STRUGGLE - BLACK CURTAINS (Ft. WAYLON JENNINGS and JESSI COLTER)

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Contact: massbaum@gmail.com

Co-Directed by: Tyler Clinton & A.J. Rickert Epstein
Produced by: Sebastian Marbury & Edward 'Ounze' Crowe

Song Produced by: Will Power | SupaHot Beats
Mixed by: Matt Hayes and Blake Harden

A few words from Struggle himself on the making of the Black Curtains video:

"When the US Marshals took me into custody 2 years ago I had just finished recording my album.. So I knew the world would hear my story.. We dropped my first video a few days before I got arrested and the response was great.. But it was a cliff-hanger! It ends with me getting thrown in Jail, leaving my kids behind.. It needed a conclusion.. My trial was coming up and I knew I'd get transferred soon so I set a plan in motion to get a camera crew inside the County Jail.. Everyone said I was crazy.. Nobody ever pulled that off.. Yeah Johnny did Folsom Prison.. But Johnny went home after the show.. This was different.. After weeks of politics and red-tape, they agreed to give us 30 minutes to film what we needed.. It was one of those moments in life where things just come together.. No "acting".. No "directing".. Just reality.. It all started to make sense.. Why I wrote those lyrics.. Why I drove to Memphis that night even though everything told me not to.. Why I was sitting here in Jail.. It was the only way to make my words so real that they'd change my life.. That they could change someone else's life.. My Grandma Jessi always warned me not to put my kids out there in the media.. But I wrote Black Curtains for my son Will. Even though the message is the same for all the sons of the struggle, I'm speaking straight to him.. It had to be him in the video.. No "acting".. No "directing".. Everyone in that video means something to me.. Every place, every word has meaning.. So when the curtains are pulled back you're gonna see a piece of my soul.. Whether you think I'm right or wrong, all I ask is that you listen to my story.. And try to see the truth in it.."

"BLACK CURTAINS" Lyrics

(WAYLON)
In a white room, with black curtains, in the station.
Black roof country, no gold pavements, tired stars.
In a white room, with black curtains, in the station.

(STRUGGLE)
Daddy's a thug, mommas a saint
She sing a story to God, praying for change
The air's thick but the mic's warm
Cause you were chasing them rainbows right into the storm
Chasing her son cause he was out on the block
Cause shorty wanna be a thug an he listens to Pac
In the same streets pops got shot in
A legacy expected for him to get it poppin'
It's Fat Pete's boy tell em' for certain
Can't see the world passed these black curtains

(WAYLON)
In a white room, with black curtains, in the station.
Black roof country, no gold pavements, tired stars.
In a white room, with black curtains, in the station.

He stands still while the time flies
Got kids of his own, responsible for five lives
Come in late don't startle the dog
To bring home the bacon had to slaughter the hog
A father will fall so the family will rise
An when the Feds all arrive, it's time for goodbyes
The look in the eyes of a child all alone
Will make any king give up his throne
They look at his son, he'll have it for certain
So now I'm tearing down the black curtains

(WAYLON)
You said no strings could secure you in the station
Platform tickets, restless diesel, goodbye windows
I walked into such a sad time at the station
As I walked out, felt my own needs just beginning

(JESSI)
I wait in this place where the sun never shines
Down here with you where the shadows run from themselves

(STRUGGLE)
The streets told me what I was supposed to be because of who my daddy was
But if he would've been alive, he would've wanted me to be better than he was
So now as I see my son I say "Be better than I was son, break the cycle"
Like Waylon said, "I leave a lot to live up to, and a lot to live down"
My strengths, my weaknesses, the truth and the lies
So don't walk in my shadow, follow the light
And look past these black curtains