Little something for my god son Elija and a little girl named Koreem
Some say tha Blacker tha berry
Tha sweeter tha juice
I say, tha darker tha flesh and tha deeper tha roots
I give a hollar to my sisters on welfare
Tupac cares, but don't nobody else care
I know they like ta beat ya down a lot
And when ya come around tha block brothers clown a lot
But please don't cry, dry ya eyes
Never let up
Forgive but don't forget girl keep ya head up
And when he tells you you ain't nothin
Don't believe him
And if he can't learn ta love ya, you should leave him
Cuz sister you don't need him
I ain't tryin ta gash up, but I just callem how I see 'em
Ya know what makes me unhappy
When brothers make babies
And leave a young mother ta be a pappy
And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman
And out game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women
Do we hate our women ?
I think it's time ta kill for our women
Time ta heal our women
Be real to our women
And if we don't
We'll have a race of babies
That hate tha ladies that make tha babies
And since a man can't make one
He has no right ta tell a woman when and where ta create one
So will tha real men get up
I know your fed up ladies
But keep ya head up
Oooooh child things are gonna get easier
Oooooh child things are gonna get brighter
Oooooh child things are gonna get easier
Oooooh child things are gonna get brighter
I remember Marvin Gay, usta sing ta me
He had me feelin like black was tha thing ta be
And suddenly tha ghetto didn't seem so tuff
I thought we had it rough, we always had enough
I often huffed and puffed about my curfew and broke tha rules
Ran with tha local crew and had a smoke or two
And realize momma really paid tha price
She nearly gave her life, ta raise me right
And all I had ta give her was my pipe dreams
Of how i'd rock tha mic and make it to tha big screen
I'm tryin ta make a dollar out of fifteen cents
It's hard ta be legit and still pay tha rent
And in tha end it seems i'm headin for tha penn
I try and find my friends, but they're blowin in tha wind
Last night my buddy lost his whole family
It's gonna take tha man in me
Ta conquer this insanity
It seems tha rain will never let up
I try ta Keep My Head Up and still keep from getting wet up
You know it's funny when it rains it pours
They got money for wars, but can't feed tha poor
Sad there ain't no hope for tha youth and tha truth is
There ain't no hope for tha future
And then they wonder why we crazy
I blame my mother, for turning my brother into a crack baby
We ain't meant ta survive, cause it's a setup
And even though ya fed up
Ya got ta Keep Ya