Rhael "Lionheart" Cape
A Sunday Morning in 2004
Dad’s snoring battled the TV
my face was three feet away from,
Mum’s slow paced slippers slid
across laminated floor sounding
like an open mouth chewing gum
as the week’s Coronation Street Omnibus
allowed us to catch up on everything
responsibilities made us miss.
However some Sundays we’d wake up
and line for line we’d sing the chorus
to Jay–Z’s ‘Hard Knock Life’
rapped verses from ‘The Blueprint’
and ‘Reasonable Doubt’
vicariously hopping on the track
as if hurdlers waiting for their approaching bar
hoping the jubilation from feeling like Jay-Z
lasts like a looped victory lap
on a track record we’d never skip.
Our generational gap
an interlude that ran smooth
into connecting with her son
on this particular Sunday,
mum grabbed my afro hairspray
mid verse
like a cordless microphone
handed it to me
as though it were a relay baton, said
take this and run with it,
you’re God’s Champion.
Never forget
none of my friends speak,
we’re all tryna win.*
*quote from Jay-Z’s song ‘D’evils’ (Reasonable Doubt Album)
Dad’s snoring battled the TV
my face was three feet away from,
Mum’s slow paced slippers slid
across laminated floor sounding
like an open mouth chewing gum
as the week’s Coronation Street Omnibus
allowed us to catch up on everything
responsibilities made us miss.
However some Sundays we’d wake up
and line for line we’d sing the chorus
to Jay–Z’s ‘Hard Knock Life’
rapped verses from ‘The Blueprint’
and ‘Reasonable Doubt’
vicariously hopping on the track
as if hurdlers waiting for their approaching bar
hoping the jubilation from feeling like Jay-Z
lasts like a looped victory lap
on a track record we’d never skip.
Our generational gap
an interlude that ran smooth
into connecting with her son
on this particular Sunday,
mum grabbed my afro hairspray
mid verse
like a cordless microphone
handed it to me
as though it were a relay baton, said
take this and run with it,
you’re God’s Champion.
Never forget
none of my friends speak,
we’re all tryna win.*
*quote from Jay-Z’s song ‘D’evils’ (Reasonable Doubt Album)
LionHeart is a TEDx Speaker, Award Winning Poet and International Spoken Word Performer. With recognition from the likes of Emeli Sande, Akala, Floacist (Floetry), The Voice and more, in addition to being commissioned by Lloyds, the BBC, the British Library for Shakespeare’s 400th birthday and leading pharmaceutical companies worldwide.Worked/Performed for The HipHop Shakespeare Company, Rapport Agency, Southbank Centre, Shoreditch House, Viacom, Capitol One Finance, 4Talent and more. Appeared on Russell Simmons All Def Poetry in LA, Performed at Nuyoricans in NYC, Camden's infamous Jazz Cafe, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and various other prestigious stages in the UK.