Hand-Me-Downs

[Hook] Come on say it loud Look what we handed down Don't it make you proud? Look what we handed down Come on say it loud Look what we handed down Don't it make you proud? Look what we handed down [Verse 1: Blueprint] My momma gave me Donny Hathaway "Young, Gifted and Black" I miss the positivity, I wanna bring it back But Rap nowadays is by a bunch of ignorant cats No "Young, Gifted and Black" Just guns, bitches and crack I react by turning off BET And Sambos telling me what blackness is supposed to be Used to give us world news, now it's all videos Replaced Tavis Smiley with reality shows If you let the TV define what black is You think ice and violence is all we think that matters I guess this is what happens when rappers look up to thugs And kids look up to rappers To some of y'all if I don't talk about the gat enough Or sell crack enough, I ain't black enough But I rather be a pro at being myself Than be an idiot trying to be somebody else, what [Hook] Come on say it loud Look what we handed down Don't it make you proud? Look what we handed down Come on say it loud Look what we handed down Don't it make you proud? Look what we handed down [Verse 2] I'm at the bus stop with my bike Been there for a while Moms taught me how to catch this route when I was a child Another kid walks up, freakin' a Black & Mild Fifteen, same age I learn shit's wild An older lady walks up, greets us with a smile Asks how we both doing and sits down She knows what's it's like to grow up in the South Civil Rights when the whites was hosing us down I started thinking to myself that even though the times were tougher They still took time out to speak to one another But look at us, me and this young brother Acting to proud to break down and speak to each other So inside I felt ashamed Not sure of how to but I wanna change And as long as I'm alive, then the fact remains That it's never too late for us to break the chains Come on, y'all [Hook] Come on say it loud Look what we handed down Don't it make you proud? Look what we handed down Come on say it loud Look what we handed down Don't it make you proud? Look what we handed down [Scratching] Things is bound to change