The More Things Change (The More They Stay The Same)

[Fat Tony] Every night I look up at the twinkling stars In the sky asking, "where the fuck is my God?" And I wanna scream at the top of my lungs But I'm afraid I'll be hung or have to face they gun How come we ain't got no fuckin place for ourself? I'm 13 years old tryna fend for myself In a home that ain't mine, but if I get out of line Gotta feel that whip all against my spine, oh my But tonight we rise, tonight we ride Tonight we get our slice of the pie I got my sister ready, got my daddy ready, mama ready And my big bro got the overseer's old machete We creep in when we know they sleepin If they peep me or any of my kin we gon have to leave em bleedin But soon as I spoke here they approach The only thing on my mind… is the rope But fuck that, I'm above that, let's go for broke! Been here for too long, too wronged, all my folk! "Now, mister, we ain't tryna bring no evil up in here" "We tryna be equal with all our peers" And I looked into his eyes, and he looked into mine And put down his rifle, but picked up a knife And slit my throat in front of all my people And I hoped my story would never be a sequel but it was just a prequel The more things change, the more they stay the same The more things change, the more they stay the same August 15th, 1965 L.A., Watts riots Day 5 and I'm 15 My neighborhood's fucked up like a bad dream Got the police closing off the whole streets Sickin dogs to suck a nigga just like a leech And me and my friends, at our wit's ends Tryna figure out how to get out Cause we don't think it's finna end soon I rounded up my niggas and formed a platoon Told em, each and everyone, to invite they crew Cause we gotta do what we gotta do Think about everything that we ever, ever been through And everything our parents ever been through And everything they parents ever been through too! What would a white man do if he was you? And with that I said, "fuck it," and picked up the tool Cause when I think about slave boats Both my eyes get wetter than a raincoat Dang, hoe, think I can't take no mo I'm bout to blow, I think I need a angel And just then I heard a cop say, "nigger, no!" I think he peeped the pistol by my navel Shots rang out and it was fatal The more things change, the more they stay the same The more things change, the more they stay the same As I watched Malcolm X give his last address and bullets hit his chest I couldn't stop weepin while I was peepin Spike Lee reinterpret it And on my mama's bed, I sat and held my head My body filled with dread, wondering when I'd be dead And all this as a little kid I had to ponder in my own mind How a man of honor can kill his own kind And barely get convicted of his own crime And all this in the young prophet's own prime, oh my It's the hate that hate made, and even though my girl loves Kate Spade I bet if they were around in '58, they probably wouldn't even serve our race Probably couldn't show our face, they would have to separate it We'd be sittin, bitchin, wishin we could leave the town we hated We think we made it But most the bullshit we still face it And I for one am not gon be complacent I'm taken aback, ain't takin a nap Now don't take it wrong, we should all get along But who got faith in that? Cause the more things change, the more they stay the same The more things change, the more they stay the same