Chorus: How could this happen, I thought we were better than this, your rights were taken away by a gun and some bullshit

Verse 1: frozen when I heard the news, but numb to it all I ain't get the blues, couldn't act surprised, man I swear I saw it coming, trigger happy cops been stealing lives like its nothing, seeing no changes, stuck in a nightmare, war outside and the battle field is right here, hands up don't shoot, tryna take cover, wanna build a safer world, leave it for my lil brother, he shouldn't have to walk around with the fear, of getting shot down when a cop comes near, and I'm scared for him, but he ain't scared yet, cuz he don't know that he a target that they fear yet, sad reality I know that, but we gotta break the pattern, and prove to America black lives really matter, if we don't guaranteed we will never find peace,
hands up hold em high for the world to see, Hands up

Chorus: How could this happen I thought we were better than this, your rights were taken away by a gun and some bullshit, now it's time that we stand up, make a change cuz we had enough, our hearts are broken and we owe you, we owe you that much, so we put our hands up

Verse 2: It's like the world ain't safe for me to live in, corrupt cops, to gunshots, and dirty politicians tryna end my vision, making it hard for us to maintain, with all the odds against us getting really hard just to remain sane, but looting only adds gas to the fire, educate ya self ya peers and then inspire, future generations, to see we all equal, and through the cloudy days, we can stand against the evil, put body cameras with badges, stop persecuting the masses, the past is, behind us, the time is now, hands up guns down, rip mike brown, rip Tamir rice, rip Ramarley, Garner, Grant, Sean bell, and I can hardly, remember the others because the list still going, but we won't stop fightin till justice start showin, we can't stop fightin and we won't stop, so hands up

Bridge: Put your hands up to the sky, keep them there all day and night, let them know you're worth the fight, the fight

Chorus: How could this happen I thought we were better than this, your rights were taken away by a gun and some bullshit, now it's time that we stand up, make a change cuz we had enough, our hearts are broken and we owe you, we owe you that much, so we put our hands up