M.a.r.l.e.y. (marley And Red Living Everyday Youthfully) Lyrics - Hip-hop Lives - Krs One

R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. ain't always the truth 

Rhymes Equal Actual Life In The Youth 

These are the streets 

Shit is real out here 

This ain't no fuckin' joke 

I lived in a spot called Millbrooke Projects 

The original, criminal minded, rap topic 

With twenty cents in my pocket, I saw the light 

If you're young gifted and black, you got no rights 

Your only true right is a right to a fight 

And not a fair fight, I wake up wonderin' who died last night 

Everyone and everything is at war 

Makin' my poetic expression hardcore 

I ain't afraid to say it and many can't get with it 

At times in my life, I was a welfare recipient 

I ate the free cheese, while the church said believe 

And went to school everyday, like a goddamn fool 

Well anyway, here I am, chillin' at the party 

Brothers lookin' at me like they wanna kill somebody 

A cypher manifested in the center of the jam 

I got to show these wack rappers really who I am 

It's me against them, so, I clear the phlegm 

And wage the war, hardcore to the end 

For someone lookin' inside, yeah, from the out 

It seems like disrespect is what rap is all about 

But hip-hop as a culture is really what we give it 

But sometimes the culture contradicts how we live it 

'Cause every black kid lives two and three lives 

The city's a jungle, only the strong will survive 

R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. ain't always the truth 

Rhymes Equal Actual Life In The Youth 

R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. ain't always the truth 

Rhymes Equal Actual Life In The Youth 

Every single day, I hear lie after lie 

Like, "Black people don't die, we multiply" 

So, when I kick a rhyme, I represent how I feel 

The sacred street art of keepin' it real 

Why I gotta listen to somebody else? 

How they got wealth, let me talk about myself 

But all I really got is hip-hop and a glock 

The results are obvious if I'm confined to my block 

Occasionally, in the city I'm released 

To meet other beasts, lookin' for the feast 

We grunt and growl, on the prowl, as the air gets thinner 

"Yo, yo, there he go, him", there's the dinner 

White meat, carryin' a bag of some sort 

Life is short, white meat is quickly caught 

A scuffle, a muffle, yet none of us hesitated 

Like Mother Africa, white meat is violated 

We quickly disappear like Santa's little elves 

And go into a area to fight amongst ourselves 

We say, "Peace" 'cause that's what we really want 

A piece of the pie that America flaunts 

R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. ain't always the truth 

Rhymes Equal Actual Life In The Youth 

R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. ain't always the truth 

Rhymes Equal Actual Life In The Youth 

Oh, shit 

The truth is that police must serve and protect 

R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. is, black youth is shown no respect 

The truth is, government has a war against drugs 

R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. is, government is ruled by thugs 

With all this technology, above and under 

Humanity still hunts down one another 

Rappers display artistic cannibalism 

Through lyricism, we fight each other over rhythm 

Through basic animal instincts, we think 

So, the battle for mental territory is glory, end of story 

R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. ain't always the truth 

Rhymes Equal Actual Life In The Youth 

R.E.A.L.I.T.Y. ain't always the truth 

Rhymes Equal Actual Life In The Youth 

Yeah 

These are the streets 

Shit is real out here 

This ain't no fuckin' joke