[Chorus] I don't want to be famous Cuz that sh** will k** you I don't want to be famous Cuz that sh** will k** you [Verse One] The money, power, or fame Or how many people be screamin' your name Doesn't equate to success or freedom to me I just wanna live and let my art breathe I just wanna be. I just wanna be. I just wanna to be-be I just want to be free What happened to Kurt, Janis Joplin or Jimi Miles, Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Amy Winehouse, or Whitney? That fame sh** is shifty Call it narcissism or call it the d** Call it too much power or the wrong type of love And everyone mad at Dave Chappelle For savin' himself I'm like, well. . My music can't translate to money, sonny My music is infinity. f** 50 million You can't buy my dignity They put Lupe in a bind The Roots been low budget for a long time Paris Hilton barley does a day But if you a rapper they give you the max and throw the key away Picture Talib Kweli questioned by the FBI Listening to Stokely Carmichael and they wanna know why I imagine all the people like John Lennon But then I remember all the people like John Lennon: Malcom, Huey, King, Kennedys, too many names to mention Arizona Sheriffs and vigilantes with raw aggression (Chorus) I don't want to be famous Cuz that sh** will k** you I don't want to be famous Cuz that sh** will k** you And I don't wanna be And I don't need to be And I don't wanna be And I don't need to be But I got to feed my family [Verse Two] Dave Chappelle's black white supremacist hit Kids in my cla** memorized the skit Couldn't interpret what Dave was tryin' to say: That ignorance is blind and so is hate So they actin' all KKK, runin' the hall way all day Yellin', “Go back to your country. White power.” Stupid kids thinkin' racism was cool Unaware that the Chappelle joke was aimed at you If I blew, these fools would misconstrue The sh** that I do You Say it's the year of the white MC That don't mean sh** to me I'm bi-racial homie I ain't got no fake ID And because I speak about race thing I'd be the first they paint crazy America loves Slim Shady Cuz that's poor white American rage Kicked over music built on black American pain And I too break free From break beats built from the cracks and the inequality I'm just a small town kid big city adopted Raised into a man Funky Finiquera where I stand Just a lonely mestizo Lettin' ink flow over the alchemist instrumental I write knowin' people goin' paint me black or white But worse come to worse my people come first And I fight (Chorus) I don't want to be famous Cuz that sh** will k** you I don't want to be famous Cuz that sh** will k** you And I don't wanna be And I don't need to be And I don't wanna be And I don't need to be But I got to feed my family (Verse, Three) I never believed in such a thing as bad music Just misguided lyrics and crap that's useless I don't believe in white music I don't believe in black music I believe the fact is that black people were the first to do this Created American music Then the white kids started started groovin' and wanted to do the same sh** From hip hop to jazz They called it devil music or a fad Cuz the music was born black But it takes both, you know White man invents the saxophone Oppresses black man Black man teaches the white man how to dance And make that motherf**in' horn blow, ey yo! Don't get me wrong. I love legends like Dylan's and Lennon's I just make objections when people say rock and roll and only white names get mentioned What happened to Muddy, Chuck, and Kool Herc? The ones who made that sh** groove first? Hey, I give no love to a hip hop Elvis Black or lilly white, wearin' a block of ice in the summer time You the type to get held over the balcony by a Suge Knight Stars fall Vanilla ice Yikes And Hip Hop ain't that black and white The truth is The first b-boys were Puerta Ricans And you can't get no Run DMC without out no Rick Rueben And he's Jewish. So don't ask me what the f** I'm doin' (Chorus) I don't want to be famous Cuz that sh** will k** you I don't want to be famous Cuz that sh** will k** you And I don't wanna be And I don't need to be And I don't wanna be And I don't need to be But I got to feed my family Credits