Afro-Juju Anthem Remix

Lyrics

Burg City Records in Poetic Collaboration with tHE JB StUDiOs presents: The Afro-Juju Mega-Poem ANTHEM ​REMIX I — VORTEX PROTOCOL: ARCHIVAL Metamorphosis after all. ​ ​[INTRO — THE SIGNAL BEFORE SOUND] ​(Deep sub-bass. A single heartbeat. Oja flute enters from a distant sonic horizon.) ​VOICE OF ORIGIN — whispered: Before the breath, before the name, Before the spark could recognise flame, Before the clock could measure time, There was a Source beyond design. ​(Three clock ticks. Silence.) ​BRXB — low transmission: Ooooooh! ​BLACK RHYTHM & SOULFUL BLUES — The Blueprint of Di Juju Xound ​(Benin drums awaken. Bass begins to rotate in a slow, expanding vortex.) ​ ​[ACKNOWLEDGEMENT — GOD BEFORE BEGINNING] ​(Choir enters softly. The drums pause beneath the prayer.) ​Before beginning, GOD already dey. Before creation, GOD no need permission to be reside. Before darkness find shadow to hide, Na GOD be the Light wey darkness no fit divide. Before history learn how to write, GOD hold tomorrow inside the womb of night. We bow to the Source wey no source fit contain, The breath inside joy, the strength inside pain. No crown fit define You, no system explain, No ending fit cancel wetin You sustain. GOD within sound! GOD through the roots! GOD all around! ​(Choir, layered in stereo) GOD in the origin! GOD in the becoming! GOD is in the Work before the beginning! ​ ​[VERSE 1 — JUJU: ARCHITECT OF THE ROOT] ​Juju enter the vortex, no be visitor, Root-born thinker, cultural continuator. Pain be the pressure, I turn am to power, Memory be seed, I make history flower. Dem try erase me, I return as a pattern, Dem lock one chapter, I reopen the archive. I carry old wisdom through tomorrow's portal, Root-locked system, rhythm immortal. No be borrowed identity, no be costume for show, Na the blood of remembrance where the current must flow. From the dust to the drum, from the drum to the code, From the code to the people, make the city take hold. Pressure for chest, still my vision no bend, Turn distress to expression, make creation transcend. ​(Ad-libs: “ROOT TALK!” “MEMORY LIVE!” “AFRO-JUJU!”) ​[CHORUS I — WE ARE RECURRING] ​LEAD: Who are we? CHOIR: WE ARE THE RHYTHM! LEAD: What do we carry? CHOIR: THE ROOT AND THE VISION! LEAD: What do we become? CHOIR: THE FUTURE IN MOTION! ​ALL VOICES: We are the rhythm wey collapse no fit kill, We are the river wey remember the hill. We are the drum inside the sky, We are the truth wey refuse to die. We are the memory beneath the skin, We are the future wey the past dey bring. ​[VERSE 2 — MATRIARCH FIRE: THE VOICE WEY NO FIT CONTAIN] ​(The beat strips down to heartbeat, breath, and one sustained flute note.) ​WOMAN — spoken, calm and absolute: You built your system and named it the world, You drew your borders and called them the truth, You collected our stories and claimed them your property, Stripped down the glory to manage the youth. ​But tell me— Who gave you the ground to stand? Who carried the memory before your archive began? ​(A single drum strikes.) ​WOMAN — rhythmic delivery: I was never your data, never your design, I am the living dimension beyond your thin line. You fit count every footprint, every tear that we shed, But you no fit own the wisdom of the living and dead. I be mother of memory, the keeper of flame, The hand that raised generations before history came. You fit map my movement, you fit measure my pace, But no algorithm ever matches this place. ​I AM NOT CONTAINED. I AM WHAT CONTAINS. ​ ​[VERSE 3 — THE ANCESTRAL VORTEX] ​Edo for the heartbeat, Yorùbá for the line, Every tongue carries memory across the span of time. Our languages no be ornaments for display, Na vessels of knowledge that still illuminate the way. ​Ẹni tó bá mọ ayé, kò ní sọ̀rọ̀ púpọ̀— Wisdom speaks quietly before the truth can unbutton. ​From Benin to the world, let the drum testify, From the market to the palace, let the heritage amplify. From the elder's quiet lesson to the children's invention, We dey build tomorrow straight from ancestral intention. ​African Memory, Intelligence combined, Future Imagination—three forces aligned! CONTINUUM BY DESIGN! ​[BRIDGE — SYSTEM BREAK / MEMORY INVERSION] ​System stutters, the network reverses, The data is breaking the logic it nurses. You think say archive na where story go sleep? Na where history gathers the power to leap. ​If the record get missing, we go speak am again, If the rhythm get broken, we go beat am again! ​No be repetition— Na continuity's mission! ​No be return alone— Na metamorphosis grown! ​(Massive bass drop. Full choir. Drums accelerate into the next section.) ​JUJU: We no be echo wey dey beg for attention. We be the source of the sound's continuation. ​FINAL SEAL: ​We do not inherit memory merely to admire yesterday. We inherit memory to understand today, transform what harms us, and create possibilities for tomorrow. Black Rhythm & Soulful Blues — The Blueprint of Juju Sound. Same roots. New generations. Infinite continuum.