Make It All Better

[Q-Tip:]

Ghetto child, ain't you tired?

Universe, ain't you tired?

Let's speak, let's speak on it

Yo, why we typecast into all this madness?

Humanity, ain't you tired?

[Talib Kweli:]

Yo, I keep a smile on my face, even when it's looking very grim

I think about them babies innocent like cherubim

I'm livin' in an era when

There is more black people owning things than it's ever been

In America. From small banks to big labels

Properties, and businesses even stations on cable

Still we're not able

To control the money

(There's) Swine still on the table

And ghettos across the country

Our babies stay hungry, but we got black senators in congress

That's the illusion of pro-gress

Gettin' hype when you see blacks on TV is plain dumb

When them cats don't understand where they came from

Let's get everybody's head nodding to the same drum

Then have conversations that cross generations

It's then and only then you will see

That these kids imitate images from the seventies

That's the decade we were born into

Conforming to

The code of the pimp and the playa, what you wanna do?

Call that man "Ghouli-ani"

Said, "We've got no clue", pro'bly

Forget about the Q-Tip's, Mos Def's, Talib Kweli's

The mind state of those before us seem pathetic

Got the nerve to say my generation apathetic

But I don't sweat it

I just choose to assist

Boo-hoo all you want, just continue to exist

Refuse any fact that's not actual

Resist anything that's not natural

Refuse to let the current situation worsen

Resist anybody's that disrespecting your person

Refuse to be afraid, it's only God you should fear

Resist the temptation to act like you don't care

It's a struggle out there

And we all feel the pressure

You say it's all good, I wanna make it all better

[Mos Def:]

They say that illegal business control America

The law man long arm is just a long barrell

There ain't a black butterfly

Black birds and sparrows, anything trying to fly

Their response to more black is more blue and more ammo

Check the local news channel

The commissioner, the defendent is kin

Another long winded lie again

Black folks gonna die again

When they say "we" they really mean us and them

The politics of division

Creating fresh revenue for prison

It's money, it's religion

They been running the same type of game

Since the slave holders settled the plane

It's very little remains

The capital gains

Control the domain

Closing the vain

So life can't circulate

Perpetrate the murder rate

Para military

Killin' Mary

That's the seed they sow

They gotta bleed to grow

But what they need to know

That what you reap

Is what you keep.

Payblack is better fruit to eat

It uproot the teeth

Enough to make the laughing [? ] stop smiling

They took him to the grave, but Lazarus was unsilent [x3]

[Q-Tip:]

Yo, yo, it's the doughnuts and coffee

That makes you too bossy

I really don't think you need to be walking the beat

And targeting civilians 'cause we're walking in the streets

Refrain from prejudice and refrain from eating sweets

Constitution's not made

Ffor multi-raced slaves

There's more than Amadu who found a way to early grave

Gonna keep on happenin' and

Police is packin' and

Giuliani's yappin' and

You know the process

Cops is drinkin' beer on the street's, relieve stress

Looking for the lucky Latino w/ black face

Keeping us inside a place

But it's not about race

Let 'em tell it. And a lot of y'all police is punks

Smackin' hustlers up and confiscating all their junk

Sellin' it back, scaring the cats into submission

Bustin' at the brothas 'cause we fit the description

Of the young and intelligent

Often wild talented

Ghetto child. Our dreams are snatched up w/ violence, kid

Gonna make you feel the pain if I can

It's the ordinary thing just a day for the man [x3]

[Talib Kweli:]

Refuse any fact that's not actual

Resist anything that's not natural

Refuse to let the current situation worsen

Resist anybody's that disrespecting your person

Refuse to be afraid, it's only God you should fear

Resist the temptation to act like you don't care

It's a struggle out there

And we all feel the pressure

You say it's all good, I wanna make it all better