Rico Sisney is a recording artist and activist based on the West Coast of the United States. He is the emcee for Chicago-based hiphop, soul, jazz band Sidewalk Chalk and the vocalist/keyboardist for House of Whales, an alternative hiphop group based in Oakland, CA. He was the founder and creative director of The Gala Chicago (an artist collective) and acted as music director for HipHop Chicago’s productions in China and the U.S. Outside of his music, he is an NVDA trainer and an educator.
I have written a lot of songs about racism and police brutality. I have processed the feelings, read up on the history, protested, meditated, organized and trained. And yet, I still feel it when I wake up and see footage of a black man being murdered in the middle of the street. No generation has gone by in the United States without very public displays of black execution. We have all become accustomed to black pain but we’re only comfortable when it manifests as despair. What we’re seeing in the U.S in the last week is pain in its other form, rage. And then pain turned into collective action. I wanted this song to capture those two forms of pain.’
Why is it important for an international/UK audience to hear this message? What do they need to know they might not already about what’s going on?
‘Fish don’t know they’re swimming in water. Growing up with our particular brand of anti-black racism, many in the U.S don’t see the murder of black people in this country for the full-scale human rights issue that it is. I was incredibly inspired when We Charge Genocide visited the U.N to protest police brutality in Chicago back in 2014 and I know that international solidarity has strengthened movements like the abolition of chattel slavery in the U.S. The world needs to witness the tragedy, the horror and the power of this historic moment. I hope that it makes it easier for other places to see the water they’re swimming in.’
hearts too full
d e s p a i r
haven’t we heard this before?
how could the news be so old?
how can they all be so cold?
will we ever take control?
when my hands have strength, I fight
when my heart get full, I write
i have no room to cry,
but sometimes, sometimes,
sometimes I try with all my might
to not feel not be surprised
but my heart’s too full
my heart’s too full
2 day shipping
on thoughts and prayers
to the Twin Cities
if every officer’s clip
was like mayoral office apologies
it’d be empty
it aint an incident
and you aint do it incidently
always did resent me
i know i aint supposed to feel it
picnics for lynching
show picture, call it kneeling
insert the word another before senseless killings
get us riled up
if i fight it justifies whatever violence you might try
if we comply and just stay silent we would still be guilty
whats the choice then?
pick your poison and get to sipping
every public space a killing field
“Dont Move or I’ll Shoot” i know you really will
like the waters i stay really really still
problem is they think they invincible but
we are they achilles heel
i know i aint supposed to feel it
tragedy grows more familiar
each day i get closer to it
black lives to throw away
it was a bad idea to scroll today
haven’t we heard this before?
how could the news be so old?
how can they all be so cold?
will we ever take control?
when my hands have strength, I fight
when my heart get full, I write
i have no room to cry,
but sometimes, sometimes,
sometimes I try with all my might
to not feel not be surprised
but my heart’s too full
my heart’s too full
RAGE
Common sense ain’t common
Cops should fear the Karma
Act like Y’all aint see this Coming
When they constantly assault us
And since Politicians talking didn’t solve it
Now they mobbing in the Target
Right now all these cities falling
You’re no match for Bouazizi
We go flame cuz you go easy
On these murderers they murder us
We burning up they precinct
Tired of worrying about the media
And how the world receive me
Like Ferguson the T.V news gone turn this shit completely
You miss the auto parts?
We miss Philando, George Floyd, and Jamar Clark
This aint the hard part
We stopped protecting your feelings ignoring our scars
Appealing to hard hearts
The artists put hieroglyphics on the wall that read ACAB
You say there’s good ones
Where are they at?
You put a target on my back but see a target burning down and wanna save that
That’s a target we should aim at
History repeats
watch the playback
Every thing you gaze at
Stolen from indigenous people or built on slaves backs
What’s the difference between reparations and pay back?
This is Haymarket. This is stonewall
This Tunisia. This the Berlin Wall
What side of history will you sit on?
Go find a quote by Dr. king
to codify your views
and show us how the other side is culpable
and you are woke
And that we doing it wrong
we know we know.
we know we know…
@aguynamedrico
Rico’s piece was one of three micro-commissions offered to young black artists, inviting them to share a creative response to the #BlackLivesMatter movement.