Song by Brand Nubian<br /><br>
[Lord Jamar - interpolation of Grandmaster Flash's "The Message"]<br>
A child is born with no state of mind<br>
Blind to the ways of mankind<br>
God is smiling on you but He's frowning too<br>
Because only God knows what you'll go through, uhh<br>
A child is born with no state of mind<br>
Blind to the ways of mankind<br>
God is smiling on you but He's frowning too<br>
<br>
[Sadat X]<br>
He grew up in an instant, the fourth of seven children<br>
The oldest male on the block was half and half<br>
Brown stones to neck bones, crack jonez to tones<br>
Where young girls spread out and drop seeds like they're farmers<br>
They're old as their momma's, the same age as their aunt<br>
and the neighbourhood drunk men<br>
and that lady with the dreaded disease is like hard to please<br>
And the house of ill fate with the metal gate<br>
Keep the thin people cracked out like munchkin monks<br>
The ole man with the fruit stand is on his man<br>
His hand, his ole heart just can't stand<br>
the CPR as they load him in the back of a car<br>
I'm on a world tour to help free the poor<br>
From the local drug cats to kids in front of the store<br>
Number runners, gangbangers and the big money spenders<br>
Reality check rings as we descend from the king<br>
<br>
[Grand Puba]<br>
Now a child is born with no state of mind<br>
Blind to the ways of mankind<br>
God is smiling on you but He's frowning too<br>
Because only God knows what you'll go through<br>
A child is born with no state of mind<br>
Blind to the ways of mankind<br>
God is smiling on you but He's frowning too<br>
Because only God knows....<br>
<br>
[Lord Jamar]<br>
The home's filled with horror in my horoscope<br>
Tomorrow I could be broke, this ain't a joke<br>
I'm twenty dollars away from bein dead ass<br>
I'm bout to spend half on a bag to get my head blast<br>
Last week I lost to justice cypher born<br>
and spawned a riff with my wiz<br>
now she dead with my kids<br>
I live by the subway, niggas push drugs in my hallway<br>
All day everyday tryin to get the pay<br>
And I be tryin ta find a better way<br>
You see, when you're poor then you're forced to adore to raw play<br>
Survival be a forte, lookin forward to-a robble up your food stamps<br>
Projects' like boot camps<br>
wit generals cookin chemical warfare<br>
Ki's to a mayor, I ain't seen ya ass in four years<br>
The law bears down on anybody that's brown<br>
My complexion puts me in the direction of the section 8<br>
Rejection seems to be my fate<br>
As a kid, don't wanna ship my momma, always said I had to wait<br>
And it's been drama up to date<br>
Enough to traumatise people's lives and the eyes they try to fixate<br>
<br>
[Sadat X]<br>
A child is born with no state of mind<br>
Blind to the ways of mankind<br>
God is smiling on you but He's frowning too<br>
Because only God knows what you'll go through<br>
A child is born with no state of mind<br>
Blind to the ways of mankind<br>
God is smiling on you but He's frowning too<br>
Because...<br>
<br>
[Grand Puba]<br>
Born into existance with some resistance<br>
A struggle comin out my ol' earth's womb<br>
It was little past noon, three months before June<br>
I had a feelin I was headed toward the land of doom<br>
I came out and the doctor got ready to smack<br>
I grabbed the 'bilical cord and tried to pull myself back<br>
but it was too late for that cos in fact<br>
I'll slit the sack so I gotta maintain where I'm at<br>
Now I'm here breathin this diff'rent kind of air<br>
Poverty bound, headed for the welfare<br>
Drug-infested, rat-infested, people drownin in sorrow at neighbourhood bars<br>
Roaches bigger than my hot wheel cars<br>
Dope fiends with swollen arms lookin like rotten wood<br>
turn to crack monsters up and down the neighbourhood<br>
Liquor store business soar as the crowd pour<br>
or thru the corridors, echoin off the project walls<br>
That's why the Gods say<br>
<br>
[Lord Jamar]<br>
A child is born with no state of mind<br>
Blind to the ways of mankind<br>
God is smiling on you but He's frowning too<br>
Because only God knows what you'll go through, uhh<br>
A child is born with no state of mind<br>
Blind to the ways of mankind<br>
God is smiling on you but He's frowning too<br>
Because only God knows what you'll go through, uhh<br>
 <br>