
in order to obtain…maintain. 
Strike 3
was designed for you and me,
African-Americans by the thousands
no longer free,
once again their justice
the source of our misery.
A lie
the war on crime.
Seek and you shall find the truth within these lines,
it was design to have my niggas confined.
Terrible thin’ to waste…the mind.
Changin’ times, gotta change your frame of mind. 
My niggas on the block,
strapped with Glocks
strugglin’…musclin’
in and outta spots to make a knot
One way or the other you will be stopped.
Bullets be hot,
dirt fallin’ on your casket top
or with 25 years with a life top,
summertime them cells be hot.
Stop…takin’ your life and freedom as a joke
my niggas on the block.
Don’t you realize there’s always
room for you in one of them spots?

Disclaimer: The views in this article are those of the author. Prison Journalism Project has verified the writer’s identity and basic facts such as the names of institutions mentioned.

A.L. Blake

A.L. Blake is a writer incarcerated in California.