Time and time, a brother asks why    The rhyme is not laced with a gangsta touch   I said "Simply because I don't live that way   Still kickin' them rhymes rugged and rough"   "But that won't sell,    cause you gotta keep it real    so that we can feel    where you're coming from   Because these streets is ill so if you ain't    killing niggas in rhymes    your whole sound's just bubble gum"   I said "I won't contribute to genocide;    I'd rather try to cultivate an inner side   and try to evolve the frustrated ghetto mind   The devil and his army never been a friend of mine"   "But niggas don't wanna hear that shit" said the brother    Who was obviously totally misled and yelled out   "murder murder, kill, murder" instilled in the influential parts   Of our kids' heads      Shallow days, you never wanna    Let a brother be a brother   Fully inner to the outer   Caught up, and all them hollow nights   Can't escape cause everywhere that I look   People frontin, and it just ain't right      I said "Don't you know the powers that be   are using people as pawns, devouring we   until they see us all gone and outta the scene"   And as I passed the chronic, he said "look at where I be,    I tried to get a job for real,    But all my homies hit licks, and rob and steal   and keep fat pockets caught in a rut to catch ground   this way's in, plus who could you trust?"   I said "I'm all about protecting mine,    but neglecting minds be getting left behind.   Why don't you change your environment?"   He said "This is all I know,    plus my fam's all that I got, I can't go"   I said "You gotta make it for the fam"   "Damn," he said "I didn't make the ghetto,   The ghetto made the man"   I said "You're more than just that,"    Shook his hand, said "Damn, you gotta find a way   To break the devil's master plan, peace"      The word peace is just an expression   Used to say bye when it's time to jet   And them red black and green medallions   Was all just part of the trend, I guess   Hardly ever see them around brothers' necks no more   Instead of that gold, gats    Inspiring gangstas and macks   Who at the young age of four   Be seeing more drama than war veterans   Instead of learning God's laws   And hip-hop is a voice who we enlist at   To express how we be feeling about this and that   But music does reflect life   And kids look up to what you're portraying    And mimic what you act like   It's time for a new day   An era in rap, conscious styles,   Makin' them aware of the happenings   But their ears seem more steered towards   Self-annihilation so many might laugh   And write this off, like I'm out here just   Blowing wind, maybe label us soft or unreal,    Something they can't feel, while they keep yellin   Murder murder murder, kill kill kill