Shut ’Em Up - Intellectual

[Chorus]

I shut 'em down (Shut 'em down, shut 'em, shut 'em down)

[Verse 1: Chuck D]

I testified, my mama cried

Black people died when the other man lied

See the TV, listen to me, double trouble

I overhaul and I'm coming from the lower level

I'm taking tabs, sho nuff, stuff to grab

Like shirts and it hurts with a neck to wreck

Took a poll 'cause our soul took a toll

From the education of a TV station

But look around, here go the sound of the wrecking ball

Boom and pound when I shut 'em down

[Chorus]

I shut 'em down (Shut 'em down, shut 'em, shut 'em down)

[Verse 2: Chuck D]

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine

What I use in the battle for the mind

Hit it hard like it suppose, pull no blows to the nose

Like Uncle L said, I'm rippin' up shows

Then what it is is only five percent of the biz, I'm adding woes

That's the way it goes

Then you think I rank I never drank, point blank

I own loans, suckers got me running from the bank

Civil liberty, I can't see to pay a fee

I never saw a way to pay a sap to read the law

Then become a victim of a lawyer

Don't know ya, never saw ya

Tape cued, getting me sued

Playing games with my head, what the judge said

Put me in the red, got me thinking 'bout a trigger to the lead

No, no, my educated mind say

Suckers gonna pay anyway, there gonna be a day

Cause the troop they roll in, to posse up whole from the ground

Ready to go, throw another round

Sick of the ride, it's suicide for the other side of town

When I find a way to shut 'em down

[Chorus]

I shut 'em down (Shut 'em down, shut 'em, shut 'em down)

[Verse 3: Chuck D]

Who count the money in the neighborhood?

But we spending money to no end, looking for a friend

In a war to the core, ripping up the poor in the stores

Until they get a brother kicking down doors

Then I figure I can get bigger, look 'em dead in the eye

And they wince, defense is pressurized

They don't really want it to be another racial attack

In disguise, so give some money back

I like Nike, but wait a minute

The neighborhood supports, so put some money in it

All corporations owe, they gotta give up the dough

To my town or else we gotta shut 'em down

[Chorus]

I shut 'em down (Shut 'em down, shut 'em, shut 'em down)