I've Got Life

[Intro: Nina Simone] I ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes Ain't got no money, ain't got no class Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schooling Ain't got no hurt, ain't got no job Ain't got no money, no place to stay Ain't got no [Verse 1: Lauryn Hill] Programmed inequity, it's in the nervous system Listen, watch the words, how they twist 'em Two thirds of the world turned victim Subtle energy, they capture and block chi The unseen violence behind the democracy Some call it hypocrisy, turn freeman into property And logically justify not treatin' 'em properly Invisible ink in the constitution Meant to preserve the institution, unequal distribution Of wealth, goods and services Revolvin' door, no floor, just anxiety and nervousness Trapped in circuses Herds of us, not understandin' our purposes When appetites and psychological types Get caught in the hype, it's tight from morning 'til night I'm demanding my rights Women's suffrage then black suffrage Or Jim Crow, the KKK American terrorism Murders and beatings on television It's in the cells now, you thought that was yesterday? But the compression stays, trauma still got most afraid Stuck in the memory, fear gives birth to lethargy Generations of children in jeopardy History written in jealousy, scribes full of heresy Full of barbarians, ch-ch-check out my melody Musical therapy, reprogram Africa full of coltan Coltrane was a cold man Black genius in a cold land tryna be the whole man Heal the homeland Past time for our own land Where a grown man can be a grown man The system has benefit for robbery is robbery You can't run from it, God is a natural monopoly Divine creator stuck in monotony Bureaucracy, psyche on poverty Self-esteem broken like pottery No more, not me, codename anomaly Cause there's just no match for the prodigy Sovereignty, the god in me Walking university, living cosmology Without apology [Hook: Nina Simone] I've got life I've got laughs I've got headaches and toothaches And bad times too like you, you, you [Verse 2: Lauryn Hill] OK The more you suppress life the stronger it gets With death life the longer it gets I know it’s hard to admit That you follow some bullshit Swallow the wrong pill looking for mr bill Repression, oppression: same thing (same thing) Fear the shadow that’s the main thing (main thing) They keep running from Every action yields an equal and opposite one Yes that means the consequence comes Fields of cumbersome back breaking labor Can’t be healed with just a cummerbund I was homecoming queen call me number one Yep that’s another one, now give the drummer some Tell every mother’s son expression can be far more powerful than a hundred guns See my Kalashnikov lyrics with the safety off Now dance around these niggas like Baryshnikov Street sweeper my words are my keeper It’s in the ether, now what you trynna tell these preachers, It’s done It’s done let loose your tongue Gifted, black and young Watch these devils run They knew a change was gonna come Sinner man looking for a place to run Tell the truth in tongues’ enemy reduced by one's Thousands 2 can put 10,000 in flight Speak truth to power every 24 hours [Hook: Nina Simone] I've got life I've got laughs I've got headaches and toothaches And bad times too like you, you, you [Verse 3: Lauryn Hill] (Ay let me tell you) Imperialism is a form of Jihad They killed and enslaved millions for gold bullion, in the name of God The children of mammon called it spiritual famine Can we examine, how they stole bauxite, rubber, labor, diamonds and platinum? The building blocks of society and economy, broke humanity to build the colonies Using reverse psychology to keep us from knowing our quality No more human tragedy, no more mis-recognition, no more addiction Let’s accurately diagnose our condition! Listen: 400 years of the abuse and misuse of religion Don’t give me another person’s prescription! I need what I need, my deeds are my deeds As a man thinketh so is he, Mezanmi! Take the land back, every child, woman and man back Reevaluate history, expeditiously Can’t live my life in apostasy Emulate the apostrophe hang with S, you can rock with me I come in love and truth (truth) Look at what I went through Now it’s time to acknowledge just what I give you: Life [Hook: Nina Simone] I've got life I've got laughs I've got headaches and toothaches And bad times too like you, you, you [Verse 4: Lauryn Hill] There’s a whole lotta wrong to be righted, I get excited I'ma kick this shit off like I’m on Manchester United & my attention is undivided, so you can’t divide and conquer me! I’m sitting comfortably in a SUV, up in my SUV taking artistic liberties Making musical history, a lil' acupuncture, structural integration, my meditation, liberating a generation & beyond that, I’m taking the bomb back. I’m splitting atoms for freedom, America needs more FREED men, able to talk right, not prone to GREED men (It’s just not what you need man) Let your words and deeds line up, master the mind, young king man??, put your signs up, intelligent designs up!, plant your seeds, keep your dimes up, cuz no man knows when the time’s up It’s elemental like Solomon in the temple, Ark of the Covenant, accountable to a higher government I’m looking for love (in all the wrong places) Somebody tell me, where them brothas went, reclaim your wealth, no more giving the enemy help, no more sympathy for the devil, let'em hang himself Get all the billion Black people out of these bottles, suffer while grown people get coddled, you know the novel [Hook: Nina Simone] I've got life I've got laughs I've got headaches and toothaches And bad times too like you, you, you