Yo, Ice, you been down with the struggle for a long time, man...   Why don't you drop some knowledge for these brothers who    want to get involved in this war...      Take notes: real gangstas wear trench coats   Grey suits, black ties and they seek votes   And you're not to be misled   They'll kill you in your fuckin' bed   They don't sell dope, yo, excuse me, yes they do   But they don't look that much like me or you   But if you pull up the sheets and expose them   They'll crawl up like snakes and show fangs of venom   Now I've been soldier for years   Representin' the tattooed tears   Other brothas locked up with no choice   Left in the bowels of devil with no voice   My phones are tapped, my crib is bugged   My car is tailed from club to club   And this ain't no fuckin' joke   They want to see a nigga broke   You can't slip, if you slip you're out   You gotta know what you're talkin' about   Drop science every chance you get   Hit direct and indirect, speak in code    Cause you're never alone   That's why I use this low tone   Follow this and you might grow older   This is a message to the soldiers...      Now they killed King and they shot X   Now they want me, you could be next   All you gotta do is speak too loud   All you gotta be is be too proud   Cause once you let'em know   Who you are and where you're at   You better watch your back   Cause you might think you're just dope   While you're livin' in a sniper's scope   I'm not tryin' to scare you   But there's a danger if you get too deep   Some nights I don't sleep   All you wanna do is tell the truth   All you wanna do is save the youth   Ice Cube knows, Souljah knows, P.E. knows   They throw death blows   And if you got kids or a girl that's true   They'll move on them too   But when I'm gone I need you to carry on    You gotta be strong and fight for our salvation   But there will be retaliation, soldier...      To think that rap could be attacked   Is ignorin' the simple fact   That they never ment us to speak   They had planned to keep the black man weak   But rap hit the streets   Black rage amplified over dope beats   Now they want to shut us down   And they don't fuck around   Check the history books, son   Black leaders die young   They tell us that your words are scary   They're revolutionary   Because we speak the truth    About crime and drugs   And expose the real thugs   This info is not beneficial   To the groups that go by three initals   So they try to discredit   They'll dog you with an edit   Print the words the way you never said it   But we gotta make'em regret it, soldiers...      Word! I know a lot of brothas out there want to get in this war...   You know what I'm sayin'? a lot of sistas got a lot of knowledge   to drop on our people but right now they're movin' to shut down    all hip-hop! The first amendment had absolutely nothin' to do    with black people at the time constitution was written, we were    considered nothin' but property...The expectation of havin' black    people speak on records never came to mind, so we gotta move!   But belive me all the black leaders have been silenced and most    of the time it's been violent so if you choose to get in this war,    realize what you're in for but we gotta move on...   And we gotta stay strong...      Message to the soldiers, welcome to the struggle...   Message to the soldiers, be careful, soldiers...