[*starts at 10:05 mark of video*]
I don’t know, I really don’t know
Not to be a downer, you know what I mean but
[Verse 1]
Somebody told me they shot Marvin, it’s painful
They say his pop offed him, its shameful
We in a world where love is a rarity
Living vicariously through our charity
But who are we fooling? We lack clarity
You follow Christ, they swear that it’s heresy
But this is more than just rap, it’s therapy
From having seen what I’ve seen, I’m perishing
Another round, another brotha found
Twenty-three years old, they gunned him down
Brain splattered, first it spun around
His kids looking for him, he’s underground
I wonder how with this as our reality
Cats make it in rap and now he a G
Half naked our black women on tv
That’s taking us back, we gotta be free
Sistah, shield your body, it’s sacred
Don’t let these dumb ass rap cats degrade it
‘cause you ain’t gotta be naked to make it
You do more than shake it and make kids
I say this knowing that my faith in you is well worth it ‘cause of your greatness
Education is there if you take it
A terrible thing for you to waste it, [?]
[Chorus]
I wrote this for my (sistah)
A little bit of love for the (sistah)
On the block ‘cause I know you my (sistah)
Though they call you a bitch, you a (sistah)
For my auntie and my (sistah)
And my mother and my (sistah)
Yes
(What’s goin’ on?)
Yes
(What’s goin’ on?)
What’s goin’ on?
(What’s goin’ on?)
I wanna know
(What’s goin’ on?)
Tell me
[Verse 2]
No sense of history
Where I’m from no museums erected for kids to see
Our heritage, so here it is
What we see on the screen an embarrassment
In the hood our equation is based in basin
Bakin' baking powder in basements
How does it taste then? Ain’t it sour?
The truth is a pill only great can swallow
This is how I raise a child up
‘cause more than a chain, our brain is power
This is why I can never hang with cowards
I’m a field negro same as Malcolm
Same as Martin and this ain’t just talkin’
What I write and recite is the same as marchin’
You’d think racism is dead, you fooled
Type ‘Sean Bell’ in Google, YouTube
Oscar Grant after you watch a glance
At the comments, you’d think it’s ’65 again
A white boy said, “Since Obama won, we should move on from slavery, our time has come”
That’s cool, but there’s only one problem, son
You forgot Jim Crow and the op-ium
I mean the opium that they sold to slums
That make a people, [?] souls to guns
[Chorus]
And now we take the life of our (brotha)
Pull a gun or a knife on our (brotha)
And you know that ain’t right for the (brotha)
That’s why I had to write for the (brotha)
You ain’t a nigga, you know you my (brotha)
You much bigger, I say you my (brotha)
Now tell me
(What’s goin’ on?)
I wanna know, yo
(What’s goin’ on?)
Marvin asked you
(What’s goin’ on?)
And now I ask you
(What’s goin’ on?)
Let’s go
Yeah, goin’ out to 24th and Nicholas, New Kirk Street, [?] Street, Philly, [?], Jamestown, y’all tell me, y’all tell me, now tell me what’s goin’ on