Saul Williams - 2Pac's “Changes” lyrics

[Verse 1: 2Pac] I see no changes, wake up in the morning and I ask myself: "Is life worth living? Should I blast myself?" I'm tired of being poor and, even worse, I'm black My stomach hurts so I'm looking for a purse to snatch Cops give a damn about a negro Pull the trigger, k** a n***a, he's a hero "Give the crack to the kids: who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare!" First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal to brothers Give 'em guns, step back, watch 'em k** each other "It's time to fight back", that's what Huey said 2 shots in the dark, now Huey's dead I got love for my brother But we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other We gotta start making changes Learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers And that's how it's supposed to be How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me? I'd love to go back to when we played as kids But things change... and that's the way it is [Hook: Talent] That's just the way it is Things'll never be the same That's just the way it is Aww yeah [Verse 2: 2Pac] I see no changes, all I see is racist faces Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races We under, I wonder what it takes to make this One better place, let's erase the wasted Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right Cause both Black and White are smoking crack tonight And the only time we chill is when we k** each other It takes sk** to be real, time to heal each other And although it seems heaven-sent We ain't ready to see a Black President It ain't a secret, don't conceal the fact: The penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks But some things will never change Try to show another way but you staying in the dope game Now tell me, what's a mother to do? Being real don't appeal to the brother in you You gotta operate the easy way "I made a G today" but you made it in a sleazy way Selling crack to the kids, "I gotta get paid!" Well hey, but that's the way it is [Hook] [Talking] We gotta make a change It's time for us as a people to start making some changes Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live And let's change the way we treat each other You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do What we gotta do to survive [Verse 3: 2Pac] And still I see no changes, can't a brother get a little peace It's war on the streets and a war in the Middle East Instead of war on poverty They got a war on d** so the police can bother me And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do But now I'm back with the facts giving it back to you Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up Crack you up and pimp-smack you up You gotta learn to hold your own They get jealous when they see you with your mobile phone But tell the cops they "can't touch this" I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this That's the sound of my tool You say it ain't cool, my mama didn't raise no fool And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped And I never get to lay back Cause I always got to worry 'bout the payback Some buck that I roughed up way back Coming back after all these years "Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!" That's the way it is [Hook] Some things never change