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1. |
| 4:57 | 
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Hey, yeah, we the same brothas from a long time ago
We was talkin' about television and doin' it on the radio What we did was to help our generation realize They had to get out there and get busy cause it wasn't gonna be televised We got respect for you rappers and the way they be free-weighin' But if you're gon' be teachin' folks things, make sure you know what you're sayin' Older folks in our neighborhood got plenty of know-how Remember if it wasn't for them, you wouldn't be out here now And I ain't comin' at you with no disrespect All I'm sayin' is that you damn well got to be correct Because if you're gonna be speakin' for a whole generation And you know enough to try and handle their education Make sure you know the real deal about past situations It ain't just repeatin' what you heard on the local TV stations ...Sometimes they tell lies and put 'em in a truthful disguise But the truth is that's why we said it wouldn't be televised They don't know what to say to our young folks, but they know that you do And if they really knew the truth...why would they tell you? The first sign is peace, tell all them gun totin' young brothas That the man is glad to see us out there killin' one another We raised too much hell when they was shootin' us down So they started poisoning our minds tryin' to jerk us all around And they tell us they got to come in and control our situation They want half of us on dope and the other half in incarceration If the ones they want dead ain't killed by what they instigated They put some dope on a brotha's body and claim it was drug related Tell them drug related means there don't need to be no investigation Or at least that's the way they're gon' play it on the local TV stations All your 9-millimeter brothas...give them somthin' to think about Tell them you heard that this is the new word, they got to work that stuff out But somehow they feel in the wrong way with a gun in their hands They feel real independent...but they just pullin' contracts for the man Five and five will tell you it's hopeless out there on the avenue But if they really knew the truth...why would they tell you? And if they look at you like you're insane And they start callin' you scarecrow and say you ain't got no brain Or start tellin' folks that you suddenly gone lame Or that white folks had finally co-opted your game Or worse yet implying that you don't really know... That's the same thing they said about us...a long time ago Young rappers, one more suggestion before I get out of your way But I appreciate the respect you give me and what you got to say I'm sayin' protect your community and spread that respect around Tell brothas and sistas they gotta calm that bullshit down Cause we're terrorizin' our old folks and brought fear into our homes And they ain't got to hang out with the senior citizens Just tell them, “Dammit...leave the old folks alone” And we know who rippin' off the neighborhood, tell them, “That BS has got to stop!” Tell them you're sorry they can't handle it out there But they got to take the crime off the block And if they look at you like you're insane And they start callin' you scarecrow and say you ain't got no brain Or start tellin' folks that you suddenly gone lame Or that white folks had finally co-opted your game Or worse yet saying that you really don't know... That's the same thing they said about me a long time ago And if they tell folks that you finally lost your nerve That's the same thing they said about us, when we said, “Johannesburg” But I think the young folks need to know, that things don't go both ways You can't talk respect of every other song or just every other day What I'm speakin' on now is the raps about the women folks On one song she's your African Queen on the next one she's a joke And you ain't said no words that I haven't heard, but that ain't no compliment It only insults eight people out of ten and questions your intelligence Four letter words or four syllable words won't make you important It'll only magnify how shallow you are and let everybody know it And if they look at you like they think you insane Or they call you scarecrow thinkin' you ain't got no brain Or start tellin' folks that you suddenly gone lame Or that white folks have finally co-opted your game Or you really don't know...They said that about me a long time ago If they finally start to tell people that you lost your nerve That's what they said about Johannesburg You ain't insane...you have got a brain You haven't gone lame; you have got your game Remember...keep the nerve Keep the nerve Keep the nerve Keep the nerve ...I'm talkin' about peace |
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| 2. |
| 7:48 | 
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| 3. |
| 5:44 |
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Give Her a Call on the Spirits album, 1994.
My life is one of movement I been running as fast as I can I've inherited trial and error directly from my old man But I'm committed to the consequences Whether I stand or fall And when I get back to my life I think I'm gonna give her a call She's been waiting patiently For me to get myself together And it touches something deep inside When she said she'd wait forever Because forever's right up on me now That is, if it ever comes at all And when I'm back to my life I think I'll give her a call. |
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| 4. |
| 3:14 |
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| 5. |
| 3:00 |
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It's getting to be the time of year
When people once spoke of love and good cheer Peace on Earth and good will to all men And we all believed that there'd come a day When peace would be much more than "on it's way" Cause peace has been on it's way since I don't know when And the folks who decide what will be They haven't confided in me And i don't think that everybody can wait 'til then It makes me sad that my kids won't see Christmas the way it used to be I was so excited though we didn't have a dime But that seems like such a long time ago And I am still a child I know But it seems like we've lost much more than the time Cause the folks who decide what will be They haven't confided in me And I don't think that everybody can wait 'til then No, I don't think that everybody can wait 'til then No, I don't think that everybody can wait 'til then |
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| 6. |
| 5:25 |
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| 7. |
| 6:10 |
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| 8. |
| 6:40 |
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| 9. |
| 7:33 |
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Back when Eisenhower was the President,
Golf courses was where most of his time was spent. So I never really listened to what the President said, Because in general I believed that the General was politically dead. But he always seemed to know when the muscles were about to be flexed, Because I remember him saying something, mumbling something about a Military Industrial Complex. Americans no longer fight to keep their shores safe, Just to keep the jobs going in the arms making workplace. Then they pretend to be gripped by some sort of political reflex, But all they're doing is paying dues to the Military Industrial Complex. The Military and the Monetary, The Military and the Monetary, The Military and the Monetary. The Military and the Monetary, get together whenever they think its necessary, They turn our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the planet into a cemetery. The Military and the Monetary, use the media as intermediaries, they are determined to keep the citizens secondary, they make so many decisions that are arbitrary. We're marching behind a commander in chief, who is standing under a spotlight shaking like a leaf. but the ship of state had landed on an economic reef, so we knew he was going to bring us messages of grief. The Military and the Monetary, were shielded by January and went storming into February, Brought us pot bellied generals as luminaries, two weeks ago I hadn't heard of the son of a bitch, now all of a sudden he's legendary. They took the honour from the honourary, they took the dignity from the dignitaries, they took the secrets from the secretary, but they left the bitch in obituary. The Military and the Monetary, from thousands of miles away in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary, had us all scrambling for our dictionaries, cause we couldn't understand the fuckin vocabulary. Yeah, there was some smart bombs, but there was some dumb ones as well, scared the hell out of CNN in that Baghdad hotel. The Military and the Monetary, they get together whenever they think its necessary, War in the desert sometimes sure is scary, but they beamed out the war to all their subsidiaries. Tried to make So Damn Insane a worthy adversary, keeping the citizens secondary, scaring old folks into coronaries. The Military and the Monetary, from thousands of miles in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary, kept us all wondering if all of this was really truely, necessary. We've got to work for Peace, Peace ain't coming this way. If we only work for Peace, If everyone believed in Peace the way they say they do, we'd have Peace. The only thing wrong with Peace, is that you can't make no money from it. The Military and the Monetary, they get together whenever they think its necessary, they've turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the planet, into a cemetery. Got to work for Peace, Peace ain't coming this way. We should not allow ourselves to be mislead, by talk of entering a time of Peace, Peace is not the absence of war, it is the absence of the rules of war and the threats of war and the preparation for war. Peace is not the absence of war, it is the time when we will all bring ourselves closer to each other, closer to building a structure that is unique within ourselves because we have finally come to Peace within ourselves. The Military and the Monetary, The Military and the Monetary, The Military and the Monetary. Get together whenever they think its necessary, they've turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning parts of the planet, into a cemetery. The Military and the Monetary, The Military and the Monetary, We hounded the Ayatollah religiously, Bombed Libya and killed Quadafi's son hideously. We turned our back on our allies the Panamanians, and saw Ollie North selling guns to the Iranians. Watched Gorbachev slaughtering Lithuanians, We better warn the Amish, they may bomb the Pennsylvanians. The Military and the Monetary, get together whenever they think its necessary, they have turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the planet, into a cemetery. I don't want to sound like no late night commercial, but its a matter of fact that there are thousands of children all over the world in Asia and Africa and in South America who need our help. When they start talking about 55 cents a day and 70 cents a day, I know a lot of folks feel as though that, thats not really any kind of contribution to make, but we had to give up a dollar and a half just to get in the subway nowadays. So this is a song about tommorrow and about how tommorrow can be better. if we all, "Each one reach one, Each one try to teach one". Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something, everyone must play a part, everyone got to go to work, Work for Peace. Spirit Say Work, Work for Peace If you believe the things you say, go to work. If you believe in Peace, time to go to work. Cant be wavin your head no more, go to work. |
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| 10. |
| 5:58 |
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Ahh lovely day……
I never really thought of myself as a complex man, Or as someone who was really that hard to understand. But it would hardly take a genius to realize That I’ve always been a lot too arrogant and a little too f$%kin’ wise That was a combination that made folks feel duty bound, To do whatever they could to try and shoot me down. To head off some of the things I might possibly say, And see if they couldn’t take some of my pride away. To bring me disappointment and teach me to fear it Obviously these are folks that just didn’t have no spirit Spirits say [chorus] Don’t give up (spirits say don’t give up) Yes it’s time to stop your fallin’ You’ve been down long enough Can’t you hear the spirits callin’ Yes it’s the spirits Can’t you hear iiiiiit Callin’ your name x 2 Yeah talkin’ bout spiriiiiiiiiiiits heh There are people whose lives are so far of the track That what they like best about life is stabbing’ brothers in the back And I was obviously too blind and probably too weak To see who was responsible for my losing streak The best way to explain it is to say simply because I was looking around outside and the truth is I was the one. So I got locked into all of the analysis And found myself locked into a kind of paralysis And something was calling and I almost didn’t hear it But I spent a lot of time being blessed by the spirits They keep saying [Chorus] I didn’t matter if it was a child or and adult There was absolutely no-one that I could not insult. So that I could isolate myself somewhere off to the side And continue to juggle all the possible whys The warmth I wanted to generate so well Had turned into a frozen hell And the discouraging injustices I felt Had pinned me somewhere inside a drug infested cell Where those who told didn’t know and those who knew didn’t tell And “I could continue to feel sorry for my self” [echo of “”] And then I heard [Chorus] Ain’t no way overnight to turn your life around And this ain’t the conversation of someone that never falls back down But no matter how long you’ve been on trial With the days and weeks of self denial And no matter how many times you’ve tried to make it And found out that right then you just couldn’t take it If you are looking for a looser who found strength and success Remember the spirit of Brother Malcolm X And know that you can leave all your mistakes behind The day that you “really make up your mind” [echo of “”] Come on brother… come on up Stand on up and say… [Chorus] |
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