D.C., Somalia, North Philly, Philippines, Houston, New Orleans
All ghettos, all barrios, worldwide
What you know about this poor man's journey
He's got holes in his shoes and his jeans are hella dirty
Smile on his face with a wealth not worldly
With a style and a grace that got all these heads turning
High hopes and debts and pockets stay broken
No dope, high stress, in the streets discerning
Through all the false hopes and the lies they feed to you
Tryna build a future out of something feasible
But average income to some is just unreachable
Me, living like a cross of Che and Piñero
Resembling 'em both in that same scenario
Survivor of the third world since he was a day old
You learn to bundle up when you heat your house with a stove
Same house is a home for like 20 of your folks
Yo I've grown from a war-torn family
That came to America and still don't understand me, why
Because I just won't settle for they money or they schools
I care about my life more than American rules
Not just to be a fool but look what it's doing to you
Africa is dying and we all just tryna move
From Seattle to Soweto
All African ghettos
L.A., Palestine, and the body, soul, mind
Vieques, Chiapas, they just can't stop us
To Addis, Asmara, don't you forget Rwanda
Brooklyn, Planet Rockers, the belly of the monster
Senegal and on to Haiti and the DR
Everywhere that we are, to anywhere that we are
Still living like the third world even in the first
I rep for the second generation of African immigrants
Resisting assimilation
I've traced this lineage in my bones with chocolatey undertones
To Indigenous folks from Anahuac where I rock with a passion
Slight Amharic accent
Ain't no rites of passage
And it ain't no kind of magic on how I came to be a man
I dare to just imagine
And question everything they said up in this land of bastards
It's hard to tell the pimps from the poets and the pastors
While hella real men like MOVE and the Panthers get forgotten writing books while in handcuffs
I look up to men behind bars, and women that struggle hard
Everyday and every way, just ain't treated the same
And most times, guys just look the other way
It wouldn't be fair to say I understand the pain
But sister, you are my hero
And I'll never turn away
From Seattle to Soweto
All African ghettos
L.A., Palestine, and the body, soul, mind
Vieques, Chiapas, they just can't stop us
To Addis, Asmara, don't you forget Rwanda
Brooklyn, Planet Rockers, the belly of the monster
Senegal and on to Haiti and the DR
Everywhere that we are, to anywhere that we are
Still living like the third world even in the first
Some days I don't know how I'm gonna eat
And everybody in Seattle wants me to rhyme on they beats
Like I'm in too deep to sleep
When I do, in my dreams I see faces of little me, facing they new enemies
Schools and the prisons be the same damn industry
The whole rap world is just not really interesting
It stopped speaking to me when I started speaking to kids
16 years old and doing his second bid
For his age he spits hella better than I did
Only difference is he got caught for shit that I did
At his age and got away with
I'm not smarter
His skin is darker and the process is harder
Three strikes now and you a martyr
In America's favorite game that hasn't changed
Since the first Africans were brought in chains
To now we move by choice
But got colonized brains
From Seattle to Soweto
All African ghettos
L.A., Palestine, and the body, soul, mind
Vieques, Chiapas, they just can't stop us
To Addis, Asmara, don't you forget Rwanda
Brooklyn, Planet Rockers, the belly of the monster
Senegal and on to Haiti and the DR
Everywhere that we are, to anywhere that we are
Still living like the third world