[Intro: Kanye West]
"So, I understand we want to make it about music but I wanted to take this step to say, we got this new thing called classism. It's racism's cousin. This is what we do to hold people back. This is what we do. And we got this other thing that's also been working for a long time when you don't have to be racist anymore. It's called self-hate. It works on itself. It's like real estate of racism. Where just like that, when someone comes up and says something like, 'I am a god,' everybody says 'Who does he think he is?' I just told you who I thought I was. A god. I just told you. That's who I think I am. Would it have been better if I had a song that said 'I am a n****,' Or if I had a song that said 'I am a gangster' or if I had a song that said 'I am a pimp.' All those colors and patinas fit better on a person like me, right? But to say you are a god, especially when you got shipped over to the country that you're in, and your last name is a slave owner's. How could you say that? How could you have that mentality?"
[Verse 1]
Look... Rumble, young man, rumble
I become the greatest at dodging these police things, b**ble
Where I'm from, though, some young men mumble and slouch
Just so they don't get pointed out
Take the bass out they voice, don't intimidate those without
What you know about blacks dragged beneath horses
To blacks that breach the Forbes list
That's black increased portions
Black inpeached corpses, we're natural resources...
From slavery to crack babies
To the money that they making from us in cages
It's amazin' how the government can sell a lie
This time the revolution shall be televised
Just not broadcasted live
But you been well advised
No spooks sittin' next to my door, I can smell a spy
Kanye, Vanilla sky
Flow like wherever I go I keep a panther rifle
Accessorized with my clothes, no cut to my dope...
[Hook]
We're no longer n*****, we're gods now
We're no longer black, we're gold from here out
Natural resources, naturally resourceful resources
We're no longer wetbacks, we are gods now
No longer brown, we'll go from here out
Natural resources, naturally resourceful resources
[Verse 2]
We made meals out of pig s***
Now rich kids eats soul food and asks for chitlins
Sometimes privilege is cripplin'
We ate s*** cause we had to, that's the difference
Although it's hard to break negative traditions
Nostalgic indifference, I come from a house of Christians
Who are Christians because they came from a house of Christians
I stopped following when I couldn't figure out the difference
Between us and Muslims, us and Buddhist, us and Jewish customs
And who the f*** is to tell me
That I'm closer to Hell because I'm becoming wealthy
Like I should perform less efficiently, take a small turn
Or that l******s and gay men will all burn
We all turn to some higher power at that last hour
Hopefully out of love, not because you're a scared coward
We bear our beliefs on our sleeves
Like we can't be cordial unless we agree
As for me, I believe...
[Hook]
"So, I understand we want to make it about music but I wanted to take this step to say, we got this new thing called classism. It's racism's cousin. This is what we do to hold people back. This is what we do. And we got this other thing that's also been working for a long time when you don't have to be racist anymore. It's called self-hate. It works on itself. It's like real estate of racism. Where just like that, when someone comes up and says something like, 'I am a god,' everybody says 'Who does he think he is?' I just told you who I thought I was. A god. I just told you. That's who I think I am. Would it have been better if I had a song that said 'I am a n****,' Or if I had a song that said 'I am a gangster' or if I had a song that said 'I am a pimp.' All those colors and patinas fit better on a person like me, right? But to say you are a god, especially when you got shipped over to the country that you're in, and your last name is a slave owner's. How could you say that? How could you have that mentality?"
[Verse 1]
Look... Rumble, young man, rumble
I become the greatest at dodging these police things, b**ble
Where I'm from, though, some young men mumble and slouch
Just so they don't get pointed out
Take the bass out they voice, don't intimidate those without
What you know about blacks dragged beneath horses
To blacks that breach the Forbes list
That's black increased portions
Black inpeached corpses, we're natural resources...
From slavery to crack babies
To the money that they making from us in cages
It's amazin' how the government can sell a lie
This time the revolution shall be televised
Just not broadcasted live
But you been well advised
No spooks sittin' next to my door, I can smell a spy
Kanye, Vanilla sky
Flow like wherever I go I keep a panther rifle
Accessorized with my clothes, no cut to my dope...
[Hook]
We're no longer n*****, we're gods now
We're no longer black, we're gold from here out
Natural resources, naturally resourceful resources
We're no longer wetbacks, we are gods now
No longer brown, we'll go from here out
Natural resources, naturally resourceful resources
[Verse 2]
We made meals out of pig s***
Now rich kids eats soul food and asks for chitlins
Sometimes privilege is cripplin'
We ate s*** cause we had to, that's the difference
Although it's hard to break negative traditions
Nostalgic indifference, I come from a house of Christians
Who are Christians because they came from a house of Christians
I stopped following when I couldn't figure out the difference
Between us and Muslims, us and Buddhist, us and Jewish customs
And who the f*** is to tell me
That I'm closer to Hell because I'm becoming wealthy
Like I should perform less efficiently, take a small turn
Or that l******s and gay men will all burn
We all turn to some higher power at that last hour
Hopefully out of love, not because you're a scared coward
We bear our beliefs on our sleeves
Like we can't be cordial unless we agree
As for me, I believe...
[Hook]