Now I wasn't raised at gunpoint
and I've read too many books
to distract me from the mirror
when unhappy with my looks
and I ain't got proper diction
for the makings of a thug
though I grew up in the ghetto
and my n****** all sold drugs,
and though that may validate me
for a spot on MTV
and give me all the airplay
that my bank account would need,
I was hoping to invest in
a lesson that I learned
I thought this fool had jumped me
just because it was my turn.
I went to an open s***e
because I knew he wouldn't do it
if somebody there could see him
or somebody else might prove it,
and maybe in your eyes
it may seem I got punked out
because I walked in their own path
and then went and changed my route.
But that open-ness exposed me
to a truth I couldn't find
in the clenched fists of my ego
or the confines of my mind
or the hip-ness of my swagger,
or the swagger of my step,
the scowl of my grimace,
or the mean-ness of my rap.
Because we represent a truth son,
that changes by the hour,
and when you open to it,
for nobility is power,
in that shifting form you'll find a truth that doesn't change
and that truth is living proof of the fact that God is strange...
Talk to strangers
when the family fails and friends led you astray
and Buddah laughs and Jesus weeps and turns out God is gay.
As angels in disguise love can come in many forms,
the hallways of your projects or the fat girl in your dorm,
and when you finally take the time to see what they're about
perhaps you find they're lonely or their wisdom trips you out.
Maybe you'll find the cycles end
right back where you began,
but come this time around
you'll have someone to hold your hand,
who prays for you who is there for you
who sends you love and light,
exposes you to parts of you
that you once tried to fight.
And come this time around
you choose to walk a different path,
you'll embrace what you turned away
and cry at what you laughed,
because that's the only way
we're going to make it through this storm,
where ignorance is common sense
and senseless is the norm.
Infact we're high above the truth
and that you never touch,
and stolen goods are overpriced
and freedom costs too much,
and no-one seems to recognise
the symbols come to life,
the bitten apple on the screen
and Jesus had a wife,
and she was his Messiah
like that stranger may be yours,
who holds a subtle knife
that carves through worlds
like magic doors,
and that's what I've been looking for,
the bridge from then to now,
just watching B.E.T like what the f*** son,
this is foul
But that's where [Boston?] represents
this fear that we live in,
the world is not a flat screen
I ain't trying to fit in.
But this ain't for the underground
this here is for the sun.
A seed a stranger gave to me
and planted on my tongue.
And when I look at you,
I know I'm not the only one.
As a great man once said,
there's nothing more powerful
than an idea
who's time
has come
and I've read too many books
to distract me from the mirror
when unhappy with my looks
and I ain't got proper diction
for the makings of a thug
though I grew up in the ghetto
and my n****** all sold drugs,
and though that may validate me
for a spot on MTV
and give me all the airplay
that my bank account would need,
I was hoping to invest in
a lesson that I learned
I thought this fool had jumped me
just because it was my turn.
I went to an open s***e
because I knew he wouldn't do it
if somebody there could see him
or somebody else might prove it,
and maybe in your eyes
it may seem I got punked out
because I walked in their own path
and then went and changed my route.
But that open-ness exposed me
to a truth I couldn't find
in the clenched fists of my ego
or the confines of my mind
or the hip-ness of my swagger,
or the swagger of my step,
the scowl of my grimace,
or the mean-ness of my rap.
Because we represent a truth son,
that changes by the hour,
and when you open to it,
for nobility is power,
in that shifting form you'll find a truth that doesn't change
and that truth is living proof of the fact that God is strange...
Talk to strangers
when the family fails and friends led you astray
and Buddah laughs and Jesus weeps and turns out God is gay.
As angels in disguise love can come in many forms,
the hallways of your projects or the fat girl in your dorm,
and when you finally take the time to see what they're about
perhaps you find they're lonely or their wisdom trips you out.
Maybe you'll find the cycles end
right back where you began,
but come this time around
you'll have someone to hold your hand,
who prays for you who is there for you
who sends you love and light,
exposes you to parts of you
that you once tried to fight.
And come this time around
you choose to walk a different path,
you'll embrace what you turned away
and cry at what you laughed,
because that's the only way
we're going to make it through this storm,
where ignorance is common sense
and senseless is the norm.
Infact we're high above the truth
and that you never touch,
and stolen goods are overpriced
and freedom costs too much,
and no-one seems to recognise
the symbols come to life,
the bitten apple on the screen
and Jesus had a wife,
and she was his Messiah
like that stranger may be yours,
who holds a subtle knife
that carves through worlds
like magic doors,
and that's what I've been looking for,
the bridge from then to now,
just watching B.E.T like what the f*** son,
this is foul
But that's where [Boston?] represents
this fear that we live in,
the world is not a flat screen
I ain't trying to fit in.
But this ain't for the underground
this here is for the sun.
A seed a stranger gave to me
and planted on my tongue.
And when I look at you,
I know I'm not the only one.
As a great man once said,
there's nothing more powerful
than an idea
who's time
has come