Talib Kweli - Every Ghetto Pt. 2 lyrics

[Intro: Aloe Blacc] Here in the ghetto Everywhere Children are k**ed, children are dying In the ghetto Yea [Verse 1: Talib Kweli] Silence is prayer, prayer is love, love is faith, faith is service When I'm cuttin' the strings of the puppets That live in the ghetto, Geppettos is always nervous They love when we clutter the gutters And never discover our truest purpose And praying in vanity, that's the real profanity Not all that swears are curses “I swear!” Play it loud like Spike Lee's father Bangin' the drum, when we hang in the slums The beat is knocking the odds are never even It's far from the Garden of Eden The starving is robbin' and theivin' We bobbin' and weavin' the mark of the beast Like Muhammad Ali, no you're not gonna keep me here [Hook: Aloe Blacc] Here in the ghetto Everywhere Children are k**ed, children are dying In the ghetto [Verse 2: Problem] They only let you school ‘em when you got money, d** and guns All up in your backpack Got it for days when it get darker than them Aloe Blacc naps Respect my name, I get disrespectful as back slaps When I shoot your dog then some alley cats gon' sure clap back Put holes in heads like snapbacks But in that fact I don't mean this right, yes, demon fight He lean to write, bullets hit his soul, he cling to life That's just what I seen, but I'm tryna change it too But stayin' aware at the same time, see that's what the change'll do to you This money done f**ed me up a tad I could blame it on life, or the fact that I was an early dad But f** that, that's some cop-out sh** Sleepin' them stereotypes on some knock-out sh** Show these marks I ain't playin' no games on some lock out sh** This for them n***as that keep the work movin' when the cops out Cause even if I'm doing right, y'all throw the tear gas up in my house So I might as well get the bread cause the billy club gon' hit my head anyway War time, make me innovate, cop I emulate what you demonstrate Cause it's here [Hook: Aloe Blacc] Here, in the ghetto Everywhere Children are k**ed, children are dying In the ghetto Here, in the ghetto Everywhere Children are k**ing and dying In the ghetto [Verse 3: Talib Kweli] The leaders are asking what good is a rapper? (Good question) Well what come first, the hood or the rapper? (Good question) When factoring the n***a factories that we trapped in The rappin' is pretty accurate With love, we cold-blooded a**a**ins In the ghettos are lingos Children with polio sellin' smack in the grid of traffic k**ing each other for scraps, this sh** is pretty graphic Where love resides, like This American Quilt except it's a sh**ty fabric Malcolm said “Make it plain” but still we getting' elaborate The labyrinth, the towers of Babylon, the road less travelled on We tapping into the power within, the stables rattle on We put the saddle on, but hold a pale horse Black on black crime is a myth they make us believe with sheer force You can change what you wear and the effects will never wear off The cops shot the dealer to stop and got a man off Scientists too busy trying to reverse erectile dysfunction and hair loss To worry about these n***as who shootin' after a stare-off [Hook: Aloe Blacc] Here in the ghetto Everywhere Children are k**ed, children are dying in the ghetto Here in the ghetto Everywhere Children are k**ing and dying in the ghetto Everywhere Here in the ghetto Everywhere Children are k**ing and dying in the ghetto Yea [Outro: Aloe Blacc] Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere Make me wanna say Oooh, oooh, oooh Make me wanna say Oooh, oooh, oooh