dead prez — The Hood

[Intro - Stic] Goin’ out to the block, come on All the homies in front of the liquor store Little girls jumpin’ rope Grandmas hanging out the windows All the hustlas tryin’ to get that dough The whole hood Walk with me [Hook] It’s the congressman, and the policeman And the businessman, working hand in hand And the way they play, we don’t have a chance Gotta give my life in my own black hands Because I can’t take it anymore [Verse 1 - Stic] I seen the pigs harassing this little kid on my block So I stopped my car and jumped out like why not What y’all doin’ to that man I’m sayin’ Them handcuffs too tight for his hands, at least pull up his pants Undercover van jumped out on ‘im, he shoulda ran They talkin’ about they had something in his hand Then them crackers tried to intimidate me They even threatened to arrest me But I’m thinking to myself these motherfuckers can’t touch me Plus I know my rights, and I’m lookin’ out for his I got a right to stand on this block, this is where I live I’m stayin’ right here, folks start crowdin’ around Niggas at the liquor store seen it all go down They say police been on the creep , all this week Doin’ sweeps grabbin’ anybody standing on the street And we outnumber these motherfuckers a hundred to one They think they can’t get it cuz they got a badge and a gun But then, little man’s mom came downstairs She was screamin’ on them crazy when she seen her son in tears We’ve been goin’ through this same bullshit for years Livin’ in fear, you have no fuckin’ idea What it’s like to be the prey, all day, every day Don’t want minds to grow up and catch the same way So I stayed until the lil’ homie got released on the spot It felt good to see the hood push police off the block Cuz the… [Hook] It’s the congressman, and the policeman And the businessman, working hand in hand And the way they play, we don’t have a chance Gotta give my life in my own black hands Because I can’t take it anymore [Verse 2 - M-1] It was a hot day, record hot, hundred degrees Niggas irritated and broke, perfect for summer beef Franklin Avenue crews, wore wifebeaters and brews Then my homie’s sister came through with the bad news Niggas threw on they shoes with straps ready to move My nigga Ryder got cut because of his shoes On Washington Avenue, where niggas don’t like blue And if niggas don’t know you then niggas don’t like you But I know them niggas too, yeah they know the rules Why I gotta come to the tools before we catch dues And since I be comin’ through, I'mma see what it’s bout’ Check it out, if I see a spark, imam put it out By the time I arrived, it was live, the war was on I’ve seen blazed hands into shirts, I knew where it was goin’ So I threw my hands up, tried to reason with them soldiers Blood was in they eyes and they was shoulder to shoulder (?) that’s a nigga in jail, not to mention another nigga up in the white man’s hell They said, move out the way before somethin’ happen to you Call me crazy or brave, I said do what you gots to do Yeah, we quick to retaliate when the enemy us But when it’s pigs on the block I don’t see nobody bust Yeah, we quick to retaliate when the enemy us But when it’s pigs on the block I don’t see nobody bust Word up [Outro] These are the hard facts, time for the hood to uprise We gotta organize ourselves, we gotta mobilize But there can’t be no confusion, ‘bout our collective solutions If not for ourselves than for our kids, cuz we know who our enemy is [Hook] It’s the congressman, and the policeman And the businessman, working hand in hand And the way they play, we don’t have a chance Gotta give my life in my own black hands Because I can’t take it anymore