Lyrics: Nas. I Am.... Ghetto Prisoners.

Uhh, regulate nigga
Bravehearts nigga, live for this
Some of y'all don't live at all
Get yours, nigga, get yours, baby
Uhh, yo, yo

As the night closed down on the earth like gray dark rings
Light of cities in the nights, destination for kings
With big dreams, like Castro, overthrew Bautista
From Cuba, and pointed nukes toward the U.S.

About to shoot us for revolution, that's how you gotta move
A lot of rules, some locked in solitude
Curse the day of they birth confused
Who's to be praised, the mighty dollar or almighty Allah

I'm like the farmer, plantin' words, people are seeds
My truth is the soil, help you grow like trees
May the children come in all colors, change like leaves
But hold before you, one of those, prophetic MC's

With blunted flows, seven hundred souls in me
Each channelin', from past to present time
Heaven shines light on those innocent to how the world grows
Some men become murderers and some girls become hoes

And you accounted for, everything that you heard
Do not speak to fools, they scorn the wisdom of your words
My heart is wise, bloodshot eyes, the saga never dies
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise

Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners

Yo, we gotta be God's children, habitats in tall buildings
Rats crawl in filthy hallways, incinerators
Sinners who faithless, still there's hope
Pray it's answered, dreams turned real

What's a wicked nation? One with blind men
Not takin' charge of the situation
Empty arguments and real conversation's needed
The world'll need it, to hear it

Evil tries to weaken my spirit, it's chronic herb
This hurt come from the honest word
I now try hardest to serve my maker
What I learned, find it's way on the paper

So I could dictate it, articulate it
Luckily, I was put on one of the ships that made it
Through strong currents and winds that left the others stranded
To sink in the Atlantic, satan jigs the planet

Not to get too religious
But who decides when and if your life is finished?
If Christ is in this, for the sake of your name, O Lord
May we break away from the chains abroad

Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners, get up, wake up, rise

Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners

You wanna buy time? I'm the seller of minutes
I give you every second low-priced, if I so lies
The truth is time waits for none of you
In fact, he can't wait for the date to snatch
The ground right from under you

Small visions of better life, if cheddar was right
Lurk in the mind of young ones ahead of they time
Trapped in the slums, beggin' for nuttin' but takin'
Headed for nuttin' but the state pen, where they cousins be waitin'

Judges is not relatin' to pleas
Guns bustin' where the kids play
Ricochet off lamp poles and leave damp holes
In bystanders, get cancelled, D.O.A.

Around the way, where we from
Hope the future reduce the rate of those buried young
Life is every man's kingdom, a dyin' man's past
And a newborn's, first time to be here at last

And shouldn't have to grow up fast, and suffer our pain
Hustlin' harder than the generations here before he came
Goin' through the same bullshit as our fathers
Readin' history, but who's the authors?

For some the game is easy
For most of us, the game is much harder
But never lose faith
Through the years just get smarter

Ghetto prisoners, ghetto prisoners
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners, get up, wake up, rise

Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners rise, rise, rise
Ghetto prisoners