Self-Construction

[Verse 1: KRS-One] Today's topic, self construction We all came together just to tell y'all something Guns in school ain't right to me You gotta be the peace you'd like to see See yourself free I use my mind beyond time to talk to the future me See yourself wealthy It's time to settle all these beefs, man, yo Nelly help me [Verse 2: Nelly] It's like we livin' in that you can't stop me era Like man when I see you I'ma pop you era Like we ain't learned nothing from the 2Pac error From the B-I Terror, take a look in the mirror Gets your hands out your pockets like man It's time we get up get out and get sumthin' get a plan You know a plan not a scam I'm talkin' sumthin' beneficial in helpin' the next man [Verse 3: Styles P] From self destruction to self construction Really depends on self production Our family's dysfunctional but we could function To make our next generation's options something Better than we had which was close to nothing Come from the ages of minimum wages Brothers is outrages, millennium slave tips Put it in the book but we ain't go through the pages [Verse 4: Redman] What I like to see is MCs get along If you gotta buck a shot throw it in a song Get your lyrics up it all sound wrong When I drop I rock till the cows come home [Verse 5: The Game] I never thought I'd tell anybody to put a gun down Till last week I saw a 12-year-old kid gone down This ain't what life's about All this shoot 'em up, "bang bang" you never think twice about That's somebody's son you shot, somebody's daughter you slaughtered I shed tears for our dearly departed And the shooters get X'd like Malcolm One dead in the grave, one behind bars is the outcome [Hook: Ne-Yo] Self construction I said what we doin' to each other what we need Self construction Cryin' mothers, dying brothers what we need Self construction Never ever ran from the Ku Klux Klan Shouldn't have to run from a black man We need self construction Hey, self construction, hey [Verse 6: Method Man] Look at the pot callin' the kettle black I'm in the ghetto black And I ain't tryin' to be where Dillon and Shawn Belle is at I show these people where hell is at It's right around the corner from no hope where the dope be sellin' at [Verse 7: Busta Rhymes] Ayo I'd like to see us open the lines of communication Prioritizing and dealing with self preservation Being constructive is something I'm completely endorsing Cause the mind state of the youth kinda needed some reinforcement [Verse 8: Wise Intelligent] Hip-hop's responsibility goes far beyond rappin' We can talk about the happens, sing songs without action Activist activism must enforce your lyricism This is how you counteract violence and lying politicians [Verse 9: Rakaa Iriscience] Cut throat America, powder keg California Big business Wu Shaolin, hip hop is out to warn ya Black or brown; brown and black, North and South beef Self construction now, these rockers all about peace [Hook: Ne-Yo] Self construction I said what we doin' to each other what we need Self construction Cryin' mothers, dying brothers what we need Self construction Never ever ran from the Ku Klux Klan Shouldn't have to run from a black man We need self construction Hey, self construction, hey [Verse 10: Talib Kweli] I ain't cosigning none of that obnoxious rhymin' We losin' babies to the streets so we could not be silent Together we could stop the violence, we listen to music Even bullets be whistlin' when the shots is firin' [Verse 11: Rah Digga] Chicks ain't even exempt now Even got us goin' in and out of the pen now Years in the game, think it's goin' on ten now Must be mad think I'm putting the pen down [Verse 12: Lil AJ, KRS-One] I wasn't here for the first movement I'm thirteen let me put in my 2 cents A nation divided equals silence So let's join together to stop the violence