It Takes A Nation Of Millions

Ridenhour - shocklee - sadler - drayton

I got a letter from the government
The other day
I opened and read it
It said they were suckers
They wanted me for their army or whatever
Picture me given' a damn - i said never
Here is a land that never gave a damn
About a brother like me and myself
Because they never did
I wasn't wit' it, but just that very minute...
It occured to me
The suckers had authority
Cold sweatin' as i dwell in my cell
How long has it been?
They got me sittin' in the state pen
I gotta get out - but that thought was thought before
I contemplated a plan on the cell floor
I'm not a fugitive on the run
But a brother like me begun - to be another one
Public enemy servin' time - they drew the line y'all
To criticize me some crime - never the less
They could not understand that i'm a black man
And i could never be a veteran
On the strength, the situation's unreal
I got a raw deal, so i'm goin' for the steel

They got me rottin' in the time that i'm servin'
Tellin' you what happened the same time they're throwin'
4 of us packed in a cell like slaves - oh well
The same motherfucker got us livin' is his hell
You have to realize - what its a form of slavery
Organized under a swarm of devils
Straight up - word'em up on the level
The reasons are several, most of them federal
Here is my plan anyway and i say
I got gusto, but only some i can trust - yo
Some do a bid from 1 to 10
And i never did, and plus i never been
I'm on a tier where no tears should ever fall
Cell block and locked - i never clock it y'all
'cause time and time again time
They got me servin' to those and to them
I'm not a citizen
But ever when i catch a c-o
Sleepin' on the job - my plan is on go-ahead
On the strength, i'ma tell you the deal
I got nothin' to lose
'cause i'm goin' for the steel

You know i caught a c-o
Fallin' asleep on death row
I grabbed his gun - then he did what i said so
And everyman's got served
Along with the time they served
Decency was deserved
To understand my demands
I gave a warnin' - i wanted the governor, y'all
And plus the warden to know
That i was innocent -
Because i'm militant
Posing a threat, you bet it's fuckin' up the government
My plan said i had to get out and break north
Just like with oliver's neck
I had to get off - my boys had the feds in check
They couldn't do nuthin'
We had a force to instigate a prison riot
This is what it takes for peace
So i just took the piece
Black for black inside time to cut the leash
Freedom to get out - to the ghetto - no sell out
6 c-os we got we ought to put their head out
But i'll give 'em a chance, cause i'm civilized
As for the rest of the world, they can't realize
A cell is hell - i'm a rebel so i rebel
Between bars, got me thinkin' like an animal
Got a woman c-o to call me a copter
She tried to get away, and i popped her
Twice, right
Now who wanna get nice?
I had 6 c-os, now it's 5 to go
And i'm serious - call me delirious
But i'm still a captive
I gotta rap this
Time to break as time grows intense
I got the steel in my right hand
Now i'm lookin' for the fence

I ventured into the courtyard
Followed by 52 brothers
Bruised, battered, and scarred but hard
Goin' out with a bang
Ready to bang out
But power from the sky
And from the tower shots rang out
A high number of dose - yes
And some came close
Figure i trigger my steel
Stand and hold my post
This is what i mean - an anti-nigger machine
If i come out alive and then they won't - come clean
And then i threw up my steel bullets - flew up
Blew up, who shot...
What, who, the bazooka was who
And to my rescue, it was the s1ws
Secured my getaway, so i just gotaway
The joint broke, from the black smoke
Then they saw it was rougher thatn the average bluffer
'cause the steel was black, the attitude exact
Now the chase is on tellin' you to c'mon
53 brothers on the run, and we are gone

Ridenhour - griffin - shocklee - sadler - drayton
The woman makes the men all pause
And if you got a woman
She might make you forget yours
There's a 5 letter word
To describe her character
But her brains being washed by an actor
And every real man that tries to approach
Come the closer he comes
He gets dissed like a roach

Refrain:
I don't think i can handle
She goes channel to channel
Cold lookin' for that hero
She watch channel zero

Chorus:
She watch, she watch (4x)
(flavor ad lib)

2, 7, 5, 4, 8 she watched she said
All added up to zero
And nothing in her head
She turns and turns
And she hopes the soaps
Are for real - she learns
Is that it ain't true, nope
But she won't survive
And rather die and lie
Falls a fool - for some dude - on a tube

Repeat refrain
Chorus

Trouble vision for a sister
Because i know she don't know, i quote
Her brains retrained
By a 24 inch remote
Revolution a solution
For all our children
But all her children
Don't mean as much as the show, i mean
Watch her worship the screen, and fiend
For a tv ad
And it just makes me mad

Repeat refrain
Chorus

Bass! how low can you go?
Death row. what a brother knows.
Once again, back is the incredible
The thyme animal
The incredible d, public enemy number one
"five-o" said, "freeze!" and i got numb
Can i tell 'em that i really never had a gun?
But it's the wax that the terminator x spun
Now they got me in a cell 'cause my records, they sell
'cause a brother like me said, "well...
...frarrakhan's a prophet and i think you ought to listen to
What he can say to you, what you ought to do."
Follow for now, power of the people, say,
"make a miracle, d, pump the lyrical"
Black is back, all in, we're gonna win
Check it out, yeah y'all, here we go again

Chorus: turn it up! bring the noise!

Never badder than bad 'cause the brother is madder than mad
At the fact that's corrupt as a senator
Soul on roll, but you treat it like soap on a rope
'cause the beats in the lines are so dope
Listen for lessons i'm saying inside music that the critics are blasting
Me for
They'll never care for the brothers and sisters
Now across the country has us up for the war

We got to demonstrate, come on now, they're gonna have to wait
Till we get it right
Radio stations i question their blackness
They call themselves black, but we'll see if they'll play this

Chorus: turn it up! bring the noise!

Get from in front of me, the crowd runs to me
My deejay is warm, he's x, i call him norm, ya know
He can cut a record from side to side
So what, the ride, the glide should be much safer than a suicide
Soul control, beat is the father of your rock'n'roll
Music for whatcha, for whichin', you call a band, man
Makin' a music, abuse it, but you can't do it, ya know
You call 'em demos, but we ride limos, too
Whatcha gonna do? rap is not afraid of you
Beat is for sonny bono, beat is for yoko ono
Run-dmc first said a deejay could be a band
Stand on its feet, get you out your seat
Beat is for eric b. and ll, as well, hell
Wax is for anthrax, still it can rock bells
Ever forever, universal, it will sell
Time for me to exit, terminator x-it

Chorus...

From coast to coast, so you stop being like a comatose
"stand, my man? the beat's the same with a boost toast
Rock with some pizzazz, it will last. why you ask?
Roll with the rock stars, still never get accepted as
We got to plead the fifth, we can investigate
Don't need to wait, get the record straight
Hey, posse's in effect, got the flavor terminator
X to sign checks, play to get paid
We got to check it out down on the avenue
A magazine or two is dissing me and dissing you
Yeah, i'm telling you...

Ridenhour - shocklee - sadler

Back
Caught you lookin' for the same thing
It's a new thing - check out this i bring
Uh oh the roll below the level
'cause i'm livin' low next to the bass, c'mon
Turn up the radio
They claim that i'm a criminal
By now i wonder how
Some people never know
The enemy could be their friend, guardian
I'm not a hooligan
I rock the party and
Clear all the madness, i'm not a racist
Preach to teach to all
'cause some they never had this
Number one, not born to run
About the gun...
I wasn't licensed to have one
The minute they see me, fear me
I'm the epitome - a public enemy
Used, abused without clues
I refused to blow a fuse
They even had it on the news
Don't believe the hype...

Yes
Was the start of my last jam
So here it is again, another def jam
But since i gave you all a little something
That we knew you lacked
They still consider me a new jack
All the critics you can hang'em
I'll hold the rope
But they hope to the pope
And pray it ain't dope
The follower of farrakhan
Don't tell me that you understand
Until you hear the man
The book of the new school rap game
Writers treat me like coltrane, insane
Yes to them, but to me i'm a different kind
We're brothers of the same mind, unblind
Caught in the middle and
Not surrenderin'
I don't rhyme for the sake of of riddlin'
Some claim that i'm a smuggler
Some say i never heard of 'ya
A rap burgler, false media
We don't need it do we?
It's fake that's what it be to 'ya, dig me?
Don't believe the hype...

Don't believe the hype - its a sequel
As an equal, can i get this through to you
My 98's boomin' with a trunk of funk
All the jealous punks can't stop the dunk
Comin' from the school of hard knocks
Some perpetrate, they drink clorox
Attack the black, cause i know they lack exact
The cold facts, and still they try to xerox
Leader of the new school, uncool
Never played the fool, just made the rules
Remember there's a need to get alarmed
Again i said i was a timebomb
In the daytime the radio's scared of me
'cause i'm mad, plus i'm the enemy
They can't c'mon and play with me in primetime
'cause i know the time, plus i'm gettin' mine
I get on the mix late in the night
They know i'm livin' right, so here go the mike, sike
Before i let it go, don't rush my show
You try to reach and grab and get elbowed
Word to herb, yo if you can't swing this
Just a little bit of the taste of the bass for you
As you get up and dance at the lq
When some deny it, defy if i swing bolos
Then they clear the lane i go solo
The meaning of all of that
Some media is the whack
You believe it's true, it blows me through the roof
Suckers, liars get me a shovel
Some writers i know are damn devils
For them i say don't believe the hype
Yo chuck, they must be on a pipe, right?
Their pens and pads i'll snatch
'cause i've had it
I'm not an addict fiendin' for static
I'll see their tape recoreder and grab it
No, you can't have it back silly rabbit
I'm going' to my media assassin
Harry allen, i gotta ask him
Yo harry, you're a writer, are we that type?
Don't believe the hype
I got flavor and all those things you know
Yeah boy, part two bum rush and show
Yo griff, get the green black red and
Gold down countdown to armageddon
-88 you wait the s1ws will
Rock the hard jams - treat it like a seminar
Teach the bourgeoise, and rock the boulevard
Some sau i'm negative
But they're not positive
But what i got to give...
The media says this

Ridenhour - shocklee - sadler

With vice i hold the mike device
With force i keep it away of course
And i'm keepin' you from sleepin'
And on stage i rage
And i'm rollin'
To the poor i pour in on in metaphors
Not bluffin', it's nothin'
That we ain't did before
We played you stayed
The points made
You consider it done
By the prophets of rage
(power of the people say)

I roll with the punches so i survive
Try to rock 'cause it keeps the crowd alive
I'm not ballin', i'm just callin'
But i'm past the days of yes y'allin'
Wa wiggle round and round
I pump, you jump up
Hear my words my verbs
And get juiced up
I been around a while
You can descibe my sound
Clear the way
For the prophets of rage
(power of the people say)

I rang ya bell
Can you tell i got feelin'
Just peace at least
Cause i want it
Want it so bad
That i'm starvin'
I'm like garvey
So you can see b
It's like that, i'm like nat
Leave me the hell alone
If you don't think i'm a brother
Then check the chromosomes
Then check the stage
I declare it a new age
Get down for the prophets of rage
Keep you from gettin' like this

You back the track
You find we're the quotable
You emulate
Brothers, sisters thats beautiful
Follow a path
Of positivity you go
Some sing it or rap it
Or harmonize it through go-go
Little you know but very
Seldom i do party jams
About a plan

I'm considered the man
I'm the recordable
But god made it affordable
I say it, you play it
Back in your car or even portable
Stereo
Describes my scenario
Left or right, black or white
They tell lies in the books
That you're readin'
It's knowledge of yourself
That you're needin'
Like vescey or prosser
We have a reason why
To debate the hate
That's why we're born to die
Mandela, cell dweller, thatcher
You can tell her clear the way for the prophets of rage
(power of the people you say)

It's raw and keepin' you on the floor
Its soul and keepin' you in control
It's pt. 2 cause i'm
Pumpin' what you're used to
Until the whole juice crew
Gets me in my goose down
I do the rebel yell
And i'm the duracell
Call it plain insane
Brothers causein' me pain
When a brothers a victim
And the sellers a dweller in a cage
Yo, run the a capella
(power of the people say)