[Malcolm X]
“I was supposed to have said something about negroes should buy rifles
White people been buying rifles all their lives…no commotion.”
“We’re supposed to be organizing some kind of negroes to arm themselves with rifles and shotguns for self-defense
America is based upon the right of people to organize for self-defense. This is in the Constitution of the United States.”
[1]
Everybody seems to be concerned with the greater good
Say the last thing we need is guns in our neighborhoods
But when I weigh the good against the hoods wearing ‘em
I think that if it’s legal maybe we should think of bearing ‘em
By comparison, I’ll give you an analogy:
I’m Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman is after me
He’s got a pistol. And all I got is snacks on me
He proceeds to chase, eventually’s attacking me
A lot of people will probably see it as blasphemy
But if I had a pistol on me, then, I could blast for me
And maybe then there would have been a trial had for me
Where I was the defendant to be convicted. Asking me
Is the prosecutor
Under oath, nastily
“Did you really have to kill him?” I’d say, “Actually
I was just standing my ground cause he was after me.”
Now compare that story to the reality
[Hook 1]
We got Freddie Gray, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice
And a whole bunch of people walking ‘round in fear like
We ain’t supposed to be mad. I’m thinking, “Yeah, right.”
How many people gotta die before it’s your fight?
How many people gotta suffer till you choose that?
It’s probably the most irresponsible, conscious, decision I’ve made to say this...
But I’m thinking shoot back
[2]
It’s probably the most irresponsible, conscious, decision I’ve made to say this
And a lotta people I know prob’ly won’t play this
But fuck it. They say you have the constitutional right
Who gone protect you as you move through the night?
You got media that’s malicious
People starting militias
They holding on to guns like it’s a part of they religion. Swear we coming to get ‘em
They want they country back so
They avoid the fact that it was built on our backbones
Revise history like The Man in the High Castle
They want men like me to be cool with being they chattel
But I ain’t on that slave shit
I ain’t with that “Boss is you sick?”
The most you’ll get from me is a hock of this spit
And that’s it
I’m saying, ain’t no crime in standing my ground
I ain’t gone wait for people standing around
Hope they recording it
Nope
If I’m danger and it’s from the police
I’m supposed to call another police?
[Hook 2]
Rekia Boyd, Miriam Carey, Aiyana Jones...
All killed. We’re all here. They’re all gone
We ain’t supposed to have fear? I’m thinking, “Y’all, wrong.”
How many people gotta die before it’s your song?
How many people gotta suffer till you choose that?
It’s probably the most irresponsible, conscious, decision I’ve made to say this...
But I’m thinking shoot back
[3]
They say it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it
And I ain’t saying nothing we don’t know, but to stop having to hashtag names
Of blacks that’s slain
We must observe facts that’s plain
And guns ain’t the answer; they the problem
But the law of the land
The same law that said I wasn’t a man
Says that I can keep and bear arms
My sleeves rolled up so I can be prepared. I
Won’t be slowed up by people saying it’s a worse solution
And what’s worse, these people don’t see it as persecution
So, legally, I’m supposed to be me, and be free, and not live in fear
When history says they do not want me here?
I’m thinking well-regulated militia. Who gone police the police?
Oh, we’re gone wait until they kill some more of us on the streets?
[Malcom X]
“The second amendment to the Constitution, uh
Spells out the right of people…”
[Hook 1+2]
We got Freddie Gray, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice
And a whole bunch of people walking ‘round in fear like
We ain’t supposed to be mad. I’m thinking, “Yeah, right.”
How many people gotta die before it’s your fight?
How many people gotta suffer till you choose that?
It’s probably the most irresponsible, conscious, decision I’ve made to say this...
But I’m thinking shoot back
Rekia Boyd, Miriam Carey, Aiyana Jones...
All killed. We’re all here. They’re all gone
We ain’t supposed to have fear? I’m thinking, “Y’all, wrong.”
How many people gotta die before it’s your song?
How many people gotta suffer till you choose that?
It’s probably the most irresponsible, conscious, decision I’ve made to say this...
But I’m thinking shoot back