It's been a long and whining road Even though time keeps a changin I'm-a bring it all back home I been told I spit lyrics wit politics Why wouldn't I? Says negro on my birth certificate
Born in 1960 in a nation Throughout / I've been a spokesperson For a generation Within the same ol' fear of a black planet 20 years of blood sweat and no tears for fanatics
So damn it If times is hard Time is god Understand it Never took time for granted It's all right Ma As child of the sixties All along the watchtower I can't bet they gonna miss me
I'm only bleeding Every grain in me Fans if not for you There be no P.E. From the Nashville skyline Girls in south country In this world gone wrong So here's another love song
We came a long way baby You know whats amazin The surprise we told these new guys Flav has always been crazy Hit London '87 like it was an invasion Toured the world for 3 years Hell with vacation Vocation of vocalization Especially with the impact of "It Takes a Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back" You bet there's blood on them bomb squad tracks "Black Steel," "Baseheads," "Party for Your Right to Fight" "Prophets of Rage," Bring the Noise" "Don't Believe the Hype" "Can't Do Nuttin for You Man" "911 is a Joke" 20 years we got here by actin like common folk Touring the world like a rolling stone Then the nineties came Welcomed y'all to the Terrordome Some threw it away, instead of something to say Cause the streets still ended up havin no names Since "Rebel without a Pause" beats were never the same And by 1998 we still had game.
Only a pawn in the game Chastised for namin names What was said and who said it Anti-nothing so forget it Tears of rage left a friend Blowin in the wind But time is god Been back for 10 years and black again Some of them same cats Help usher in gangster rap Damn our interviews were better than a lotta them acts. Praised the gangsta Just because it sold While consciousness Went from platinum to gold Seen a nation reduce "Fight the Power" to gin and juice Some people gave it up and turned it loose.
Beethoven, Bach, Brahms I want some James Brown Even Bruce, Brian, Bono, Beck, yeah Chuck Berry Prince, Stevie, Sly, Smokey, Johnny Cash in my Chevy Heard some call me an Uncle Tom Now that's petty I'm a songwriter fool I condense sense from right and wrong Livin in the key of protest songs From basement tapes Beyond them dollars and cents Changin of the guards spent Where the--went Most of their time out of mind Hatin my mess age rhymes Cant truss it, shut em down call it whatcha wanna But they made a day fit for a king By the time we got to Arizona
Tommorrow's a long time We got God on our side Over bass and drum beats hear the good rhymes ride A poison goin on Shelter from the storm Hard rain gonna fall Still the people rock on.