Public Enemy - Hannibal Lecture lyrics

rate me

(feat. Paris)

[Malcolm X]

Being here in America doesn't make you an American

Being born here in America doesn't make you an American

Why if birth made you an American you wouldn't need any legislation

You wouldn't need any amendments to the Constitution

I don't see any American dream, I see an American nightmare

I'm one of the 42 million black people who are the victims of America

[Paris]

Aiyyo we all in together now, all in together now

Hard truth soldierin, hard truth soldier SHIT

Keep on servin 'em, cause you know we do work

Mashin in my Chevy down the streets of New York, they feel me

I smooth grip, and hit up the spot

Snatch Flav as my dual pipes burn up the block

We bumpin hardcore, heavyweight, b-boy blast

On the street they hear my beat, my 69 is fast

Smash down Lennox, head up to the 'View

Some reporter wanna holla and I said it was cool

Wanna know about the album and the Enemy's new

How P.E. and Guerilla Funk is keepin it movin

Breakin bread talkin politics, you know how it go

'Bout the war and how it's shitty that we murder for dough

Then the reporter asked a question, that I had to mash

How, I would act if every day was maybe my last

How if every day I worried 'bout my family in this

I'd be murdered on these street in a puddle of piss

Or if I would get some news that my brother had died

If they ran up in my house and held my kids and my wife

Or if we was looted and somebody took all our thangs

If my sister was abducted, never heard from again

I began to compare it, so he could observe

When I made the parallels with how they livin abroad

I can't ignore it, these pigs ride deep in the streets

Cap a nigga for his wallet, beat another for free

And the cold part about it, life is cheaper than that

Down there people on the bottom kill each other for scraps

Imagine that, propoganda got the people confused

Damned by the media that keep 'em subdued

I been around the world, seen a lot of shit in my life

Same sirens, same ghetto birds swirlin at night

Same racism, profilin each of us all

Same outsiders where we live enforcin the law

Gats clappin on the streets, gunplayin with heat

Same prisons full of brothers herded in like sheep

Same turncoats that'll burn folks for pay

Same conditions in communities we die everyday

Same brutality and ignorance, now what will it take

to break the motherfuckin cycle, get the people away?

That's why I'm fresh out of tears for 'em, all out of tears for 'em

Even though my heart goes out, what the fuck you cryin 'bout?

Money for rebuilding but, what about home?

When the way we live is shitty where's the love for our own?

I can't decide it, it's real, I hit you with proof

Maybe I'll be suicided cause I hit you with truth

See they kill for less than what we say on records to you

Hear the message in the music from a rebel to you, now listen

[Outro: x6 to end]

Save my life you gotta, save my life you gotta [x3]

Save us, save us