"Let Me Ask Y'all A Question" by Black Ice

i heart his dude.

Black Ice - Let Me Ask Yall A Question

let me ask yall a question
when you look at my brothas, what's your first impression?
does the sight of us leave you guessin' or do you understand the stressin', the aggression
the look of no hope on my niggas faces
like the lord overlooked us when He handed down His graces

you see, embraces fall short on the tips of street entrepreneur fingers
stuck in the walls of the project halls where the coke smell still lingers
external blingers is all we can be, 'cause on the inside we've been given nothing to shine on
and a gig is harder to get than coke so niggers get their grind on
cuz the tv tells us "Aim high, nigga, make all goals lateral"
but that takes paper that we don't have so niggas put their souls up as collateral

now some niggers reclaim 'em, some blame 'em, making an excuse to sell her,
but when a nigger goes from not doing to doing, what can you tell him? --not to be a nigga?
shit, i's gots to be a nigga
that's how i pay the bills and i'm gon' do that whether i got to sling this coke
or exploit these rhyme skills
see, america makes you an opportunist and at the same time it institutionalizes you
so the fact that niggas get these big record deals, big money and then go to jails shouldn't surprise you
that's what lies do

and most of these guys do have raw talent, just infantile education
so the business feeds them all the weed and ecstasy and just a little bit of paper to provide some pacification
from all the bullshit frustration they serve you

meanwhile they corrupt your perception of what the real is
see, they've taken all our businessmen and made them drug dealers
took all our messengers and made them rappers just flappin they jaws
afraid to admit their treason
took all our soldiers for the cause and made them killers for no reason
and being fucked up? well that's in this season

so if you're negative, you're positive
and if you're positive, you're called a hater
but i maintain control of my soul cuz i know it gets greater later
and i told y'all on the last show, i'm no hater
i just know what the truth is

i've been intertwining this pudding for a year now so i know where the proof is
it lies in these mid-town manhatten skyscrapers where former hustlers sign papers and do fucked up capers by 16 infamous stars at a time
got 'em choppin' and baggin' and serving that shit to niggas 16 bars at a time
and the crime is undetectable by the feds 'cause in the heads our of kids is where the track is
and music shoots straight to the soul, it's so potent, so it's much more addictive than crack is

now the high is just an illusion, lies and confusion
but just for this rush, just once these young bucks would go through it
so in essence they still flooding our streets with thugs, drugs and killing
they just using these record labels to do it

taking our heartfelt demos, putting us in limos, trying to fuck our directions,
and most niggas is trained to chase money and pussy so we fall victims to our own erection
convincing ourselves that we're on our way somewhere we're not going, but
ignorance is bliss and niggers love this so niggers take pride in not knowing
we're not growing
nigger, i don't give a fuck how slick you flowin if ain't showing these kids nothing or add nothing positive to the earth

see, i've been destined to touch this world since the day i was born
to be honest, fuck a deal. God gives me what i'm worth.