Raise The Banner

You know, it hit me one night I was reading my daughter a bedtime story and uhm
I noticed something
You know every time I read this story it never fails
You know the tortoise he always wins

This ain't a game, standard-bearer, raise the banner
You should demand better, homie, raise the banner
Testify, rally cry, under the banner
Jah Jah, King Nissi, follow the banner
Uh, for your children, for your neighbors, for your communities
Follow the banner
Everybody, unashamed, lock your arms, plant your feet
Look around, they need you, follow the banner

Eey yo, tios, tias, ates, qyas; consider your influence
The little ones want to be us
This ain't about ego, stop thinking so selfishly
Called to be the best is what's best for our community
Consistency, change the future of a family
When one goes to college, it breaks the cycle of poverty
I know a ex-vice lord dropped his flags
And picked up the pulpit, put a price on his head
We're tortoise-and-the-hare style, brave in the drought
And just last week he baptized they guy who put the hit out
My cousin Era shootin' kites to aunt Carolin about how he hates his life
And tell me a lil' more about Christ
Well-versed in gang talk
Fooled them OGs and them prison guards
Now he walks a yard he owns
No could-a should-a would-a's, ask all my kinfolks
I read the story a million times
Tortoise always wins

This ain't a game, standard-bearer, raise the banner
You should demand better, homie, raise the banner
Testify, rally cry, under the banner
Jah Jah, King Nissi, follow the banner
Uh, for your children, for your neighbors, for your communities
Follow the banner
Everybody, unashamed, lock your arms, plant your feet
Look around, they need you, follow the banner

Better husbands, better fathers, more servants, more diligence
No excuses, they are useless
You can do this, follow the banner
It takes discipline, to be dead to sin
Can't do it alone, you need your kin
Just keep the pace, understand the race
You ain't gotta be fast, just don't run out of gas
No honorable mentions, leave no leftovers
Lick the plate of life clean and thanks to Elohim
No Ponzi schemes (nope), just excellence (yup)
Just reverence, He is our banner
Just look around, examine creation, it's beautiful ain't it?
The pictures he painted
Beeline the finish line, don't mind if you quote me
Ask why we ain't hot yet? We cookin' ours slowly

This ain't a game, standard-bearer, raise the banner
You should demand better, homie, raise the banner
Testify, rally cry, under the banner
Jah Jah, King Nissi, follow the banner
Uh, for your children, for your neighbors, for your communities
Follow the banner
Everybody, unashamed, lock your arms, plant your feet
Look around, they need you, follow the banner

This ain't a game, standard-bearer, raise the banner
You should demand better, homie, raise the banner
Testify, rally cry, under the banner
Jah Jah, King Nissi, follow the banner
Uh, for your children, for your neighbors, for your communities
Follow the banner
Everybody, unashamed, lock your arms, plant your feet
Look around, they need you, follow the banner