Last night (it's not done yet, not by far) I'm so tired of living my life in "what if" Cuz all I'm really doing is prolonging the "what is" I don't need the metaphorically Cuz technically that is hypothetically And really all those damn similies Really aint doin nothin for me Sometimes people can't help but dream Cuz they're sick of seeing reality that's such bull that the grass is green Cuz every person sees what they wanna see And really you can't be free Cuz there are Caged Birds just like Alicia Keys See now most songs are telling us That the government is scheming against us But I want to see where they get their Royalty checks And when they see everything going on in third world countries They telling us that's where we need to put our checks But see at least the government providing food stamps Cuz these artists making us feel like we should have regrets Last time I checked, we live in the U.S. And we sending out troops to help Cuz LL even said he wasn't gone help Ask 50 would he go out there Why he didn't enlist And yet, who paying for that ice round their wrist? Right.. But see, Eminem, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Game too They all knew the only way to get ahead is to piss off people, So I guess I'ma be the next person to piss off you... Now Oprah got a lot of nerve, I know won't no one else aim for her But I don't really care, Cuz I'm half crazy, so I don't really mind going there See, I know she's supposedly doing it up for her nationality But look at where she live, look at her community And I don't really see any black faces in her audience Unless they making a salary of a really wanted lawyer or she's touching models faces going: "Oh, you're just so black" Now I know I'm not the only one who watch her So I know I'm not the only one to have heard that Now see it's funny how we can get pissed off about what Eminem say But completely ignore what our own people say See this is why they call it "white America" But see, I'ma say it like Lauryn Hill: "If I ruled the world" Like Murphy Lee: "I DO NOW" I might just be the only female willing to drop a little bit of knowledge... Now all these girls got good strong lyrics And P-Star comin out right down New York's line But aint nobody tryin to sign shorty, And all the otha girls is sick of tryin If you can't sing They don't want you Unless you got a cute face Then we need you So when did records come about looks Instead of the text? Is this why Leela askin what happened? And Jay-Z started gettin stressed? What if we become who we haven't been? Instead of claimin change like we been doin all these years? Progress can be made While our own contradictions askin what if we become accustomed to the way it is? Well, that's why our kids are our future Cuz they don't know nothin til we force it upon them Just like we didn't know nothing til it was forced upon us So in turn, we're influencin our kids Head bangin to Tupac saying "That's just the way it is..." But it's not because progress can be made We holdin our own future like a picture frame Last time I remembered pickin up my phone I was crying my best friend's name After findin out my ex was locked up the 2nd time Shit got a lil too heavy on his grind But as I calmed down, I remembered his daughter Why was I crying, hell I'd be fine But what about her? Whose comforting her? That's when I realized Being black, the white man says: We get too "swept up in our crime" Not seeing that it's our own people over time So they startin to claim it's our fault it crept into main stream Cuz we sellin every little bit out the seem of our jeans But the bigger picture is: The only one really gettin paid is blamin us So what we're really trying to do is walk away Until they up college funds In attempts to make us stay Who else they gone put in those jail cells That they been buildin for us since we was in 3rd grade? So not knowin what to do Where we turn and who to We stay in the streets Sayin this bid is for my kid I'll be damned if my kid don't got the oppurtunity to go to college But them fools sit up in college talkin bout: "Fuck college, I'ma be like Kanye!" And can't write a lyric to save they life So like my Grandmother I just watch quietly and sigh What more progress can be made if it isn't made soon? [Not done..]