SHELTER Songtext
von Vic Mensa

There′s a war going on outside
That nobody's safe from
But here in my arms
I′ll keep you from harm
There's no guarantee tonight
That we will wake up
When night takes to morning
But if no alarm rings, you can count on one thing

I'll be your shelter
Emergency
Please count on me, yeah
I′ll be your superhero
When danger arise
I′ll be by your side
You're my lucky dime


Wyclef told me, "Call 9-1-1"
But who do you call when the ambulancеs don′t come?
Or watch as the ones sworn by law to protеct us
Wrongfully convict us, then call the corrections
Next, they bail the banks out when we in recession
Or hang us in a jail cell so they could swing the elections
I walk Chicago streets with potholes that's deep, and
Tahoes creep like TLC

Hospital workers in scrubs with no PPE
But they got money for riot gear, my nigga, we dying here, yeah
You tell me not to move with my gun
But we got more funeral homes than schools where I′m from
And on the news, all you view is homicides
Tell me why it ain't no trauma units when everybody traumatized?
Tryna get on your feet playing the hand they dealt ya
If your house is not a home, let this song be your shelter
Shelter, shelter

I′ll be your shelter
Emergency
Please count on me, yeah
I'll be your superhero
When danger arise (when danger arrives)
I'll be by your side (I′ll be by your side)
You′re my lucky dime


It's a hunnid bags under the underpass
Rumbling stomachs, cups jingle when Hummers pass
Brisk wind, summer′s done, winter is coming fast
And then they Zoom teacher wonder why they don't come to class
The internet been out, the hot water been out
She moved to her aunt′s house, then to her friend's couch
Her abuser went to jail, but that nigga been out
Producer was in-house, they closer than pen pals

Homeless in the home of the slaves, I wonder how that would feel?
The manifested destiny, a bunch of land they could steal
Think about Kenneth Walker and Philando Castile
How they only wanted to protect they family
While it′s niggas out here that make it worse for they folks
It's a deeper, hotter hell for the worst of these folks
It's a mystery, we never heard the murder she wrote
If we finally paid her back, the whole earth′d be broke

I′ll be your shelter
Emergency
Please count on me, yeah
I'll be your superhero
When danger arise
I′ll be by your side

I write for my niggas doing life with no possibility of parole
You playing Fortnite, that's how long he spent in the hole
Live from death row, free my nigga Julius Jones
I had a dream that Mumia was home, I speak freedom in song
′Cause all I see is racist faces
Where hate lives and they rape kids in cages
What kind of nation lynch Elijah McClain?
And send us to the Middle East to die for the flag?

They drive us insane to sell us medication
We demand reparations, and they tell us, "Have patience"
'Stead of cash payments, we get minimum wages
They give us the Black Plague, then send us a white savior
I found faith when I lost hope
That′s when Julius reminded me of a bar I wrote
Behind bars, on the yard, where they dream of the street
On death row, singing, "We Could Be Free"
We could be free, we could be free

I know you'll be my shelter from the storm
I know you'll be my shelter from the storm