My Shot Lyrics - The Roots

The Hamilton Mixtape 

Woah, woah, woah, woah 

Woah, woah, woah 

Ayo mugshot, gun shot, dope shot, jump shot 

Take your pick, but you only get one shot 

Advice from a schoolteacher to a young tot 

Applyin' a sticker to his Spiderman lunchbox 

When even role models tell us we're born to be felons 

We're never gettin' into Harvard or Carnegie Mellon 

And we gon' end up either robbin' somebody or killin' 

It's not fair that's all they can tell us 

That's why I hustle hella hard, never celebrate a holiday 

That'll be the day I coulda finally hit the lottery 

I refuse to ever lose or throw my shot away 

Or chalk it up as just another one that got away 

So I'm unapologetic, I'm on my calesthenics 

If I have given it all I got I cannot regret it 

My point of destination's different from where I was headed 

'Cause I'ma shoot for the stars to get it 

One shot 

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I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

Yo I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy, and hungry 

And I'm not throwin' away my shot 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

No I'm not throwin' away my shot 

Yo I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

And I'm not throwin' away my shot 

Photos 

When opportunity knock, you don't send anyone to get it 

Answer the door, welcome it, let it in, or regret it 

They said if you can't beat 'em you join 'em 

I said, "Forget it" 

'Cause once you join 'em you're buildin' a ceilin' the way you're headed 

Be American, express how you feel and take the credit 

Don't settle for 87, go premium unleaded and 

Take off, shake all the hate off, it's over 

It's they loss, the payoff's their weight off your shoulders 

Must admit, I'm feelin', um, kinda, um 

Lighter as a writer with this fire and desire to go higher 

Than a stealth fighter pilot with my eye on every prize 

I surprise you guys, I'm a prize fighter 

My nine to five describe your scribe, survive minor 

Setbacks and take steps back from pied pipers 

Be leaders, believers in yourself and mean it 

I mean you only get one shot, take it or leave it 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

Yo I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

And I'm not throwin' away my shot 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

No I'm not throwin' away my shot 

Yo I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

And I'm not throwin' away my shot 

Rise up 

If you livin' on your knees, you rise up 

Tell your brother that he's gotta rise up 

Tell your sister that she's gotta rise up 

When are folks like me and you gonna rise up? 

Every city, every hood, we need to rise up 

All my soldiers, what's good? We need to rise up 

We ain't got no other choice, we need to rise up 

Rise up! 

Throughout my travels and journeys through life I've been searchin' 

And been learnin' to be the type of person 

To display how determined I get when I'm certain 

Inside I feel that fire that's burnin' 

Like a knife that is turnin', I fight while I'm hurtin' 

Sometimes they're right 'cause life is a burden 

Like the pain from a bite that'll worsen 

Tryna stifle the light that'll shine on me first and 

Before I ride in a hearse and 

My breathing stops and 

You'll never take my one shot I got 'fore I lie in the earth 

And now I kill again on that Hamilton Hercules Mulligan 

Readin' in Vanity Fair or the Huffington 

Done with the sufferin', we in the guts again, family rushin' in 

Wonder where Busta been 

Feelin' the hunger and feedin' the lust to win 

See I've been patiently waitin' for this moment 

To rise up again, that's the way I was molded 

And as the last one standin' as the rest of them foldin' 

Give me my one chance to grab the torch and properly hold it 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

Ayy, yo I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

And I'm not throwin' away my shot 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

No I'm not throwin' away my shot 

Yo I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

And I'm not throwin' away my shot 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

Ayy, yo I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

And I'm not throwin' away my shot 

I said I'm not throwin' away my shot 

No I'm not throwin' away my shot 

Ayy yo I'm just like my country 

I'm young, scrappy and hungry 

And I'm not throwin' away my shot 

It's time to take a shot 

Woah, woah, woah, woah 

Woah, woah, woah, woah