"Justice" Words & Music by Cassandra Wilson Display

"JUSTICE" (Cassandra Wilson © Onakomaya Music / Warner Bros. Music SESAC)

[From the album BELLY OF THE SUN. Visit the Artist here: http://www.cassandrawilson.com ]


Give me a bottle of justice
I'll take that bottle of justice
I hear it sets you free
You can be just who you want to be
Who you want to be
I think I'll have some of that
Now wrap it up real nice for me, please

Pass me a slice of opportunity
I'll have that slice of opportunity
I hear it fills you up
Makes you shine just like summer buttercups
Summer buttercups
I think I'll have some of that
Wrap it up real nice for me, please

I could act as if I just don't care
But some of that could take me anywhere
In a universe that's still unknown, I'd be home
Some of that is all I'm asking for
Some of that and nothing less, nothing more
Some of that is all a body needs
To be free, to be free

Give me a box of reparation
I'll take that box of reparation
No not the little one
I want the big one that matches my scars
It's such a pretty thing
Something I've needed since I came here from afar
So very far
I think I'll have some of that
Wrap it up real nice for me, please

Some of that
You know I need it
Gotta have it
You know I want it
Gotta have it
Gotta, gotta have it
You know I need it
I want it
Some of that
Some of that
All of that

• Category

  Music

[Gemeos1974]

"Justice" has a deep rhythmic undercurrent, a blues power—appropriate historically speaking because black musicians have long contested the social injustices experienced by black Americans within the blues idiom. She finds metaphors for ‘justice’ by drawing on the language of consumerism; in each of the three verses she seeks to buy the things that will make her a truly equal citizen.

[Gemeos1974]

In an interview with Rhonda Hamilton on WBGO (Newark, NJ), Wilson commented on the inspiration behind "Justice":

I wrote ‘Justice’ about the time of the [2000] presidential election.

I was so frustrated and so disappointed in the outcome. I really

felt for those people whose vote did not count. It just seemed so

sad to me that in the year 2000 there were still black people who

were having difficulty voting.  That’s why the song was written,

that was the inspiration."