Revolution of the Mind

(Now brothers and sisters)
(The revolution will not be televised)
(Let us have something black
Let us have something black we like
Let us have some black merchants
Let us have some black stores
Let us have something black in a black community)

[ VERSE 1: Master Rob ]
A revolution of the mind is at hand
These are trying times for the blackman
Reaganomics, economics didn't benefit me
Federal funds are cut so minorities suffer
So wake up because things could get rougher
See, we the people have enough of
The stereotypes, media hypes
Pieces and bits (Yeah Rob, I'm hip)
Police brutality brings another casualty
Thought the kid had a gun so he bust one
What a way to die
Reachin for an ID, the cop said, "Try me"
Age 12 in the Amsterdam
Filmed at 11, but who gives a damn
Now there's a riot, officers deny it
And they wish it was quiet
But it's not, when will the bloodshed stop?
A cop gets shot, now everyone's in shock
Tension's on the rise
Do the Right Thing was no surprise to me
Thank God for a brother like Spike Lee
Who tells the truth just like me
(People, people) Don't you know it's time?
(What time is it?) For a revolution of the mind

(Now brothers and sisters)
(The revolution will not be televised)
(Oh mercy, mercy me)
(Oh mercy, mercy me)

[ VERSE 2: Master Rob ]
Some brothers don't wanna go to school
If you cut it's cool, an unwritten rule
Among your peers, tippin them for quarts of beer
Smoke vapes in a Phillie, then you're straight
Won't stay in your school passed homeroom
(Brothers and sisters) It's your own doom
Get your diploma and one day you'll own a
Mansion or a yacht, so please don't mock
My words, I'll never steer you wrong
Master Rob (Too black, too strong)
Take a look at the fold
School textbooks are forty years old
Or the fed bureaucracy
Straighten up so I can see
Black, White, Puerto-Rican, Dominican
Our schools are diminishin'
Gang violence on the rise, 25 to life
Shanks with a knife, takes a brother's life
Just cause he's not from the block
Now you wanna be a hard rock
People press charges and now you're in a fix
So take a trip to see 76
Neighborhood thug with a picture of your mug
You almost caught a slug cause you wanted to bug
Respect your own kind
But it's gonna take a revolution of the mind

(Brothers and sisters
In the name of Allah the all-wise true and living God
The one to whom all praise is due
We thank you together in unity and harmony)

[ VERSE 3: Master Rob ]
Mr David Dinkins made a speech
Still I'll never buy a slice in Howard Beach
And if I get rolled up the brother won't fold up
I reach for the steel and say, "Hold up"
Seen a lotta things in my days
And that's why I'm set in my ways
Won't turn the other cheek, to me that's weak
Whatever's on my mind I'll speak
400 years over here
Made more contributions than Shakespeare
Still genocide is the scheme
Martin Luther King had a dream
Things ain't always what they seem
That's why Malcolm X was more extreme
Both were killed durin' the fight
Because the man doesn't want us to unite
Floods our community with crack
Shatter your dreams, front and back
Steal money from your moms, take gold from a baby
Yo my brother, that's crazy
Revolutionize your priorities
And you'll see the joy that life brings
Reach for the sky, hold your head high, and sing
(Don't you worry 'bout a thing)
(Don't you worry 'bout a thing)

(And ( ? ) has a thick accent
That when he said, "Please don't beat me"
Do you think that they said, "Oh gee, he's not a black American
We won't beat him
They kept kicking his butt
Those people have to remember that they are still black people
On a dark street in a white neighborhood you are still black
It's a shame that black folks are still rewarded for betraying their own community
And we're the only group of people that is rewarded for that
White people do not respect other white people who turn on their community
They may say they do because it's the right thing to do and all
But in the back of their minds they do not respect it)