LYRICS: Plumbline and Kraftmatiks – I Am Not A Criminal

(Songwriter:  Plumbline, Kraftmatiks)

Kitikiti, Olankiti ja 2x

Eni ba jale lere kan,
to tun d’aran bori, aso
ole lo da bo ra,
da bo ra, da bo ra pese.

I’m not a Criminal,
though I know what
it’s like to be locked
up in Area F,
My Offence being seen at the

Café while I went to print
my invite for interview,
and so by Design and
Subterfuge, I was compelled to

obsess over the peanuts
that was my penance
in exchange for the
ID Card that
seemed to scream loud

at Law enforcement
that I’m not a Criminal.

I’m not a criminal;
I’m that Stereotype
young black male that gets
shot with their hands up, way before

Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown,
Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice.
I am Kunle Adepeju,
felled by Police bullets

in front of Zik Hall,
University of Ibadan, 1971,
I am Dawodu Brothers,
Killed by Constable Ibe, 1987.
I am Odunola Ali, the female Corper

that got shot in 2000
not for photo-bombing
but for being within the

shooting range of the
Deputy Governor’s aide.
I am the myriads of
unaccounted,
undocumented blokes

that left their homes,
for a trip to the
unknown never to
return because
they were criminal enough to

step out with beards,
dreads and/or tattoos,
signed on yahoo,
with a Seventh user,
hand me down

Gionee body,
techno battery,
Mobile phone,
now a mobile
po-liceman is
being co-opted
into beating a

confession out
of you in spite
of your plea
that I am
not a criminal.

I am not a Criminal;
I am that young lad
with a gleam in the
eye surviving the
times in the dark alleys of

Peckham, my fate,
a delicate balance
between that of
John Boyega,
the Star in
Star Wars,
and Damilola

Taylor, the stabbed-in-the-
back boy. I’m not a Criminal;
I am the hardworking
Nigerian living in council

flats in South-East London,
avoided like plague by his
Nigerian classmate who is married to a

Scandinavian and lives in Canary Wharf.
I am not a criminal;
I am that young
Nigerian minding the Gap in

London Tube, working hard
for scrap to send home
and still have enough
left to fund my Oyster Card.

I am not a criminal
I’m that Nigerian
intern with the
Telegraph that
squirms over my President’s

interview knowing fully
well that for Capitalist media,
it’s all about the ratings,
tweets and retweets and

the harshness of the hashtags.
I am that Correctional
Officer in Houston
Texas, despised by Whites,

Blacks and Latino Prisoners,
because I’m the symbol
of their incarceration
none of them remembering

that I do this for my Nations:
I pay my Tax to Uncle Sam,
my Tithes to Pastor Sam,
and I remit my debts

to Uncle Lam in Ibadan,
who paid for my Flight
ticket and my DV application.
I am not a criminal, I’m

Chuka Umunna,
I’m Adebayo Ogunlesi,
Hakeem Olajuwon,
Chiewetel Ejiofor,
Jidenna, Olusegun Olumide

Adeola Samuel…
Seal, I am Sade Adu
I’m that nerd
working for Talk-Talk
trying to
upgrade the security

of your funds
So next time
I hand you my
green passport
don’t look at
me funny, because
I am not a Criminal

Kitikiti, Olankiti ja 2x

Eni ba jale lere kan
to tun d’aran bori
aso ole lo da bo ra
da bo ra da bo ra pese.

Copyright: Plumbline and Kraftmatiks