Kaskarika - Luka Lesson Verse 2 Brighter than the light of day and higher than a tidal wave I write like a lion because my pride's at stake. and rap needs a pillar to climb my synonyms are filaments that light illiterate minds I've been waiting on this moment with soldiers from the homeland like minded and focussed and owning our opponents archaeologist I'm digging on my roots worldwide conglomerate the product is the proof and to be honest he's the boss and I'm the student 1000 tracks and lowbap is now a movement Athens city ever live Acropolis or not the metropolis ever reaching to the sky. because the only way is up when you're broken at the bottom the hip hop I love always spoke for the forgotten… so I remember where I came from, where i've been and each december i'm repenting all my sins it's a game and they all play to win but we're all a bunch of jokers It's the music that's the King I don't lose focus when they're calling for my bones I walk water when I'm trekking through the snow CHORUS Hip-hop has never been bad much they just tried to kill it when they used it for status it's still alive despite the crisis within politician or citizen ---the music is king---

Pressed up on his lips another sheet of black paper for tobacco he's back and he's in the need and he fills it up with green and needs a mixture of the leaves so he can live again a toke for every token hope and dream he left on a note that he wrote last week in the hope that he'd know some peace/ the only piece that's on these streets shoot bullets & steal dreams so he bought one - some courage for his streets so that the gutter doesn't shut him up just shudders at his feet he turns to reach and spark his trees with a flint and at that minute blew in ancient spirit speaking the wind the breeze was shedding leaves from the trees and the spirit noted that those with the deepest roots do not break but only lean they do not to crack but show that opposites attract 'cause further the streets push you the further you'll snap back he tipped his snap back, scratched his head and grabbed his mac from his backpack played this track back… and sparked it up // Ten gallon drums are filled with flames as we heat our palms shadows play games on our faces and she's the queens of hearts she's been flirting with the weather causes a storm to pass she sells an ounce an hour and now it's about a quarter past It's the wild wild west like it's Kool moe dee and her kids won't let her forget she owes the school more fees. she checks in the window black stockings but no lace in case they decide to take from her more than what they've paid she knows the streets are her prison and these men are her guards they keep her stuck in the system the local bars are well, her bars in lock down for the money she notices his rolling smokes with black papers -thought it was funny he says - he needs loving so he doesn't break under the weight of temptation of drugs blow in under the radar of the state she says she tastes better anyway their shit is bitter - calls the baby sitter as they set off to his place. // She's Making money he is trying to make love it's as close as both their hearts have ever come to being touched he feels her breathe and the surface of her skin as he looks her in the eye & whispers how could this be a sin? she licks a tear from the corner of his eye before it falls and he decides to disguise his pain with pride like every other man she's ever liked they're all just trying to find a way to lay their weapons down at night he treats her like a lady shows her body some respect mama said "how u treat a woman is how god will judge you in the end" and he never forgot it though his touch felt foreign she also felt so at home that even the money became forgotten lost in the moment, the shackles flew like birds they were free and it felt like they were the centre of the earth until they finished and fell back to the centre of a curse she fills her purse. and he smokes away his hurt

Perama to Athens in a black two-door back for more lessons from the black lowbap lord looking back I was touring abroad but small fortune afforded a two-month course so of course we're recording the entree was a hit the minute kaskarika flipped shit became different main course about to hit while this sun is set to split horizons just reminded me how my life is like a migrant with a limp. I've return to set it straight re-trace our footsteps and re-design our fate. I re learn the goodness and leave behind the fake I've worked hard to push - it better carry weight Only time my life is cushioned - when I suffocate the state. the Crisis lies in greek pride and their lives are decided by the weak minds fascists try to redesign the street signs Now the Nazi's invade from the inside Golden Dawn is not upon us I stay dark cause their light is not as honest we stand alone like a solo saxophonist our melodies are waking in people placing knowledge in their pockets better than amphetamines electric in their sockets our pedigree is hella mean you answer when we knock it. I'm telling you you better dream don't stress me if you've lost it we're hellenic so our letters be a lesson from the prophets // Diaspora Now the tables turn I return to set it straight Diaspora Now the world has turned I return to set it straight // The struggle of the migrant gives me migraines in the night as I desire to feel alive in a place that isn't mine in the newland or the homeland I feel at home and homeless in both places and I notice that the question that it poses is that do we really know if our spirit has a home? or does the land on which we grow also seep into our bones and does it sink into our skin until the point upon return we feel like foreigners again I feel different here again and it's harder than the last like my past forgot my future and the future lost my past somehow I'm faced with memories of faces that I've never seen so now I feel like I'm returning to places that I've never been my hopes are in the smoke and I see ghosts up in the ocean I spoke to local folks they say I'm focussed on atonement but I can't wash the sins of past only return with an open heart I can't ignore the voices within this is where our journey begins I feel like I'm cut in half between the fire and the spark between my future and my past between the ocean the mast between the spoken and the masked I guess we live two lives of a god and a king I'd rather stay a pegasus than a bird without a wing I'm returning // Diaspora Now the tables turn I return to set it straight Diaspora Now the world has turned I return to set it straight // Απ’την Ελλάδα ο παππούς μου τραγούδησε <<Είμαι πρόσφυγας ξερίζωμενος ρε>> Πήρανε δρόμο με τη μανά μου μικρή Από Διακοπτό, Μονόλιθο και Παραδείσι* <<Καλό ταξίδι και καλή τύχη>> από Πελοπόννησο και Ρόδο νησί δύναμη στην ψυχή, και τσιγγάνες καρδιές όπου πάμε καίμε λιβάνι Fate went this way then that it swayed like the boat they saved so long to catch lives packed cases stacked looking back black in that they knew they'd have to re-enact the Iliad Ill, sad and already homesick denying the fact they were leaving their homes just to be homeless a small stash that they’d never get home with in love they interact but they know that it's hopeless They see the harbour and it’s as cold as ever so they both hold my mother by her hands together so they can find the strength to say their boldest έλα!* and drop down on the streets with a soul to set up a new city a new life διασπορά Keep tight pride is needed inside our hearts these acts would teach me of the past και τους λένε <<καλή τύχη όπου και αν πας>>

Feathers (For my unborn son) My child when you are born you will be golden you will be light you will be blessed with an omen you will be you will be glass shimmering steel an eagle awaiting its feathers an idea made real you will be healthy you will be joy you will be blessed in love, you will be wealthy you will be loved you will be lost you will be finding you will be young and you will be reminded you will be my heart my breath my new start you will be my planet my pearl my craft But the truth is you will not be mine I will be your father, your rock but your mother and I are merely guides I will provide an arrow a blueprint a shape a sign and your mother—the river the map the chrysalis the bliss she is love the eternal kiss But I can't be true to me and truthfully try to tell you to be a new me It's your life; you make it wherever you'd like to; take it Though I'll give you your clothes and show you your soul you'll face your demons naked though I'll teach you control and keep you from cold if you see your chance; you take it Though of course I have fought for you walked to all four corners and talked the truth I know my path isn't right for you I'll just try to give you the right tools to use because this earth isn't perfect we're all cursed with a search for purpose we all emerge in emergencies and hope our perfect dreams prevail perfectly but we can't see the sky for clouds sometimes and can't see our lies for doubts and I can't see with the eyes of owls so I can't seem to decipher this life right now Will I be ready to raise you? mould you? shape you? Will I ever be wrong to change you or strong enough to be brave for you? Though I'm spreading my wings I don't know if I'm making better enemies or the betterment of anything and when I'm in Heaven I'll leave you a message of eleven melodies that you better sing you see, your life is my everything and my words are your medicine so you better remember when I tell you that I'll be shedding every feather from my wings so you can fly further than I've ever been you are my king

THROW MY LUCK / TYXH They told him he would make it παππού don’t feel the end they told him ‘take a ticket’ say a goodbye to friends he kissed his mama sweetness before he left for Egypt his mama’s my papa's papa's papa’s mama it’s deep shit So deep I hardly speak it a little fear in pockets a little silver locket a lot of tears up in them sockets those diamonds from the eye aligning stars upon the night and frightened by the lonely light that’s shining through the smoked horizon Alexandria, was only just the first stop from Egypt came a month at sea sent like mail to a post box like a letter with no envelope just enveloped by the rain the tears of ink drain replace the canvas on the frame They landed on the island no welcome note or hug the sky as grey as Melbourne the earth as red as blood Μετανάστες on the ocean bags packed for the night a night turned into life I return to make it right  // I throw my luck upon the ground so she can feel the earth give her thorns to wear — it hurts so we remember birth wrap her body up in flames just to drop her in the sea my luck and me, we argue over memories // They left from village morning for days to get to boat they left from olive trees in a puff of shisha smoke That place from which they came dangerous because of snakes until they brought the deer and they became the symbol of the state Italians colonised and the Turks, they’d been there too crusaders built cities on cities of the ancient few  So when my people left never to return they’d sing them songs of magnets that pull them on a search And so the greatest of the great lucky country, cutting trees man to man like he was slicing nationalities in a country of animals he’d never seen a snake found him and pulled my παππού to his knees // I throw my luck upon the ground so she can feel the earth I give her thorns to wear — it hurts so we remember birth I wrap her body up in flames just to drop her in the sea my luck and me, we argue over memories

CRISIS / ΚΡΙΣΗ Luka Lesson Chorus & Verse 2 Greece in a Crisis daughter in the storm drive without a licence pray to see the dawn Athena is her mother's only hope working every moment just to turn broken into broke // Lost at the the bottom she wanted to be the modern lotto tickets path trodden hot on the heels of the belonging along the way she had forgotten what she wanted… dances exotic Orthodox girl - exotic to erotic life a mess Jackson Pollock tied to stress Panadol it's at least three chronics between scotches an alcoholic at least three minutes between college and sodomy her body probably made of ancient pottery and honesty I saw her eyes spark like shards of the Gods broken heart curves air-brushed by winds of the north her tongue and lungs hungry for love and money for drugs punished she doesn't have the money to pay off monetary funds pretty as a picture womb bought by China Germans get the ticker Asia gets to mine her She fell as asleep while she was dreaming of designer Athena is in crisis and I will stand beside her