[Verse 1: KRS-One]
Today's topic, self construction
We all came together just to tell y'all something
Guns in school ain't right to me
You gotta be the peace you'd like to see
See yourself free
I use my mind beyond time to talk to the future me
See yourself wealthy
It's time to settle all these beefs, man, yo Nelly help me
[Verse 2: Nelly]
It's like we livin' in that you can't stop me era
Like man when I see you I'ma pop you era
Like we ain't learned nothing from the 2Pac error
From the B-I Terror, take a look in the mirror
Gets your hands out your pockets like man
It's time we get up get out and get sumthin' get a plan
You know a plan not a scam
I'm talkin' sumthin' beneficial in helpin' the next man
[Verse 3: Styles P]
From self destruction to self construction
Really depends on self production
Our family's dysfunctional but we could function
To make our next generation's options something
Better than we had which was close to nothing
Come from the ages of minimum wages
Brothers is outrages, millennium slave tips
Put it in the book but we ain't go through the pages
[Verse 4: Redman]
What I like to see is MCs get along
If you gotta buck a shot throw it in a song
Get your lyrics up it all sound wrong
When I drop I rock till the cows come home
[Verse 5: The Game]
I never thought I'd tell anybody to put a gun down
Till last week I saw a 12-year-old kid gone down
This ain't what life's about
All this shoot 'em up, "bang bang" you never think twice about
That's somebody's son you shot, somebody's daughter you slaughtered
I shed tears for our dearly departed
And the shooters get X'd like Malcolm
One dead in the grave, one behind bars is the outcome
[Hook: Ne-Yo]
Self construction
I said what we doin' to each other what we need
Self construction
Cryin' mothers, dying brothers what we need
Self construction
Never ever ran from the Ku Klux Klan
Shouldn't have to run from a black man
We need self construction
Hey, self construction, hey
[Verse 6: Method Man]
Look at the pot callin' the kettle black
I'm in the ghetto black
And I ain't tryin' to be where Dillon and Shawn Belle is at
I show these people where hell is at
It's right around the corner from no hope where the dope be sellin' at
[Verse 7: Busta Rhymes]
Ayo I'd like to see us open the lines of communication
Prioritizing and dealing with self preservation
Being constructive is something I'm completely endorsing
Cause the mind state of the youth kinda needed some reinforcement
[Verse 8: Wise Intelligent]
Hip-hop's responsibility goes far beyond rappin'
We can talk about the happens, sing songs without action
Activist activism must enforce your lyricism
This is how you counteract violence and lying politicians
[Verse 9: Rakaa Iriscience]
Cut throat America, powder keg California
Big business Wu Shaolin, hip hop is out to warn ya
Black or brown; brown and black, North and South beef
Self construction now, these rockers all about peace
[Hook: Ne-Yo]
Self construction
I said what we doin' to each other what we need
Self construction
Cryin' mothers, dying brothers what we need
Self construction
Never ever ran from the Ku Klux Klan
Shouldn't have to run from a black man
We need self construction
Hey, self construction, hey
[Verse 10: Talib Kweli]
I ain't cosigning none of that obnoxious rhymin'
We losin' babies to the streets so we could not be silent
Together we could stop the violence, we listen to music
Even bullets be whistlin' when the shots is firin'
[Verse 11: Rah Digga]
Chicks ain't even exempt now
Even got us goin' in and out of the pen now
Years in the game, think it's goin' on ten now
Must be mad think I'm putting the pen down
[Verse 12: Lil AJ, KRS-One]
I wasn't here for the first movement
I'm thirteen let me put in my 2 cents
A nation divided equals silence
So let's join together to stop the violence
