VERSE 1
Hello America, break your backs for dollars, they don’t carry ya/
7,000 miles away from home with language barriers/
Land of opportunity, tell me is good to ya?/
But 6 feet deep on stolen land is where they bury ya/
November 1991, papa came here with a wife/
2 daughters, no money, but they wanted them a better life/
Piso to their name, so they piecing up the pain/
Ain’t no peace in a position as an immigrant that’s prayin/
For a piece of that Americana pie or for the C.R.E.A.M./
To appease the dream they sold you, but it only was a dream/
For a piece of mind to thinking that my mama could be seen/
As an equal not a foreign immigrant, or in between/
I was a kid in the sky nothing but dreams in her eyes/
Hopin that we would survive, but mama those were the times/
They tellin us compromise, they always feeding us lies/
Made to believe I don’t exist unless I wear a disguise/
‘Cuz I been constantly lied to, broken down til I cry/
Til I no longer recognize the person that was inside/
Until we fade like the sun, and we forget where we from/
Then we self hate til it’s done, and never question it once/
So mama tell me won, the person that I become/
I have a sword for a tongue and a skin that shines in the sun/
And because the place that I’m from it still lingers deep on my tongue/
And so every word that’s from my lungs can hold the weight of a ton/
If I’m ever slippin’, I’m never looking down/
I do it for myself, til the end I hold it down/
And even when I’m sinkin, I’m never looking’ down/
I do this for myself, til the end I hold it down/

VERSE 2
Feeling homesick as we go, mama’s never really home/
Cuz she workin all alone, livin broke, we need a loan/
Papa threatened mamas life, papa left with no goodbye/
Promised to myself inside no man will ever make me cry/
Now I’m thinking that I’m grown, all I wanna do is roam/
Runnin far away from home, in a crowd I feel alone/
Mama she be workin late, lines are showing on her face/
Too much pressure on her plate, I’m too selfish to relate/
Auntie said stay in your home, might get darker cuz you prone/
Look into the mirror, oh, Filipino blood and bones/
Questioning my skin and tone like I should I be embarrassed though/
Whiter skin is seen as gold, this is what we’re always told/
Mama said to learn their way, every day I emulate/
‘Til identity erased, overcome by inner hate/
Teacher said to hide my tongue, they don’t understand me none/
Hold my breath these foreign lungs too powerful they like a gun!/
I’m correcting mamas words, I’m embarrassed when she slurs/
What makes me better than her? this language wasn’t her first/
Ruby can you get a grip? Find a balance, you might slip/
Mom and Donna need you quick, stop thinkin’ that you the shit/
7,000 miles from home, but a million more to go/
Gotta make it on my own, I can feel I’m gettin’ close/
7,000 miles from home, but a million more to go/
Gotta make it on my own, I can feel I’m gettin’ close/