Intro
[Kanye West]:
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've also got this other thing that's been working for a really long time where you don't have to be racist anymore
It's called self hate
It works on itself
Just like that, when someone comes up and says something like "I am a god,' eveybody says "who does he think he is?"
Would it have been better if I had a song that said "I am a n*gga?"
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 colours and pantones 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's a slave owners
How could you say that?
How could you have that mentality?
[Esé Michael the Mighty Maverick]:
To the culture
Verse 1 [Esé Michael the Mighty Maverick]:
Pardon mis manos from the prayer position
A monotheist in his rare tradition
You heathens bare to witness
The barely there in unfair conditions
Watch Nat Turner tear and neatly pare religions
Simple prayer revision would even scare when mentioned
A nation scarce in comparison to their indigenous
Servants swear + impaired through these varied religions
Laissez-faire, croix de guerre, get them scared to mention us
All too conscious of my black wraith
A public enemy; suburbia been calling for that black mass
Service deeply buried, they want to execute my black ass
50 years later on my death, their flag wave half-masted
Just watch your idols in the ides of March
Divinely stark, the type to cross anyone that's blinded heart
Minds they parch, they starve the arts
This is harikari through some Harmon Kardon’s
This is a tag to lash, a ticket to brag
A ticket to bring Harlem back off our starving backs
They want our souls but if God is black they hardly match our Apple trees in the garden, Black
Gold chains ain’t a thing if you gaudy, flash
Retain your obsession with their laws and traps
This hardly trap, like Ye West but with Rawkus raps
Like Ya' Bey when parted Black
Stars been falling, black
I’m just answering my calling, Black
Cause I know it ain’t calling back
If I never hear the start of that
Or play a part in that
Ring a ding phone ping as they tap + screen
All my calls while you ordering the lavish things
Code meaning not a thing if you that in sync
We don’t need a bank statement, n*ggas rapping receipts
That’s on me
Cameras watching us so government cheese for the picture
Hook [Esé Michael the Mighty Maverick]:
Maybe I’m just a dreamer
And America’s the dream
Well, I would never leave her
But I know she can’t wait to get rid of me
We’re out here moving mountains
They say that they want Malcolm
But between him and Martin did we get a different outcome?
We the Panthers, black is power!
But you ain’t even gotta ask, yeah, I’m a man
Nina sang the warning so it’s time to go H.A.M
Persecute me if you can, America, goddamn
Verse 2 {Damone Tyrell]:
They been killing blacks
f*ck the chitter-chat
Bust a written rap for the activists 'cause they finna snap
No poetry the way they slam us
Tried to peaceful protest, which I'm not a fan of
Try to teach equality in which the say the land of
Saying "don't shoot" when I put my f*cking hands up
You can't take my fear away when you wave your handgun
Way these people dying make me feel this isn't random
See I dealt with a little bit of racial profiling
All because I'm black, but a n*gga move silent
Was with the peace just to keep it nonviloent
But now I keep a piece so the Blues bleed violent
Come-to-think-of-it, they grayed out Freddie
Sandra's death was bland
Treyvon Martin, king Michael's brown box it in with all these dreams
And a bunch of white masks, like this sh*t is Halloween
But more people here for the disrespect
They mis-intent, enforce us with empty threats
They often pressed by lies that they are oppressed
I'm often stressed by branding upon my chest
I'm just a slave
Depending on how I dress, it's either house n*gga or the field, I guess
It's either lie to your face or the real, I guess
They took us off the settlement, now we settle for less
And now, I'm going back and forth with it
Try to hit the north with it, be a force with it
But they reckon if they hit us with Confederacies they all we see that the world has done better with greed
And doesn't need equality coming straight from the bell that freedom rings
Kill the slave masters, second guess the pastor
History is done, it's time to turn the chapter
Now that we're free for good, what comes after?
Hook [Esé Michael the Mighty Maverick]:
Maybe I’m just a dreamer
And America’s the dream
Well, I would never leave her
But I know she can’t wait to get rid of me
We’re out here moving mountains
They say that they want Malcolm
But between him and Martin did we get a different outcome?
We the Panthers, black is power!
But you ain’t even gotta ask, yeah, I’m a man
Nina sang the warning so it’s time to go H.A.M
Persecute me if you can, America, goddamn
Verse 3 [Esé Michael the Mighty Maverick]:
I heard payback's a motherf*cking n*gga
That's why I'm sick of getting treated like a goddamn stepchild
f*ck a punk 'cause I ain't him
You got to deal with the 9-double-M
9-double-M, 9-double-M
9-double-M, 9-double-M
Yeah, ey
I'm all serious though
Yo, on Pretoria
Yeah, America
Stay off my di*k