[Ice Cube]
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Now is the time...
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C'mon y'all
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Stand tall, live your life to the limit
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Cause haterism seem like a fucking epidemic
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And look at Ice Cube, I ain't no gimmick
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I'm straight from the hood, I got to represent it
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Now - every day I think about my color
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And all the crazy shit we do to one another
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I ain't your blood brother, but I'm your cuz brother
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Let's take it back to the love and how it was brother
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If not, we gon' pull these triggers
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Show the world we deserve to be called niggaz
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I make a fuck-up, like Don Imus
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bow on his knees, and call me yo' highness
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You can too, you got the power to
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Don't let this motherfuckin system devour you
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I won't pretend, or act like I'm knowin you
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But check it out I understand what you goin through
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[Chorus: sung from samples]
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But remember, brothers and sisters
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You can still, stand, tall
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Just be thankful...
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For what you got
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[Ice Cube]
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I know what y'all motherfuckers thinking, heh heh
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Here comes another rapper with a song about hope
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All you wanna hear is a song about dope
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And how a nigga got mo' money than the Pope
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But he'll never tell you when he drop the soap
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No~! Ice Cube is here to drop you a note
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Cause some of our folk used to hang from ropes
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And some of our people used to hang from trees
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Now the only thing hangin muh'fucker is DEEZ
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So, get your mind right, and I'ma rhyme right
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Fuck the limelight, and a blind dyke
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I'm the sunlight, too bright to look
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When it's all said and done I should write the book
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You too cool for school, too old to know?
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Get your ass off the grassroots and let 'em grow
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I understand, it ain't no love lost
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But little kids, it ain't no Santa Claus
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[Chorus]
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[Ice Cube]
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Yeah, f'real
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I was born in the mud but I came out clean
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That's 'til the government tried to intervene
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Tried to lock me up when I was only 19
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Don't never ever ever let 'em kill your dream
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I make shit raw that piss off the law
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If you want some fake shit turn this off
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If you want some realness I know you can feel this
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Maybe we can heal this just like an illness
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Black on black, I got'cho back
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People don't think that we know how to act
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Just because our neighborhood is filled with crack
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And the CIA, won't take it back
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Never on top, always on the bottom
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Never put your trust in Hillary Rodham
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Cause I can tell you now it's gon' turn out rotten
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Keep on pushin, get 'em 'til we got 'em
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[Chorus]
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[Ice Cube]
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Stand up, f'real...
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Raise your hand if you sick of this bullshit
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Heh, in the belly of the evil empire [fades]
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-----------------
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Stand Tall
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Ice Cube |