a Spotlight on Hip Hop
People are judgmental--
Quick to pass judgement on things
They know nothing of
Based on hear say
Coated in rash generalizations
And topped with assumption...
There are two sides to every story--
Two pictures on every coin,
A positive and negative,
Opposite but equal reactions
Stem from this one point of origin.
A sea full of voices
But the radio only plays a few,
The media, the news, the charts
Slave to shock and awe,
Controversy sells...
Mainstream insanity; nonsense
To prevent messages of truth and inhumanity
Voices suppressed and hidden
Squeezed between vulgar hooks
Or money maker tracks...
And while one's out broadcasting violence
Rapping about money and sex,
sex and money--
drugs, money, and sex
The whole world's missing the beauty
Lyrical revelations of struggle
A poetic empowerment of invisible voices
Alive and brave behind microphones.
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| Tupac/2Pac |
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| Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes |
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| Common |
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| K'naan |
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| Lil' Wayne |
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| Eve |
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| Some of my favorite hip-hop lyrics (in no particular order): 2Pac -- Keep Your Head Up " You know what makes me unhappy When brothas make babies, and leave a young mother to be a pappy And since we all came from a woman Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman I wonder why we take from our women Why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it's time to kill for our women Time to heal our women, be real to our women And if we don't we'll have a race of babies That will hate the ladies, that make the babies And since a man can't make one He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one So will the real men get up I know you're fed up ladies, but keep your head up" 2Pac -- Changes "Come on come on I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself, "Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?" I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black. My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch Cops give a d*** about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a n****, he's a hero. Give the crack to the kids who the h*** cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare. First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal to brothers. Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other. "It's time to fight back," that's what Huey said 2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead. I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere Unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin' changes. Learn to see me as a brother 'stead of 2 distant strangers. And that's how it's supposed to be. How can the devil take a brother if he's close to me? I'd love to go back to when we played as kids But things changed, and the's the way it is." Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five -- The Message "A child is born with no state of mind Blind to the ways of mankind God is smiling on you but he's frowning too Because only God knows what you'll go through You'll grow in the ghetto, living second rate And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate The places you're playin', where you stay Looks like one great big alley way You'll admire all the number book takers Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens And you wanna grow up to be just like them, huh, Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers Pickpokets, peddlers even panhandlers You say "I'm cool, I'm no fool!" But then you wind up dropping out of high school Now you're unemployed, all non-void Walking 'round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd Turned stickup kid, look what you've done did Got sent up for a eight year bid Now your manhood is took and you're a may tag Spend the next two years as a undercover f** Being used and abused to serve like h*** Till one day you was found hung dead in a cell It was plain to see that your life was lost You was cold and your body swung back and forth But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song Of how you lived so fast and died so young" TLC -- Waterfalls [Left Eye]: "I seen a rainbow yesterday But too many storms have come and gone Leavin' a trace of not one God-given ray Is it because my life is ten shades of gray I pray all ten fade away Seldom praise Him for the sunny days And like His promise is true Only my faith can undo The many chances I blew To bring my life to anew Clear blue and unconditional skies Have dried the tears from my eyes No more lonely cries My only bleedin' hope Is for the folk who can't cope With such an endurin' pain That it keeps 'em in the pourin rain Who's to blame for tootin' 'caine into your own vein What a shame You shoot and aim for someone else's brain You claim the insane And name this day in time For fallin' prey to crime I say the system got you victim to your own mind Dreams are hopeless aspirations In hopes of comin' true Believe in yourself The rest is up to me and you." Common ft. Lauryn Hill -- Retrospect to Life "Knowin' you the best part of life, do I have the right to take yours 'Cause I created you irresponsibly Subconsciously knowin' the act I was a part of The start of somethin', I'm not ready to bring into the world Had myself believin' I was sterile I look into mother's stomach, wonder if you are a boy or a girl Turnin' this woman's womb into a tomb but she and I agree, a seed we don't need You would've been much more than a mouth to feed But someone I would've fed this information I read To someone my life for I would've had to lead Instead I led you to death" K'naan -- Strugglin' "I start out, just to vibe out I ain't about to bow out I'm more gangsta than you are But I ain't about the rou' rou' My season'll come, it has to Honestly I feel like I'm ten months pregnant or somethin' I'm passed due. Sincerely I'm touchy these days I can't take nothin', I'm tryna treat my record like the law S***, I'm dying to break something And mostly, I'm up and stressin' When other folks sleep Believe me, I know struggle, and struggle knows me My life owes me, like an overdose I'm slowly, drifting in the arms of trouble Then trouble holds me And nothing else is close to me More than pain unfortunately Like a self fulfilling prophecy, I'm supposed to be Strugglin', and it's trouble in In the circumstance I'm dwelling in I find myself in the corner huddling With some angry men and I gotta settle s*** again Before they gotta kill again" Lil' Wayne ft. Bruno Mars -- Mirror "With everything happening today You don't know whether you're coming or going But you think that you're on your way Life lined up on the mirror don't blow it, woo. Look at me when I'm talking to you You looking at me but I'm looking through you I see blood in your eyes I see the love in disguise I see the pain hidden in your pride I see you're not satisfied And I don't see nobody else I see myself I'm looking at the... Mirror on the wall, here we are again Through my rise and fall You've been my only friend You told me that they can understand the man I am So why are we here talkin' to each other again?" Eve -- Love Is Blind " Hey yo, I don't even know you and I hate you See all I know is that my girl friend use to date you How would you feel if she held you down and raped you? Tried and tried, but she never could escape you. She was in love and I'd ask her how? I mean why? What kinda love from a n**** would black your eye What kinda love from a n**** every night make you cry? What kinda love from a n**** make you wish he would die? I mean s*** he bought you things and gave you diamond rings But them things wasn't worth none of the pain that he brings And you stayed, what made you fall for him? That n**** had the power to make you crawl for him I thought you was a doctor, be on call for him Smacked you down cause he said you was tall for him, huh? That wasn't love, babygirl you was dreamin' I could have killed you when you said your seed was growin' from his semen Love is blind, and it will take over your mind What you think is love, is truly not You need to elevate and find" |
