Nah, I wasn't raised at gunpoint   And I've read too many books   To distract me from the mirror   When unhappy with my looks   And I ain't got proper diction   For the makings of a thug   Though I grew up in the ghetto   And my niggas all sold drugs   And though that may validate me   For a spot on MTV   And get me all the airplay   That my bank account would need   I was hoping to invest in   A lesson that I learned   When I thought this fool would jump me   Just because it was my turn      I went to an open space   'Cause I knew he wouldn't do it   If somebody there sould see him    Or somebody else might prove it   And maybe in your mind   It may seem I got punked out   'Cause I walked a narrow path   And then went and changed my route   But that openess exposed me    To a truth I couldn't find   In the clenched fist of my ego   Or the confines of my mind   Or the hipness of swagger   Or the swagger in my step   Or the scowl of my grimace    Or the meaness of my rep   'Cause we represent a truth, son   That changes by the hour   And when you open to it   Vulnerability is power   And in that shifting form   You'll find a truth that doesn't change   And that truth's living proof    Of the fact that God is strange      Talk to strangers when family fails   And friends lead you astray   When Buddha laughs and Jesus weeps   And it turns out God is gay   'Cause angels and messiahs   Love can come in many forms   In the hallways of your projects   Or the fat girl in your dorm   And when you finally take the time   To see what they're about   And perhaps you find them lonely   Or their wisdom trips you out      Maybe you'll find the cycle's end   You're back where you began   But come this time around   You'll have someone to hold your hand   Who prays for you, who's there for you   Who sends you love and light   Exposes you to parts of you   That you once tried to fight   And come this time around    You'll choose to walk a different path   You'll embrace what you turned away   And cry at what you laughed   'Cause that's the only way    We're gonna make it through this storm   Where ignorance is common sense   And senselessness the norm      And flags wave high above the truth   And the two never touch   And stolen goods are overpriced   And freedom costs too much   And no-one seems to recognise   The symbols come to life   The bitten apple on the screen   And Jesus had a wife   And she was his messiah   Like that stranger may be yours   Who holds the subtle knife   That carves through worlds like magic doors      And that's what I've been looking for   The bridge from then to now   Was watching BET like   'What the fuck, son? This is foul'   But that square box don't represent   The sphere that we live in   The Earth is not a flat screen   I ain't trying to fit in   But this ain't for the underground   This here is for the sun   A seed a stranger gave to me   And planted on my tongue   And when I look at you   I know I'm not the only one   As a great man once said   There is nothing more powerful   Than an idea   Whose time   Has come