[Intro]

You know I've been doin’ this rap thing a long long time and every time I made a song it was a song that I wanted to make. For the first time here's a song that I had to make

[Verse 1]

911 is how it's written in numerical form

I turned on the sports radio cause that was the norm

Then the cohost said with astonishment

"A plane hit the World Trade." It was an accident

Flicked the TV to see it with my own two eyes

That’s when I saw the second plane go in the high rise

Then I knew how clear that it all became

After this day lifе would never be thе same

There was just no telling how many had died

There were several thousand people who were trapped inside

Then the bottom of the screen set off a news flash

Washington DC. Pentagon. Plane crash

There was no way this could be coincidence

And that wasn't the end of the incidents

Outside Pittsburgh more innocents were killed

A plane meant for the White House or Capitol Hill

It was a terrorist attack on a massive scale

They could either burn in hell or they could rot in jail

Motivated by religion and what they call "god"

But to me it really seems quite odd

There were Christians and Jews in there. Muslims too in there

There was black, white, brown, yellow, blue in there

It could have been you in there and it's scary but true:

Not six degrees of separation, just one or two

[Chorus]

Cause it's crucial, when you're up against the wall

Like eleven of September. I remember it all. It's

Crucial, when you find you're under attack

First make a good plan then you must fight back. It's

Crucial, when you’re at the moment of truth

Do the right thing. Be a good example for youth. It’s

Crucial, living in the U.S. of A.,

The greatest nation on the planet. We should act that way

[Verse 2]

I've never watched so much TV news in my life

Twenty-four hour coverage of the struggle and strife

For a week and a half man I hardly changed the channel

Not for CSI, Family Guy or The Sopranos

In a bad trade off, economy stayed off

Bankruptcies, foreclosures, people getting laid off

Even the boss of the Red Cross paid the cost

Whether fired or retired her job was lost

At the same time anthrax was in the mail

Airlines slowing down. One or two might fail

Less spending caused a drop in the retail sales

A lot of big picture stuff. Not a lot of detail

Money just wasn’t moving. It was stiff like starch

Officially the recession started back in March

But some took advantage of what went on

Cause Whitewater was nothing compared to Enron

On the war front evidence quickly told

That Osama Bin Laden played a prominent role

Sent money through banks for financial control

Like '98 back in Yemen and the USS Cole

Send troops to Afghanistan and get there fast

Not sure how long this war will last

Cause the Russians and the British failed there in the past

Man I wish I paid attention in my history class

[Chorus x1]

Bin Laden, Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda

Just drop a Daisy Cutter. Tell 'em all "See you later."

I've never been a really big fan of war

But if we don’t fight now what will we fight for?

The Taliban and the Northern Alliance, they got beef

Over Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar-I-Sharif

And they need a new government. Need one soon

For the Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara and Pashtun

The men had guns. Almost none of them were workers

Women had no rights, covered up and wearing burqas

They had to find some way to work this out

After twenty years of war and four years of drought

Almost no running water. Got light from lamps

And Al Qaeda pumping millions into terrorist camps

The Alliance and the bombing took it town by town

So Mazar fell first and they worked their way down

When the Taliban fell many said "We won!"

But the truth was the mission was far from done

Tommy Franks gave the order to bomb Tora Bora

And if we didn't get him then he got across the border

At home many loved ones were laid to rest

And the news showed just what began this mess

At Ground Zero every day all the heroes dig

Tryin' to find a silver lining in a cloud so big

[Chorus x1]

[Verse 3]

Where do we go from here? It's hard to know from here

Will I make another record? Do a show from here?

And economically, what about the dough from here?

Well all I know, there's a chance we can grow from here

It didn't take my brain. It didn't take my strength

It didn't take my ability for going the length

It didn't take my heart. It didn't take my breath

It didn't take my dreams from September the tenth

Everybody's patriotic with their flags on cars

On buildings, on homes, see the stars and bars

Greatest nation on the planet. That's where we are

Especially those of us who came from afar

See I was naturalized. I wasn't born here

And I'm of foreign descent, but I belong here

I said the pledge of allegiance one early morn here

My right hand over heart and put it on here

Keep it strong here cause I worked for my citizenship

For my blue passport when I'm taking a trip

Security's kinda tight but I don't give 'em no lip

For my laptop computer with the Pentium chip

I'm trying to give a little light when the times are dim

I didn't vote for Mr. Bush but I stand with him

Enemies run and hide but their chance is slim

We'll either bring them to justice or justice to them

[Chorus x2]

[Outro]

Cause it's crucial

Man, so many thoughts on my mind that day. First you get mad, then you worry about your family, your friends, your coworkers, and one word keeps goin' through your mind over and over again. It's a word used in a lot of rap songs

You wanna know what the word is?

It was a word I was feelin' back in September

You wanna know what the word is?

It's a word that I'm feelin' right now, right here

You wanna know what the word is?

It's a word used by the people in every nation, (You wanna know what the word is?)

People of every race, people of every religion, every color, every creed. (You wanna know what the word is?)

You guys wanna know what that word is?

The word is peace