Charleston, SC artist R Dotta’s “Can’t Run Can’t Hide” is, for me, a mix between Lil Baby and J Cole. It’s soulful conscious rap with an edge, plain and simple. It’s also a track that’s been inspired by “the harsh realization of being a Black man in America,” as we often don’t have trust in leadership to actually change things. I mean, let’s be real. A lot of the leadership in this country has failed the minority population of the country when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of it.

Yes, Obama signed universal health care legislation into law. That was great progress (progress that was later defanged a bit, but progress nonetheless). However, gun violence by people against unarmed Black men and women still happened/happens. And what are we left to do? We’re left to always pick up the pieces, protest, hashtag it and then repeat the sickening cycle. We’re left to wait until the next person decides to shoot one of us, stab one of us, place their knees on our necks, etc. while others just look and say “what a shame” and do nothing but post blacked-out IG profile pictures.

As you can tell, as a Black man in America, I’m fed the fuck up with the status quo. I’m trying to enact change through my job, my music, my writing and so on. But honestly? Shit is hard, so I applaud R Dotta for speaking his peace on this one. Check out the song below, support dope music in all its forms and remember that all lives can’t matter until the general consensus is that Black lives, in fact, matter.