we came here when I was a child,

before I reached the age of 16

I was runnin’ with the gang and we were wild

He keeps looking but he don´t recognize me,

some guy from Lexington or Park

Red beans and rice from kitchen window,

it’s supper time and the Barrio is dark

No one knows you like I do,

nobody can know your heart the way I do

No one can testify to all that you´ve been through, but I will

I was born in Puerto Rico, and my blood is Taino,

Spanish Carribean my soul

We came here wearing summer clothes in winter,

hearts of sunshine in the cold

Your family rented this apartment,

you’d watch the streetlamps from your perch

In the sacramental hour your stepfather in black

preached the fire of the Pentecostal church

No one knows you like I do,

nobody can know your heart the way I do

No one can testify to all that you’ve

been through but this will

I was born in Puerto Rico,

came here when I was a child

Small change and sunlight,

and I left these streets for good,

my days as short as they were wild

I’m Carlos Apache, Angel Soto,

Frenchy Cordero, Babu Charlie Cruz

Your features blurred in ev’ry grainy photo,

and fading headlines of the Daily News

Wyltwyck school for crimonal children,

Auburn, Brooklyn House of D.,

Dannemora, Sing-Sing, Attica,

Greenhaven, 20 years inside, today you’re free

You cannot even read your story,

the pages piling up in shame,

before the words released you

The guard would kill the light,

the night you took

The Capeman for your name

I was born in Puerto Rico (8x)