[Verse 1: Bishop Lamont]
I throw my 2 cents in
Well make it 5 percent then
If black man is God then the ghetto must be heaven
Under fire, holy war, guess the races are the devil
Or the non-believing atheist that restrict us to this level
Level yard where there's guards or street level
Where's there's no cross guards
So the children get crossed
Get lost get struck by vehicles
With no car facts
These type of rides can't buy at a car max
Self hatred from hatred
The process is ancient, ignorance, violence
Innocence they take it
She once was a higher priestess in a temple so sacred
And now anyone can enter, desecrate it
We went from pyramids to cribs
From Amen-Rah to niggas that be rah rah
Grown men continuing the curse
A curious case of Benjamin Button
Living life in reverse
[Hook]
Lil' ghetto boy
Playing in the ghetto streets
What'cha gonna do when you grow up
And have to face responsibility?
[Verse 2: Ras Kass]
Transforming from O-Dog to mo' gods
MK Asante with a flow job
Create a Mecca in the ghetto what is your Hajj
Pilgrimage instilling kids with some no large
Mathematics and knowledge what is your prob'
Making our youth dumber than a fucking door knob
Avalanche they brains with white shit that's a snow job
Discovered by little shorties while stealing forties
Fuck you talking about, she move west late fifties
Black migration from the south
Advance to Louisiana
With my grandpa and grandma
Granny, 7 sisters, 3 brothers
Dream of less discrimination, better education
We Cali natives, first generation
Watts Towers, wilted flowers
A lot of us don't make it to adults succumbing to white power
Tattoo on their face, what a young nigga do
What about when you're 28 on a job interview
My brothers and sisters, followers instead of leaders
Rich chicks with a bad attitude , is called a diva
But a broke chick with a bad attitude, just called a stupid bitch
I'll preach if you insist
Consequences and repercussions
When the boys turn to men and the self destruction
[Hook]
[Verse 3: MK Asante]
Gods in the hood, trapped in facades in the hood
Always getting even cause what's the odds in the hood
So we mob, so misunderstood we overstand
City of applause clapping like it's Pakistan
Rosewood to Rosecrans, young boys on their Conan
Freedom or death, not a slogan
Like the Nature of a Threat ain't a slow jam
My elohims off that wet through the badlands
Black cinematics, so visual
And if it's gods in the ghetto this the ritual
Children of the night candlelight the vigil
Smoke a L with Ellison now we visible
Something out of nothing maximize the minimal
Prison Indust' turning Gods to criminals
Forcing us to revise these spirituals
For your mental reviving our pinnacle
[Hook]
[Verse 4: Talib Kweli]
This the poetry of the damned
This the song for those who finish singing
People's perception is their lethal weapon
You can lead the rebel to the revolution
But you can't make him do the shooting
I'm schooled in the ways cause the teacher's a cursed at me
Indulge in the perks of the job like Nurse Jackie
Self medicated I'm writing my own prescription
Self preservation I diagnose my condition
Conflicted by these visions of living with my addiction
Convicted by religion this planet is heaven's prison
This my resurrection invested my breath as eleven risen
When you survive and not living
You ain't making the best decisions
I'm hardly a role model, I'm quick to stick chicks
That's thicker than Coke bottles get wicked with no problems
So shallow with my feelings , I'm feeling my soul hollow
Said my voice is the one that people done chose to follow
Never gasp I don't feel I'm so special I'm no Mavado
Green as avocado
These light weighted rappers get faded off of Moscato
Mix it with bravado I'm legendary Apollo
[Hook]
