My Country

(album: Stillmatic - 2001)

American born, American raised, American made

My country shitted on me (my country)
She wants to get rid of me (naw, never)
'Cause the things I seen (we know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (we seen too much)
My country shitted on me (my country)
She wants to get rid of me (naw, never)
'Cause the things I seen (we know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (we seen too much)

Ayo, it's packed on this Rikers bus
The tightest cuffs is holding me shackled
The life of a thug caught in the devil's lasso
On the streets I was invincible
Cowards would duck at a glimpse if they knew
What my pistol would do, a fucking killer
Mother's a dope fiend embarrassing me
All in front of my friends
In the street smile with no teeth
I never knew daddy, heard he had a 72 caddy
Died in a robbery, can't remember him, was probably 3
Why didn't my folks just die in this society
Why wasn't I a child of a doctor, who left stocks for me
Two little brothers, two sisters, them shorties gots to eat
Mother's a junkie, she twisted, so all they got is me
I'm the provider, with goals to do much better than my father
Whether through drugs sold, or holding revolvers
Blurry visions of dad holding me high
It comes to me slowly, the words he would cry

My country shitted on me (my country)
She wants to get rid of me (naw, never)
'Cause the things I seen (we know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (we seen too much)
My country shitted on me (my country)
She wants to get rid of me (naw, never)
'Cause the things I seen (we know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (we seen too much)

It is I that step up
Me that don't give a fuck, you that foe, then it's all over soldier
Hummers and Range's through the desert
Fuck a 20-inch, long as we got gas and we got water
Troopers looking for manslaughter
I gotta get back, for what they owe
Shoot 'em in the back for the get back
Lead through shit bag, hold tie gag
Forget the life had, now we all rebels
Everything burnt down including the ghetto
We can see 4 miles the land its major rubble
And debris from the earth as we knew crumble
Yo you could see the sea
And the stars look closer to me
I'm a mad man, this is a real life movie Mad Max
S-K's, AK's max, ABR's spitting and it ain't a rap
My mommy dearest pray for me hoping I come back, but yo

My country shitted on me (my country)
She wants to get rid of me (naw, never)
'Cause the things I seen (we know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (we seen too much)
My country shitted on me (my country)
She wants to get rid of me (naw, never)
'Cause the things I seen (we know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (we seen too much)

Yo, I'm sitting behind these prison walls
I got this pen and pad wishing on a visit, God
Brothers is here for homicide and yo, it's some for rape
Some brothers innocent, I pray that I could just escape
How is the war
And yo I'm wishing I was in your shoes
Holding machine guns
Clean fun, shooting dudes with fatigues on
Anywhere is better than this
It's America's plan every color of man inherits the shit
Yo I'm starting to think it's all a scheme, nobody cares
I know the warden is reading the scribe
(But yo I swear, it's a billion dollar business)
Courts, lawyers and jails
We all slaves in the system, I'm 'bout to rebel

There's not a bitch in sight
Or block bench, or black gate
Or gray fence, look who fucked it all up, Mr. President
I remember yesterday we was on the block getting bent
Now it's state of the art
I just saw the first dude I met here, his head came apart
What a bloody mess, a slug fest
I just buried 8 of mine, at night I hear grown men crying
You know I'm spitting mine
I ain't going out here, we gotta win
Every time I hear the wind I think a slug went in
I'm checking my chest, holding my head
Catching my breath, watching my back
Smoking this grass, beating my dick, thinking of ass
I don't know what they broadcast, the newsflash is fake
Everyday I'm feeling like you, I wanna escape
And if y'all niggas feeling like me, y'all niggas just say

My country shitted on me (my country)
She wants to get rid of me (naw, never)
'Cause the things I seen (we know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (we seen too much)
My country shitted on me (my country)
She wants to get rid of me (naw, never)
'Cause the things I seen (we know too much)
'Cause the things I seen (we seen too much)

This goes out to Che Guevara
A revolutionary destroyed by his country
Just trying to fight for what's real
This goes out to my nigga Malcolm El-Hajj Malik Shabazz
Just trying to fight for what's real
This goes out to Martin, all about peace and destroyed by his own country
This goes out to everybody in the whole world
Just trying to fight for what's real
To Patrice Lumumba
Just trying to fight for what's real and destroyed by his own people
This goes out to my hood niggas
Coming up everyday just trying to survive the only way we know how
But see we know too much now, and we seen too much now
So ain't nothing gon' to stop us now
To my country, to my country, my country, my country