A-Roy - More Than Music lyrics

(Verse 1) If I say “I am hip hop”- what does that mean? Am I chasing after the things I see on the screen? Am I posted on the corner, pushing crack to the fiends? Or best dressed, swagged out, and the girls think I'm clean? Old folks say we living a dream, or even worse it's a curse When a rapper grabs a pen to write a verse Hit the web we blog, tweet and steal mp3s Zombies to the Internet now instead of TV Society is not in touch with reality Whether that be the streets, or the university Or even Christianity – what happened to our quest for truth? Living so self-centered, it's affecting the youth Rappers are preachers from the booth, ain't no use in lyin' ‘bout it You say you ain't a role model, who gon' buy yo' album? The kids-grown folk don't care bout yo' hits I'm so sick of famous n***as acting careless wit they lips Ok, what if we say it's really not a movement It's just music, there ain't nothing to it It's an industry we use it, a tool to get money ‘Cause these label heads already think we stupid So if we get rich and sell out We ain't gotta worry bout keeping it real, we can bail out Nowadays the end justifies the means ‘Cause cash rules everything around me – CREAM! (Chorus) When I go to bed at night, I contemplate Did I do the best I could with what I know today? And if tomorrow never comes, will my soul be saved? I gotta grow, I gotta give mo', the road's been paved…so I listen to my hip-hop, criticize my hip-hop Giving through my hip-hop, living through my hip-hop Charging up my hip-hop, smarter ‘cause of hip-hop At times tired of it, but still inspired by hip-hop (Verse 2) When I say “I am hip hop” – I know exactly what that means But defining it is not a simple thing You hear us say “it's all good,” it's cool to be a thug And you made it once you're rich from the raps or the d** Or both, but I would argue hip hop's much more Still it includes all the things that I mentioned before When I was young Master P taught me all about dope And Too Short told tales about pimping hoes But I also heard ‘Pac singing praises to his mama Tellin' ladies “keep ya head up” through all the drama Nas told me young blacks are born to be stars And Lauryn warned “Karma! Karma! Come back to you hard” This culture lifted, a stigmatism That kept the world split by our race divisions And different religions, we were trapped in the system But the art of expression freed our voice from its prison From the poor black ghettos to the Latin barrios To mainstream America, the Netherlands, Tokyo The world clearly shows that hip-hop accepts all faces And bridges gaps like braces So I smile wide, I represent with no shame I'm a hip hopper, I wear the clothes I use the slang I listen to it all, negative and positive And I ain't the last one this music still teaching kids (Chorus)