Hip-Hop is Socially Conscious and Revolutionary

Rosa Clementa announced that Hip-Hop is Revolutionary, since it's honest, it's in your face, it's uncompromising, and it's speaks Truth to Power.

Hip-Hop is the Music of Revolution.

[For the Full Story, Click on the Title]

I've compiled this list of rappers and their songs to highlight the socially conscious messages they are speaking, much to parents all over the world's dismay. Hip-Hop, in it's original form, are rappers speaking about Life, it's Trials and Tribulations, and the Struggles.

Rappers are the only ones really telling it like it is.

“Which Side Are You On?” by Rebel Diaz

On Hip-Hop:

“See I gotta draw the line. I cant take it no more. If you ain't down with revolution, what you waitin for? Making money for suckers and our communities poor. Ripping flags off of coffins, man this ain't our War. Colonized and terrorized by the world's biggest killers. The US Government the biggest weapon and drug dealers. Filling prisons with children; incarcerating the future. Myspace and Facebook, they got us stuck on computers. Stuck on stupid bumping music that's abusive to the shorties. And the nonsense that you spitting they just listen and absorb it. I've been dormant, I've awoken, I'm a giant, I'm ready. I'm with the APPO in Oaxaca and we holding machetes.

“I rock hard like Palestinian children holding slingshots!!! I'm with every single kid that's down for hip hop. For the culture the life what it really stands for. This music is resistance. It's the voice of the poor. I'm on the side of the workers, the teachers and lunch ladies. On the streets with brown mommy's raising our brown babies. I'm with youth organizers cleaning up the Bronx River. I'm like Jaime Escalante when I stand and deliver. I'm with Evo Morales, man, he running Bolivia. Distribution of the land so they could all live bigger. I'm with Hugo and Fidel, Grandmaster and Melle Mel. With the Panthers up in Queens, justice for Sean Bell. I'm with Camacho Negron. I'm with Ojeda Rios. Freedom for Oscar Lopez, time to get an appeal. I'm with Abu Jamal. I'm with Assatta Shakur. I'm with the Compas in Immokalee getting a penny more!

“I'm with parents everywhere fighting for good schools. And for all these good women to find some good dudes. I'm for immigrants, activists, unions and freelancers. I'm with editors, engineers and indy media. I'm with my family and my crew Rebel Diaz. Cause its dope when the elders break bread with the kids. I'm for telling the truth, exposing the lies. Think about the dead soldiers when you're driving your ride. Them people died for the oil and Daddy Bush's revenge. I'm with the widows the children and the lonely best friends. I'm with Families Staying Together as ONE. I'm Not for the Raids and the Deportations! So watch out for those snitches in that unmarked car! And for Lil Saulito, we gonna fight for your moms. So we gonna shout her out, twice in One song. I'm for a world without borders and a better tomorrow.”

“Changes” – Tupac

On Poverty and War:

“I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself: “Is Life worth living, or should I blast myself?” I tired of being poor and even worse I'm black. My stomach hurts so I'm looking for a purse to snatch. Cops give a damn about a Negro. Pull a trigger, kill a nigger, he's a hero. Give the crack to the kids. Who the Hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare. First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal the brothers. Give 'em guns, step back, watch 'em kill each other.”

“It's time to fight back,” that's what Huey said. Two shots in the dark, now Huey's dead.”

“I see no changes.

Can't a brother get a little Peace?

It's a WAR on the Streets

And WAR in the Middle East.

Instead of a WAR on Poverty,

They got a WAR on Drugs so the Police can bother me.”

“Land Of The Gun” – Immortal Technique

On the Military-Industrial Complex:

“Running through the streets that reek of the dead. It's more food to the wealthy. My niggaz on welfare. Nobody given up healthcare. George Bush having a swell year. Swinging the Gat. Ready to clap. Anything on the map. You done seen what they bring to Iraq. Now bring it back to the source. Land of the physical force.”

“Land of the gun! Land of the gun! Land of the gun!”

“This is the place where the cops rush in the building. Paramilitary death squads murder your children. Empty shell of a man rippin' shots in the air. Soldiers dying out there. But nobody cares.”

On Class Warfare:

“Prepare for the future but make note of the past or be condemned to live it again and get blast. Class warfare kept out of the news. Replaced by a corporation's political views. Cause this is where the guns are manufactured and sold. The land that was stolen, stripped of all its gold. Old timers on the death bed speaking the wisdom. Immigrants crucified by conservative Christians. Now we all got freedom to die in the street. But the difference is more of us die in a week than they die in a year. I made clear where I stand, when the line is drawn, but now the line is gone and nigga anything goes. The land where the guns don't let anything grow and what the fuck you niggaz know about living in hell. You not built like me, you never lived in a cell. You never gambled with your soul. Fuck the ice in your hand, gun in your palm, but you got a niggaz life in your hand. Young Man. Just remember that slicing a gram is a bloody game, like throwing mice in the fan.”

On Guerrilla Warfare:

“Now we running through the streets, starving. On that guerrilla warfare. Innocent children screaming in tears. You acting like the army ain't put hell here. Military industry having a swell year. Swinging a gat, while lying in heaven. Living off a blank check after 9-11. But I have the truth brought back to the source. Fight for my land with physical force. Speak through music, the subliminal course. I need a tech and a clip. Fuck a jag and a Porsche.”

“Land of the Gun!

Land of the Gun!

Land of the Gun!

Land of the Gun!”

“Propaganda” - Dead Prez

On Truth:

“Telling lies to our children. Telling lies to our children. Telling lies to our babies.”

On Education:

“Feeding our children miseducation. No one knows if there's UFO or any life on Mars. Or what they do when they up in the stars. I don't believe a word of what the President said. He filling our head, with lies, got us hypnotized. When he be speaking in cold words about crime and poverty. Drugs, welfare, prisons, guns, and robbery; it really means us, there's no excuse for the slander, but what's good for the goose is still good for the gander.

I don't believe Bob Marley died from cancer.

Thirty-one years ago, I would of been a Panther.

They killed Huey cause they knew he had the answer.

The views that you see in the news is mother fucking Propaganda.

FBI

CIA

ATF

KKK

IRS

TNT

CBS

NBC

“I don't want a computer chip in my arm. I don't wanna die by a nuclear bomb. I say we all rush the Pentagon. Pull out guns and grab the intercom. My first words will be I believe man made God out of ignorance and fear. If God made man, then why the hell would He put us here? I thought He's supposed to be the all-loving? The same God that put Jews in the oven.”

“We don't fall for the regular leadership, flipping position. They turn politician and shut the hell up and follow tradition. Your TV screen is telling lies to your vision. Every channel got some brainwashed cop shit to watch. Running up in niggas cribs claiming the heard shots. It's a plot. But busta can you tell me who's greedier? Big Corporations, the Pigs or the Media? Sign of the time. Terrorism on the rise. Commercial airplanes. Falling out the sky like flies.”

Huey Newton:

“We view each other with a great love and a great understanding. We try to expand this to the general black population and oppressed people all over the world. We differ from some other groups simply because we understand the system better than most groups understand the system. And with this realization, we attempt to form a strong political base based in the community with the only strength that we have: a potentially destructive force, if we don't get freedom.”

“The Way I Am” by Eminem

On Marijuana:

“I sit back with this pack of zig zags, and this bag of this weed, it gives me the shit needed to be the most meanest MC on this earth, and since birth I've been cursed with this curse to just curse.”

On Hip Hop, Columbine, and Society:

“When a dude's getting bullied and shoots up the school; and they blame it on Marilyn; and the Heroin. But where were the parents at? And look where its at. Middle America. Now it's a tragedy. Now it's so sad to see. An upper class city having this happening. They attack Eminem 'cause I rap this way? But I'm glad. Cause they feed the fuel that I need for the fire to burn, and it's burning and I have returned, and I am whatever you say I am. If I wasn't, the why would I say I am? In the paper, the news, everyday I am. Radio won't even play my jam. I am whatever you say I am. In the paper, the news, everyday I am. I don't know. That's just the way I am.”

“White America” by Eminem

On America:

“America. We love you. How many people are proud to be citizens of this beautiful country of ours? The stripes and and the stars for the rights that men have died for to protect. The women and men who have broke their necks for the freedom of speech the United States government has sworn to uphold. Or so we're told...”

On Parents:

“The problem is I speak to suburban kids who otherwise would of never knew these words exist, whose moms probably wouldn't have give two squirts of piss until I created so much mother fucking turbulence.

So to the parents of America. I am the derringer aimed at little Erica, to attack her character. The ringleader of this circus of worthless pawns. Sent to lead the march right up to the steps of Congress. And piss on the lawns of the White House and replace it with a parental advisory sticker. To spit liquor in the faces of this Democracy of Hypocrisy. Fuck you Ms. Cheney! Fuck you Tipper Gore! Fuck you with the Freest of Speech this Divided States of Embarrassment will allow me to have. Fuck you. I'm just kidding America. You know I love you.”

“Without Me” by Eminem

On Censorship:

“So the FCC won't let me be. Or let me be me. So let me see. They tried to shut me down on MTV. But it feels so empty without me.”

“That's War!” by Dead Prez

On the System:

[M-1 over "Whoa!" beat]

“The cops stop you just cause you black, that's War.
Run your prints through the system, that's War.
When they call my hood a drug zone, that's War.
Slum lords charge me for the rent, that's War.
Why they so rich and we poor, that's War.
If you young and black you sell crack, that's War.
The White House is the rock house, that's War.
George Bush coming out his mouth, that's War.

Chilling on the corner with your gang, that's War.
Po-po do the same damn thing, that's War.
When they murdered Amado Dialo, that's War.
Marching through the streets is a strategy of War.
Knowing self defense is a strategy of War.
Soldiers try to link with other soldiers, that's War.
Revolutionaries gotta know the art of War.
What about hip hop use that, fuck a rap battle, what about a Gatt battle?

Let's take it to the beast and see which cat tattle.
Is it 'Kiss vs. Beans or P vs. Hov'?
What about the real niggaz vs. the 5-0?
This is M-1, DP, don't you forget.
Cause you can talk talk talk but it don't mean shit.
I ain't gotta pop your top to see where your brains went.
This rap shit is bigger then entertainment.
It's the people vs. the pigs when it all boils down.
It ain't Pac vs. Big. It's who's getting the power.
And power ain't money dog, its self determination.
Like taking Hop and making this the real People's Station, that's War.”

“Renegade” by Eminem with Jay Z

On Hip-Hop And It's Controversy:

“Whose the King of these rude ludicrous lucrative lyrics? Who could inherit the title? Put the youth in hysterics? Using his music to steer it, sharing his views, and merits? But there's a huge interference—they're saying you shouldn't hear it. Maybe it's Hatred I spew. Maybe it's Food for the Spirit. Maybe it's Beautiful Music I made for you to just cherish.”

“But I'm debated, disputed, hated, and viewed in America as a mother fucking drug addict—like you didn't experiment? Now now, that's when you start to see yourself as a kid again, and you get embarrassed. And I got nothing to do but make you look stupid as parents. You fucking do-gooders. Too bad you couldn't do-good at marriage. Ha Ha!”

On Religion and the Media:

“See I'm a poet to some, a regular modern day Shakespeare. Jesus Christ, the King of these Latter Day Saints here. To shatter the picture in which of that as they paint me as: a monger of hate, a scatterbrained-atheist. But that ain't the case. See it's a matter of taste. We as a People decide if Shady's as bad as they say he is. Or is he the latter? A gateway to escape? A media scapegoat that we can be mad at today? See it's easy as cake. Simple as whistling Dixie. While I'm waving the pistol at sixty Christians against me. Go to war with the Mormons, take a bath with the Catholics, in holy water; no wonder they try to hold me under longer. I'm a mother fucking spiteful—delightful—eyeful. The new Ice Cube. Mother fuckers just hate to like you. What did I do?”

“I'm just a kid from the gutter making his butter off these blood suckers, because I'm a mother fucking renegade.”

“Rock Bottom” by Eminem

On Wealth:

“This song is dedicated to all the happy people. All the happy people who have real nice lives and have no idea what's it like to be broke as fuck.”

On Minimum Wage:

“I feel like I'm walking a tightrope. Without a circus net. Popping Percocet. I'm a nervous wreck. I deserve respect. But I work a sweat for this worthless check. About to burst this tech at somebody to reverse the debt. Minimum wage got my adrenaline caged. Full of venom and rage. Especially when I'm engaged. And my daughter's down to her last diaper That's got my ass hyper. I pray that God answers. Maybe I'll ask nicer.”

“My life is full of empty promises and broken dreams. I'm hoping things will look up but there ain't no job openings. I feel discouraged, hungry, and malnourished. Living in this house with no furnace, unfurnished. And I'm sick of working dead end jobs with lame pay, and I'm tired of being hired and fired the same day.”

On the Relationship between Poverty and Crime:

“Right now I feel like I just hit the Rock Bottom. I got problems. Now everybody on my block's got 'em. I'm screaming like those two cops when Tupac shot 'em. Holding two glocks. I hope your doors got new locks on 'em. My daughter's feet ain't got no shoes or socks on 'em. And them rings you wearing look like they got a few rocks on 'em. And while you flaunting them I could be taking them out to pawn them. I've got a couple of rings and a brand new watch. You want 'em? Cause I never went gold off one song.”

“I'm running up on someone's lawns with guns drawn.”

“Memorial Day” by The Perceptionists

On the Iraq War:

“Where are the weapons of mass destruction?
We been looking for months and we ain't found nothing.
Please Mr. President, tell us something.
We knew from the beginning that your ass was bluffing.”
[Mr. Lif]

“How unfortunate, it wasn't what you thought it kid, in basic training. They taught you how to slay man as a start-up kit. And you showed up with a gun to load up. Hoping a college education's waiting, maybe a steady occupation. Now you're weighing many lives against yours. President orders, got you on course, with holocaust, Sergeant is lost. General's boss, plans cross, now you're in the cross hair of a sniper's shaky scared, shot off your ear. All fucked up now! One round just hit him in his from some young yet expendable citizen. He's from the other side of the line, fighting for time. Time to see his kids walk, time to talk with his pops. Time to have a rational thought without the thought of being shot. Damn, his gun jammed. Now you gotta bombard. It's a soldier's suicide slide - know you tried hard to stay alive. When you're catching fire from both sides, and we miss you at home. It's time the government truly left you alone. Dropped you off and popped one in your dome. Now we've seen it in Iraq and the Congo - America's motto: "Kill their leader then we build a stronghold."”

[Akrobatik]
“I never thought of this the day that I enlisted. That I'd be dodging bullets, seeking weapons that never even existed. For someone else's personal beef, I risk myself, while the Commander-in-Chief would never come to fight himself. I feel I'm being tricked even worse than the civilians. Nobody ever told me that we would be killing children! Feeling like the ones that sent me here are the psychotics, but if I say that out loud, I'm "unpatriotic". But would Donald Rumsfeld back me up with the chrome? Would Tom Ridge fight or would he stay secure back home? And would Condoleeza Rice cover grenades in a fox hole? I'm starting to believe what I was told is not so.”

“What's the reason for the war? I'm shooting at these people that I got not animosity for. I wonder if I'm just a pawn in someone else's struggle, or a hero, even though I'm just a small piece of the puzzle. I know that when I finally return where I reside, I'll make up for the months my wife and moms cried,
and carry on for all my fallen brothers that died. But you can't take my pride, cause I'm a fucking soldier!”

“Sing for the Moment” by Eminem

On Singing:

“Sing with me. Sing for the years. Sing for the laughter. Sing for the tears. Sing it with me. Just for today. Maybe tomorrow the Good Lord will take you away.

“It's all political. If my music is literal, and I'm a criminal, how the fuck can I raise a little girl? I couldn't. I wouldn't be fit to. You're full of shit Guerrera. That was a fist that hit you.”

“They say music can alter moods and talk to you. Well can it load a gun for you, and cock it too? Well if you can, the next time you assault a dude, just tell the judge it was my fault and I'll get sued.”

On Eminem's Motivation for Singing:

“It's fucked up ain't it. How we can come from practically nothing to being able to have any fucking
thing that we wanted. That's why we sing for these kids, who don't have a thing. Except for a dream, and a fucking rap magazine. Who post pin-up pictures on their walls all day long. Idolize they favorite rappers and know all they songs. Or for anyone who's ever been through shit in their lives. Till they sit and they cry at night wishing they'd die. Till they throw on a rap record and they sit, and they vibe. We're nothing to you but we're the fucking shit in they eyes. That's why we seize the moment, try to freeze it and own it, squeeze it and hold it. Cause we consider these minutes golden. And maybe they'll admit it when we're gone. Just let our spirits live on, through our lyrics that you hear in our songs.

“They Schools” by Dead Prez

On Education:

“Why haven't you learned anything?”

“Man that school shit is a joke.  The same people who control the school system control the prison system, and the whole social system ever since slavery, you know what I'm saying? I went to school with some redneck crackers.  Right around the time 3rd Bass dropped the cactus album.  But I was reading Malcolm.  I changed my name in '89, cleaning parts of my brain like a baby nine.  I took a history class serious, front row, every day of the week, 3rd period.  Fucking with the teachers head, calling them racist.  I tried to show them crackers some light, they couldn't face it.  I got my diploma from a school called Rickers.  Full of teenage mothers and drug dealing niggas.  In the hallways, the po-po was always present, searching through niggas possessions, looking for dope and weapons.  Get your lessons, that's what my moms kept stressing.  I tried to pay attention but they classes wasn't interesting.  They seemed to only glorify the Europeans, claiming Africans were only three-fifths a human being.”  “They schools can't teach us shit.  My people need freedom.  We trying to get all we can get.  All my high school teachers can suck my dick.  Telling me white man lies, straight bullshit!  They schools ain't teaching us what we need to know to survive.  They schools don't educate.  All they teach the people is lies.”  “You see dog, you see how quick these motherfuckers be to like be telling niggas get a diploma so you can get a job, but they don't never tell you how the job is going to exploit you every time.  That's why I be like “Fuck they schools!”  “School is like a 12 step brainwash camp.  They make you think if you drop out you ain't got a chance. To advance in life, they try to make you pull your pants up.  Students fight the teachers and get took away in handcuffs.  And if that wasn't enough, then they expel y'all.  Your peoples understand it but to them, you a failure.  When they beat us in the head with them books, it don't reach us.  Whether you break dance or rock suede Adidas.  Or be in the bathroom with your clique, smoking reefer.  Then you know they math class ain't important, unless you adding up cash in multiples.  Unemployment ain't rewarding.  They may as well teach us extortion.  You either get paid or locked up.  The principal is like a warden.  In a four year sentence, mad niggas never finish.  But that doesn't mean I couldn't be a doctor or a dentist.”  “Because, for real, a mind is a terrible thing to waste.  And all y'all high class niggas with y'all nose up cause we dropping this shit on this joint, fuck y'all.  We going to speak for ourselves.  Cause see the schools ain't teaching us nothing.  They ain't teaching us nothing, but how to be slaves and hardworkers for white people to build up they shit up and make they businesses successful while it's exploiting us.  They ain't teaching us nothing related to solving our own problems.  They ain't teaching us how to get crack out the ghetto.  They ain't teaching us how to stop the police from murdering us, and brutalizing us.  They ain't teaching us how to get our rent paid.  They ain't teaching our families how to interact better with each other.  They just teaching us how to build they shit up.  That's why my niggas got a problem with this shit.  That's why niggas be dropping out that shit because it don't relate.  You go to school, the fucking police searching you you walking in your shit like this a military compound.  So school don't even relate to us.  Until we have some shit where we control the fucking school system, where we reflect how we going to solve our own problems, them niggas ain't going to relate to school.  Shit that just how it is.  And I love education, but if education ain't elevating me, and it ain't taking me where I need to go on some bullshit, then fuck education.  At least they shit, matter of fact my nigga, this whole school system can suck my dick, BITCH!”

“Mosh” by Eminem

On Bush:

“They ain't gonna stop us they can't, we stronger now more than ever. They tell us “no”, we say “yeah”. They tell us “stop”, we say “go”. Rebel with a rebel yell. Raise hell we gonna let em know. Stomp. Push. Shove. Mush. Fuck Bush. Until they bring out troops home. Come on.”

On Leadership:

“Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness as I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed. Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I won't steer you wrong. Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog to the light at the end of the tunnel. We gonna fight, we gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march through the swamp. We gonna Mosh through the marsh, take us right through the doors, c'mon.”

“Let the President answer a higher anarchy. No more blood for oil. We've got out own battles to fight on our own soil. Look in his eyes. It's all lies. The stars and stripes, they've been swiped, washed out, and wiped. Replaced with his own face. Mosh now or Die. If I get sniped tonight it's because I told you to “fight”.”

“Assemble our own army. Disarm this Weapon of Mass Destruction we call our President.”

“Tell The Truth” – Mos Def

On 9-11:

“Man. You hear this bullshit they be talking. Everyday. It's like these mother fuckers is just like professional liars. You know what I'm saying. It's wild. Listen:

Bin Laden didn't blow up the projects. It was you Nigga. Tell the Truth Nigga. Bush knocked down the towers. Tell the Truth Nigga. Bush knocked down the towers. Tell the Truth Nigga.”

On Bin Laden:

“I pledge no allegiance. Nigga fuck the President's speeches. If you speak about the evil the government does, the Patriot Act will track you to the type of your blood. They'll try to frame you, and say you were trying to sell drugs. Throw a federal indictment on niggaz to show you love. This shit is run by fake Christians, fake politicians. Look at their mansions. Then look at the conditions you live in. All they talk about is terrorism on television. They tell you to listen. But they don't really tell you their mission. They funded al-Qaeda, and now they blame the Muslim religion. Even though Bin Laden was a CIA tactician. They gave him billions of dollars, and they funded his purpose. Fahrenheit 9/11. That's just scratching the surface.”

On Uncle Tom House Negroes:

“Mercenary contractors fighting a new era. Corporate military banking off the War on Terror. They are controlling the ghetto, with the failed attack. Try and distract the fact that they are engineering the crack. I fire on house niggaz that support you and like you.

On Presidents (Eminem):

“I don't rap for money. I don't rap for dead Presidents. I'd rather see the President dead. It's never been said, but I set Precedents.”

“What Would You Do” – City High

On Prostitution:

“What would you do, if your son was at home, crying all alone, on the bedroom floor, cause he's hungry? And the only way to feed him is to sleep with a man for a little bit of money, and his daddy's gone? Somewhere smocking rock now. In and out of lock down, I ain't got a job now. So for you this is just a good time. But for me this is what I call life.”

“Where Is The Love” – Black Eyed Peas

On Terrorism:

“Overseas we try to stop terrorism but we got terrorists here living in the USA, the big CIA, the Bloods, the Crips, and the KKK.”

“People killing, people dieing. Children hurt and you hear them crying. Can you practice what you preach, and would you turn the other cheek? Father, father, father help us. Send some guidance from above cause people got me questioning: Where is the Love?”

“Revolutionary”—Immortal Technique

Malcolm X:

“There's freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody. Revolutions overturn systems. Revolutions destroy systems.”

On Hip-Hop:

“You're just a fucking animal but I'm the Neo Sapien. You know there's no escaping, even though your heart is racing. Fuck the litigation. Fuck the President. I voted for assassination. I'm saying fuck the federal bullshit investigations. Fuck the cover up of ghetto radiation extermination. Using my people for experimentation. And if doesn't play Hip-Hop, then fuck your radio station.”

“Read A Book” – D'mite

“Read a book. Read a book. Read a mother fucking book.

r-e-a-d-a-b-O-O-K!

Not a sport's page. Not a magazine.

But a book nigga, a fucking book nigga.”

“Raise your kids. Raise your kids. Raise your God damned kids.

Your body needs water, so drink that shit!

Buy some land, buy some land. Fuck spinning rims.

Brush your teeth, brush your teeth, brush your God damned teeth.

Wear deodorant nigga, wear deodorant nigga. It's called Speedstick. It's not expensive.”

“Read a Book.”

“Youth Of A Nation” – P.O.D.

On Columbine:

“But who knew that this day wasn't like the rest? Instead of taking the test, I took two to the chest. Call me blind, but I didn't see it coming. Everybody was running but I couldn't hear nothing. Except gun blasts, it happened so fast. I don't really know this kid even though I sit by him in class. Maybe this kid was reaching out for love. Or maybe for a moment he forgot who he was. Or maybe this kid just wanted to be hugged. Whatever it was, I know it's because... We are, we are, the Youth of a Nation. We are, we are, the Youth of the Nation.”

“Why? Who's to blame for the lives that tragedies claim? No matter what you say, it don't take away the pain that I feel inside. I 'm tired of all the lies. Don't nobody know why it's the blind leading the blind. I guess that's the way the story goes. Will it ever make sense? Somebody's got to know. There's got to be more to life than this. There's got to be more to everything I thought exists.”

“Internally Bleeding” —Immortal Technique

On Black History:

“I never asked to be the messenger but I was chosen to speak the words of every African slave dumped into the ocean. Stolen by America. Tortured, buried, and frozen. Written out of the history books your children are holding. Internally bleeding. Cold blooded, stripped of emotion, I go through the motions, but there's no life in my eyes. It's like I'm hooked up to a respirator waiting to die. Hooked up to the fucking chair waiting to fry. Sooth an electrocution currently used in my execution, producing thoughts at the speed of light. Burning confusion, I'm loosing my sight. Breathing is tight. The evening is white. I made my peace with the Lord and now I stand on his right.”

* * *

These are the songs and artists that I used for this article:

“Read a Book” by D'mite;

“Internally Bleeding” by Immortal Technique;

“They Schools” by Dead Prez

“That's War” by Dead Prez

“Revolutionary” by Immortal Technique;

“Changes” by Tupac;

“Rock Bottom” by Eminem;

“Land Of The Gun” by Immortal Technique;

“Where Is The Love” by Black Eyed Peas;

“What Would You Do” by City High;

“Which Side Are You On?” by Rebel Diaz;

“Tell The Truth” by Mos Def;

“Mosh” by Eminem;

“Sing for the Moment” by Eminem;

“Renegade” by Eminem with Jay Z;

“Without Me” by Eminem;

“White America” by Eminem;

“The Way I Am” by Eminem;

“Youth Of A Nation” – P.O.D.;

“Propaganda” - Dead Prez.

“Memorial Day” - The Perceptionists