To The Ghetto

[Intro]

Brooklyn, New York

Columbus, Ohio

The regiment of motivation

This is a re-work and re-imagination

[Chours: Talib Kweli & J Rawls]

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin in the

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

[Verse 1: Talib Kweli]

I fell in love with a girl named Touché

She used to dip her pickles in the Kool-Aid

Born on April Fools Day, her color d'Ussé

Cute face, plus her neck smelled like a bouquet

The scent of a rose is beyond sweet

Especially when it has to grow through the concrete

Facing every tragedy, racial disparities

A place where giving to yourself is considered charity

Where eyes are the window to the soul, every cry's a blessin'

That's how you cleanse the lens of your perception

But there ain't no cryin' in the ghetto

Emotions, got folks dying in the ghetto

Where they talk about the plugs, no hair club

When they want to run the fade that's not a haircut

To be clear son, that's a fair one

A lecture yeah the only time the man come

[Chours: Talib Kweli & J Rawls]

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

[Verse 2: Talib Kweli]

Ghetto is now an adjective, started out as Venetian

They segregated Jews and other Eastern Europeans

The opiate of the people distributed by the preachers

Snitches get stitches so the ghetto has secrets

Immigration is how you build up the nation

Gentrification creating these migrations

Your property gets taken when there's poverty you facing

Creating the conditions for permanent vacations

Stay paid they hate to hate [?]

School-to-prison pipeline workers of 8th grade

It's the cards that we're dealt, we learn how to place [?]

And burners of our names in the yards with the trains

I don't have many friends in this business, I only trust a few

The most illustrious, the post-industrial

There's no sleep, only the dead slumber

Beware the head-hunters, they want another red summer

[Chours: Talib Kweli & J Rawls]

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

To the ghetto

Dude this is surviving to be livin'

Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the