Common - It's Your World lyrics

(feat. 'POPS') [Verse 1] Night Blows, Stoves don't work, Hoes at work A warrior, so I wear 'em on my shirt Wish I was free as Che was, I spend a day buzzed Tripping on heights, wishing for Nikes in different flavors The age of Kane and Big Daddy,shown by the caddies Uncles named Larry, that really never grabbed me My mother gave birth but she really never had me Left to the hood to play daddy Raised by n***az named Butch through the bay bay With waists so they weigh they status on the streets License plates that say they, motto This is Chicago in the hay day Similar to Good Times, I guess that I was Jay Jay A skinny n***a, young girls with penny figures So many n***az, stacked upon each other It's the black upon each other that we love so much Wonder how many of us, these d** gonna touch Used to g**n, ain't really thug that much Rather have some thick broads then the dutch to clutch Went to school in Baton Rouge for a couple of years My college career got downed with a couple of beers Came back home, now I gotta pay back loans Same n***a, same block, same sh** they own Only thing different, quicker, they click that chrome In my defense, yo I had to hit that zone Man to man, I'm good working with my hands My generation never understood working for the man And, of being broke I ain't a fan Now I stand in the same spot, as my old man My life I planned not to be on this corner I still wanna see California But this is my world [Chorus Repeated Overlapping:] "It's your world" [Common] Yeah [Verse 2] Life and d**h law around us Four pounds and pounds a verb from out of towners It's hard to stay grounded We stay high, thats why old folks down us Lost, nobody found us, the force that surrounds us Ain't with us, they get us on the ground and hit us We paint pictures of the chains under their names and scriptures Removed from earth, only to return through birth Knew this girl selling her body, wish she knew what it was worth. Between God and trash, looking in every car that pa** With a walk that suggests head, to milk n***az she was breastfed She know dairy so she say cheese to get bread In the area where it's more weaves and less dreads Kinda scary, amongst thieves and base-heads Said it was her toes, but I could tell her soul hurt She was cold turk, growing up she got to know hurt very well in a world where self hate is overt Her step-father that he was ike, so her mother he striked she got to like like minded n***az, who liked crimes and figures Doing white lines and liquor, see hard times had kicked her In the a**, it used to be thicker Life is fast, some choose to be quicker I remember in high school she had a pa**ion to sing Now she see herself in a casket in dreams These are the children of crack and rap, blacks done lack Self-esteem, yo we forgot the dream On our Jefferson's y'all but we forgot the theme In the Chi, we even rooting for a garbage team This queen never seen herself on this Corner She still wanna see California But this is her world [Chorus repeated several times] [Kids stating their dreams] ['POPS'] Be, be here, be there, be that, be this Be grateful for life, be grateful to life Be gleeful everyday, for being the best swimmer among 500,000 Be-nign, be you, be mom's mean pie, be little black sambo With bad hair Be aware of what a lynch is, Be, be boundless energy Be a four star ghetto general, be no one except I Be a strong academic student, be an A student in sociology Be food for thought to the growing mind, be the author of your own horoscope Be invited, be long-living, be forgiving, be not forgetful Be a proud run, only to return to fight another day Be peaceful if possible, but justice in ways (?) Be high when you low, be on time but knowing to go Be cautious of the road to college, taking a detour through Vietnam or the middle east Be absent of wars at any past or present fought amongst themselves Be visual of foreclosure over your shoulder while begging A nation built on free labor for reparation, Be a cartopogropher Be a map maker, be able to find afro-american man search thoroughly it may be close to black man Be ammended 5/5ths, be ammended 5/5ths human Be the owner of more land than is set aside for wild life Be cupid, to world government Be found among the truth, lost tribe Be at full strength when walking through the valley Be not foolish as tender 18 of the mountain tops Be a brilliant soul, sparkling in the galaxy while walking on earth Be loved by God as much as God loved Ghandi and Martin Luther King Be that last one of 144,000, be the resident of that twelfth house Be....eternal!