Message To The Soldier

(album: Home Invasion - 1993)

Yo, Ice, you been down with the struggle for a long time, man...
Why don't you drop some knowledge for these brothers who
want to get involved in this war...

Take notes: real gangstas wear trench coats
Grey suits, black ties and they seek votes
And you're not to be misled
They'll kill you in your fucking bed
They don't sell dope, yo, excuse me, yes they do
But they don't look that much like me or you
But if you pull up the sheets and expose them
They'll crawl up like snakes and show fangs of venom
Now I've been soldier for years
Representing the tattooed tears
Other brothas locked up with no choice
Left in the bowels of devil with no voice
My phones are tapped, my crib is bugged
My car is tailed from club to club
And this ain't no fucking joke
They want to see a nigga broke
You can't slip, if you slip you're out
You gotta know what you're talking about
Drop science every chance you get
Hit direct and indirect, speak in code
Cause you're never alone
That's why I use this low tone
Follow this and you might grow older
This is a message to the soldiers...

Now they killed King and they shot X
Now they want me, you could be next
All you gotta do is speak too loud
All you gotta be is be too proud
Cause once you let'em know
Who you are and where you're at
You better watch your back
Cause you might think you're just dope
While you're living in a sniper's scope
I'm not trying to scare you
But there's a danger if you get too deep
Some nights I don't sleep
All you wanna do is tell the truth
All you wanna do is save the youth
Ice Cube knows, Souljah knows, P.E. knows
They throw death blows
And if you got kids or a girl that's true
They'll move on them too
But when I'm gone I need you to carry on
You gotta be strong and fight for our salvation
But there will be retaliation, soldier...

To think that rap could be attacked
Is ignoring the simple fact
That they never ment us to speak
They had planned to keep the black man weak
But rap hit the streets
Black rage amplified over dope beats
Now they want to shut us down
And they don't fuck around
Check the history books, son
Black leaders die young
They tell us that your words are scary
They're revolutionary
Because we speak the truth
About crime and drugs
And expose the real thugs
This info is not beneficial
To the groups that go by three initals
So they try to discredit
They'll dog you with an edit
Print the words the way you never said it
But we gotta make'em regret it, soldiers...

Word! I know a lot of brothas out there want to get in this war...
You know what I'm sayin'? a lot of sistas got a lot of knowledge
to drop on our people but right now they're moving to shut down
all hip-hop! The first amendment had absolutely nothing to do
with black people at the time constitution was written, we were
considered nothing but property...The expectation of having black
people speak on records never came to mind, so we gotta move!
But belive me all the black leaders have been silenced and most
of the time it's been violent so if you choose to get in this war,
realize what you're in for but we gotta move on...
And we gotta stay strong...

Message to the soldiers, welcome to the struggle...
Message to the soldiers, be careful, soldiers...