Every Ghetto, Pt. 2 - Talib Kweli, Aloe Blacc, Problem

Here in the ghetto

Everywhere

Children are killed, children are dying

In the ghetto

Yea

Silence is prayer, prayer is love, love is faith, faith is service

When I’m cuttin' the strings of the puppets

That live in the ghetto, Geppettos is always nervous

They love when we clutter the gutters

And never discover our truest purpose

And praying in vanity, that’s the real profanity

Not all that swears are curses

«I swear!»

Play it loud like Spike Lee’s father

Bangin' the drum, when we hang in the slums

The beat is knocking the odds are never even

It’s far from the Garden of Eden

The starving is robbin' and theivin'

We bobbin' and weavin' the mark of the beast

Like Muhammad Ali, no you’re not gonna keep me here

Here in the ghetto

Everywhere

Children are killed, children are dying

In the ghetto

They only let you school ‘em when you got money, drugs and guns

All up in your backpack

Got it for days when it get darker than them Aloe Blacc naps

Respect my name, I get disrespectful as back slaps

When I shoot your dog then some alley cats gon' sure clap back

Put holes in heads like snapbacks

But in that fact I don’t mean this right, yes, demon fight

He lean to write, bullets hit his soul, he cling to life

That’s just what I seen, but I’m tryna change it too

But stayin' aware at the same time, see that’s what the change’ll do to you

This money done fucked me up a tad

I could blame it on life, or the fact that I was an early dad

But fuck that, that’s some cop-out shit

Sleepin' them stereotypes on some knock-out shit

Show these marks I ain’t playin' no games on some lock out shit

This for them niggas that keep the work movin' when the cops out

Cause even if I’m doing right, y’all throw the tear gas up in my house

So I might as well get the bread cause the billy club gon' hit my head anyway

War time, make me innovate, cop I emulate what you demonstrate

Cause it’s here

Here, in the ghetto

Everywhere

Children are killed, children are dying

In the ghetto

Here, in the ghetto

Everywhere

Children are killing and dying

In the ghetto

The leaders are asking what good is a rapper?

(Good question)

Well what come first, the hood or the rapper?

(Good question)

When factoring the nigga factories that we trapped in

The rappin' is pretty accurate

With love, we cold-blooded assassins

In the ghettos are lingos

Children with polio sellin' smack in the grid of traffic

Killing each other for scraps, this shit is pretty graphic

Where love resides, like This American Quilt except it’s a shitty fabric

Malcolm said «Make it plain» but still we getting' elaborate

The labyrinth, the towers of Babylon, the road less travelled on

We tapping into the power within, the stables rattle on

We put the saddle on, but hold a pale horse

Black on black crime is a myth they make us believe with sheer force

You can change what you wear and the effects will never wear off

The cops shot the dealer to stop and got a man off

Scientists too busy trying to reverse erectile dysfunction and hair loss

To worry about these niggas who shootin' after a stare-off

Here in the ghetto

Everywhere

Children are killed, children are dying in the ghetto

Here in the ghetto

Everywhere

Children are killing and dying in the ghetto

Everywhere

Here in the ghetto

Everywhere

Children are killing and dying in the ghetto

Yea

Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere

Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere

Make me wanna say

Oooh, oooh, oooh

Make me wanna say

Oooh, oooh, oooh