[Chorus]
Self-preservation is the rule
Rule-rule, the rule
The rule when you do aim
Self-preservation is the rule
Rule-rule-rule
Rule when you do aim
Self-preservation is the rule
Rule-rule, the-the rule-rule
The rule when you do aim
Bring the power back to the street
Bring the power back to the street-street-street where the people live
[Verse 1]
Uh
I see power in your hands, truth in your voice
You speak from the heart like you never had a choice
You think for yourself, even when they use force
Tryna shrink your vision, sayin’ you been warned
Same old tricks to knock a prophet off course
Systems of control, ‘bout as real as their law
Money’s just paper, hope you ready for the fall
Permanent is temporary, seen it all before
All that ever helped was the spirit and the mind
Of a child made of love born into the wrong time
With a vision of the future who just couldn’t let it go
Young Kendrick with the flow, John Lennon on the dope
Hunter S. with the pen, Mandela on parole
Sex Pistols with [?], George Clinton, the soul
Look up to the punks, we learn how to be leaders
And may the spirit never leave us
[Chorus]
Self-preservation is the rule
Rule-rule, the rule
The rule when you do aim
Self-preservation is the rule
Rule-rule-rule
Rule when you do aim
Self-preservation is the rule
Rule-rule, the-the rule-rule
The rule when you do aim
Bring the power back to the street
Bring the power back to the street-street-street where the people live
[Verse 2]
We’re livin’ through an ice age
Undead stumble up the highway
I watched the world burn from my driveway
Try to block it out with the high grade
I got a migraine
To a higher state, yeah, a new mind space, but
Who’s left to move or inspire me?
They kill our heroes everyday
That’s why I step into this booth with a page from my diary
It’s too real, too much I feel
To ever hold my tongue, was never part of the deal
‘Cause I was taught another way by a Ms. Lauryn Hill
The miseducation of my people, so ill
Who can lead us, give us hope?
When the system says the system ain’t broke? I know
There’s a way because you proved there was
A rebel with a cause, so beautiful
[Chorus]
Self-preservation is the rule
Rule-rule, the rule
The rule when you do aim
Self-preservation is the rule
Rule-rule-rule
Rule when you do aim
Self-preservation is the rule
Rule-rule, the-the rule-rule
The rule when you do aim
Bring the power back to the street
Bring the power back to the street-street-street where the people live
[Verse 3]
Another black boy found hangin’ from a rope
Politician knows it won’t cost him a vote
There’s refugees sinkin’ sixty miles off the coast
How long you gonna stand there, butterin’ your toast?
I’m guilty of it too and it’s stuck up in my throat
Sometimes I’m lyin’ to myself about the things I know
Believe that there’s a high road and somewhere we can go
Could turn this to the promised land and rid us of these ghosts
Gotta be the change, write the words to ease my peoples pain
Clouds pass, out the dark, ‘cause your freedom reigned
My heroes moulded me when I was just a piece of clay
Now I’m polished and the game will never be the same
Don’t be thinkin’ that a change’d come a different day
I’m ready now and I know I got the right of way
I’m not a hero but I’m here for the fight
Not a martyr but I’m givin’ you my life on the mic
Real
[Outro]
(Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic)
(Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic)
(Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic)
(Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic)
(Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic)
(Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic)
(Life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic, life on the mic)
(Life on the mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic, mic)
