Police State (opening vocals by Chairman Omali Yeshitela)
[Chairman Omali Yeshitela] You have the emergence in human society of this thing that's called the State What is the State? The State is this organized bureaucracy It is the po-lice department. It is the Army, the Navy It is the prison system, the courts, and what have you This is the State -- it is a repressive organization But the state -- and gee, well, you know, you've got to have the police, cause.. if there were no police, look at what you'd be doing to yourselves! You'd be killing each other if there were no police! But the reality is.. the police become necessary in human society only at that junction in human society where it is split between those who have and those who ain't got [Dead Prez] I throw a Molotov cocktail at the precinct, you know how we think Organize the hood under I Ching banners Red, Black and Green instead of gang bandanas F.B.I. spyin on us through the radio antennas And them hidden cameras in the streetlight watchin society With no respect for the people's right to privacy I'll take a slug for the cause like Huey P. while all you fake niggaz {*UNNNGH*} try to copy Master P I want to be free to live, able to have what I need to live Bring the power back to the street, where the people live We sick of workin for crumbs and fillin up the prisons Dyin over money and relyin on religion for help We do for self like ants in a colony Organize the wealth into a socialist economy A way of life based off the common need And all my comrades is ready, we just spreadin the seed (Chorus: Dead Prez) The average Black male Live a third of his life in a jail cell Cause the world is controlled by the white male And the people don't never get justice And the women don't never get respected And the problems don't never get solved And the jobs don't never pay enough So the rent always be late; can you relate? We livin in a police state [Dead Prez] No more bondage, no more political monsters No more secret space launchers Government departments started it in the projects Material objects, thousands up in the closets Could've been invested in a future for my comrades Battle contacts, primitive weapons out in combat Many never come back Pretty niggaz be runnin with gats Rather get shot in they back than fire back We tired of that - corporations hirin blacks Denyin the facts, exploitin us all over the map That's why I write the shit I write in my raps It's documented, I meant it Every day of the week, I live in it; breathin it It's more than just fuckin believin it I'm holdin them ones, rollin up my sleeves an' shit It's cee-lo for push-ups now, many headed for one conclusion Niggaz ain't ready for revolution (Chorus: Dead Prez) {*police siren wails*} [Fred Hampton] I am.. a revolutionary and you're gonna have to keep on sayin that You're gonna have to say that I am a proletariat I am the people, I'm not the pig [another speaker] Guiliani you are full of shit! And anybody that's down with you! You could man-make things better for us and you cuttin the welfare Knowin damn well when you cut the welfare, a person gon' do crime..