Kinders van die Donker

Lyrics

[Intro – Ninja (flüstert, dann lacht irre)]
Hehehe…
Yo, this one’s for the street rats,
The little gremlins in Jozi’s cracks.
You hear that? That’s the sound of lost childhoods…
(BOOM. gunshot sample.)

[Beat drop – ravey, distorted]


---

[Verse 1 – Ninja]
Yo!
I was born in a dustbin, raised by the smoke,
Street full o’ knives, ain't a motherfuckin' joke.
We played tag where the bullets fly,
Sipho caught one in the face at the age of eight, why?
'Cause the gang from Zone 4 don't give no fucks,
They drive by, wave bye, leave brains on trucks.
We played with stones, they played with heat,
Now Sipho’s in the ground, six feet deep.
(Yeah, rest in pieces, laaitie…)


---

[Chorus – Yo-Landi, sing-screechy in Afrikaans]
Kinders van die donker, ons lag in die hel,
Ons harte is stukkend, ons siel is vuil.
Geen drome oorbly, net vuur en vrees,
Dis nie 'n lewe nie — dis 'n gees in die reën.


---

[Verse 2 – Yo-Landi (creepy-cute tone)]
I stole sweets when I was five,
Stole wallets when I was nine!
By fourteen, Jabu got a piece,
Bang bang! Now he got respect in the streets.
We don’t got toys — we got scars,
No bedtime stories, just prison bars.
Mpho tried to rob a shop,
Now he got a cell and a number he can't stop.
(He my penpal tho… he send me weird shit.)


---

[Bridge – Xhosa (Yo-Landi, spoken like a creepy lullaby)]
Siyizigebenga zokuqala, asinamahloni,
Ubomi buyaxhaphaza — asinazo iinyembezi.
Singabantwana, kodwa isixeko siyalibala.
Ngaba uThixo usalapha? Hhayi…


---

[Verse 3 – Ninja (angrier, faster)]
We never grew up, we mutated,
From playground kids to street-rated.
Sixteen — prison, nineteen — grave,
They put a whole generation in an early cave.
We used to jump rope on the cracked-up tar,
Now we jump fences from unmarked cars.
Used to dream of cartoons and candy bars…
Now we dream of not being shot in our ma’s yard.
Aweh…


---

[Chorus – Yo-Landi (screaming it now)]
Kinders van die donker, ons lag in die hel,
Ons harte is stukkend, ons siel is vuil.
Geen drome oorbly, net vuur en vrees,
Dis nie 'n lewe nie — dis 'n gees in die reën.


---

[Outro – Both (weird, distorted voices, overlapping)]
Ninja: We were just kids…
Yo-Landi: Just kids… just kids… just kids…
Ninja: Now we ghosts in the ghetto.
Yo-Landi: Haha! Spook-kinders!
(sound: creepy child laughter, cuts out with gunshot echo)