Bravery doesn’t mean a lack of fear.
True bravery is facing fear.
So without fear then, there is no bravery.
But when there’s fear without bravery that’s slavery
to fear, which is scary.
Sorry I digress, I guess using that logic would suggest
that the most courageous amongst us must possess
inordinate amounts of fear and stress
but yet still live life to its fullest. Meet my mother,
next to me she’s the biggest worrywart that you’ll ever see.
I mean she gets scared by the sound of a sneeze
and the thought of being late brings shakes to her knees.
But don’t let that surface shit fool ya,
‘cuz when it comes to true guts my mom’ll school ya.
First of all, just so you know, my mom’s sixty-one.
Over the last few years, well here’s some shit she’s done:
kickboxing, weightlifting, capoeira, mountain climbing,
belly dancing, ran marathons…four times
and three times to the arctic to work with the Inuit,
then she walked to Guelph, just to see if she could do it.
So when I’m being interviewed, asked how a Jewish kid
from Canada ever thought he could make it in rap music
I say that I pursued it because my mom influenced me to
always walk the path that seemed the most true to me,
no matter how daunting, unstable, imperfect,
my mom was always there for me exemplifying courage.

I’m the mom, I’m the son,
we sat down to have some fun.
But little did we know by the time we were done,
that what would emerge from this unprecedented merger
nothing short...of a dialogue on courage.
She’s my mom, he’s my son
but when we sat across a table
pens in hand blank page, we rose above those labels
and were peers…inspired by each other,
I see courage in my son, & I see it in my mother.

Pencil and paper in his small hands,
superheroes emerged first took their stand.
Captain Carrot, the Boggler et al,
the pictures of bravery when he was small.
Later, taking time off after high school,
living in the real world, gathering tools.
Canada World Youth, learning how to give,
finding what it means to be human, how to live.
Stepping outside what you already know,
that’s one way of making you grow.
Coming back to Canada, going to school,
doing what was expected , following the rules.
Prepping for the nine to five society expects,
just doing it and doing it, no time to reflect.
Then somehow that voice that keeps calling our name,
my boy heard, he listened and everything changed.
With his hands and his heart, he once again drew
from the world around, what was politically askew.
A cartoonist who, with strokes of black ink,
made people laugh, then stop and think.
It requires courage to keep listening to that voice,
courage also to know you really have no choice.
Then Andy turned to music, to words and a beat,
telling his life making experience concrete.
When he raps and sings about things that are real
it reaches, teaches others, makes them feel.
So when I hear and see Abs rap to a crowd,
I listen, I smile, he does me real proud.

[Repeat Chorus]

Courage, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,
at least the courage you see, watching your TV.
Evil Knievel leaping canyons on his bike,
that does take guts but it’s not the only type of
courage can come in the quiet of the night,
can’t sleep, heart beating, sweating, chest tight.
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,
there’s no hiding spot from something that’s inside.
There’s distractions, but they’re always temporary,
eventually it’s back to just you and what’s scary.
Time to plant your two feet on the ground and stand tall,
as your fears chase each other round.
Let ‘em run till they run themselves ragged.
Let ‘em run till they’re wheezing, gasping.
Let ‘em run till they’re no longer running stuff
and you can see, like when the sun is up,
Just what it was that the fear was trying to teach you,
it was courage that allowed it to reach you.

[Repeat Chorus]