"Ye," A Poetry Post

Hey Ye.

I have never spoken to you,
never met you on the streets,
but I've been grooving to your beats
since Get Well Soon in 03.

Nobody knew you then,
you were just one of many men,
hit 'em with something genuine and
the people went feminine.

Do you remember, now, brother
how it felt to leave the rough
and wrap your hands around the mic
because rhyming there was enough?

It wasn't about the crowds and it
wasn't about the covers.
It wasn't about the Twitter and
wasn't about your lovers.

It was music as you met it and
you said you wouldn't forget it but
other hands got in the mix and
derailed you.

We gotta fix it.

Ye,
when we lost mama
everybody bowed their heads
like we had lost our own mothers
because to us
you like a brother.

We saw the darkness choking you and
sisters was on they knees
not to please you but to be you
before God Ye,
we were pleading.

We watched you drift away like
a bottle upon the Nile
surrounded by crocodiles
and species we don't even know.

You,
struggling to find the lyrics to
address what you were feeling and
sinking into a dark place and
breaking down in your spirit.

Ye,
we never stopped praying and
we never stopped playing your music
cause we were waiting for your breakthrough
and wanting you back home...

Remember your first fans and
remember the first man that you were
when you were rhyming for
purpose and not hoes.

Ye,
somewhere in your heart
is a man connected to truth,
is a man connected to music,
a man that looks more like you,
and we waiting to see the proof.

You can put down your masks
change your clothes and pack up that castle.
You know that we'll take you back boo.
We family.
We still own you.

-T. D. James-Moss