Rise

[Intro]
I know it’s difficult but...
You know, the odds really are in our favor, man

[Verse 1]
Things just ain’t the same for gangsters
The whole world's changed, everybody’s a stranger
These young dudes running around, saying they're bangers
Click their little bangers, they click and bang ya
And I done seen too many teens chasing a dream
End up blood stream contaminated and fiending
And now they leaning on words that he said or she said, we said
Look at him, he dead
See, we ain’t never know Martin Luther the King
Most of us probably couldn’t tell you much about a dream
We like Malcolm X, cause Spike made the movie
And we saw him strapped up with the AKs and Uzis
So excuse me, I'm trying to connect to you, a whole generation is raised by gangsters
Who probably never knew pops, we had 2Pac
An old boom box, chilling in our tube socks
And plus Dre taught us how to roll a 64
And Snoop Dogg taught us how to roll a sticky dro
So if they wanna reach us with Jesus
They gotta do better than some screaming preachers
Cause homie, we don’t believe ya
We’ve seen grandmas ride by these cold thieves with heaters
So we skeptical, it’s easier to believe that there is a heaven for a thug then to mess with you
It’s hard to rise

[Verse 2]
Hey, shout out to 9th Wonder
No you ain't gotta ask
We both on the same page like a paragraph
And our music ain't the target of discussion
But it seems the radio has got a problem playing substance
Listen partner, they lying to us
They selling pies to us
They teach us how to be gangbangers and nine shooters
I been where you been, seen what you seen
Grew up with Old Dog looking mean on the screen
When Nas was street dreaming and Biggie was still breathing
And cash ruled everything around me, creaming
Folks trying to make the hood life the good life
While they in the burbs wishing us a good night
And some rappers teach us how chin-check them
But I still haven’t heard a song about being movie directors
We in your hood, man, we’ve been where you’ve been
Been stabbed, been shot, been pinned in the pen
Difference now is when we pick up the pen
We articulate about how God has made us all better men
I’m a college graduate, got some God fearing role models
With daughters who do not aspire to be pole models
You are not what the media impose on you
God made you and He rose for you
So you rise!