"Five shots couldn't drop me,
I took it and smiled."

Words that had my dear Tupac Amaru Shakur be known once as one of the toughest on the streets, during the nineties. Words that now have me smile (don't be alarmed - definitely not condescendingly, at the most talented rap artiste that ever was) at a man that I once thought to be tougher than I am.

Five shots, Tupac?

Over two decades-long of the most merciless scourging;
the plundering of a kidney, and a lung - and more;
afflictions like unto that of HIV/AIDS, and cancer, and leprosy;
do I have to mention also that of mine which is holy,
and those of mine which are pearls,
AND the fruits of all that which was derived thereof -
plundered and defrauded of me?
All these and more, my dear 2Pac - and worse!
couldn't drop me;
I take it and stand -
For The Grace of my Creator sustains me.
And I swear to this most accursed of all generations
that I'll set the record straight,
despite all the cunning with which thou strives
to cover up the most grievous atrocity of all time -
to conceal The Naked Truth, literally!

O thou most accursed of all generations,
do use all the conceit at thy disposal
to think up the most cunning of all plots -
hast thou not now added even a silencer
to the gun you've been shooting me with
for over twenty years?

Dream on.
I'll not call thee damned yet,
but thou remains the most accursed of all generations that have ever been;
and that which I said unto thee yesterday,
I say unto thee today,
and thou wilt hear it from my tongue until thy guilt in all its entirety is......

Mi o gba ebe
l'aiye, l'orun, l'abe ile.

Continue to work for that only which can be thy best,
and that only which can be my worst -
that there never has been a righteous God.

The Naked Truth (29th of March, 2019).