Ooh, yeah (oh)
C'mon, c'mon
I see no changes, wake up in the morning, and I ask myself
Is life worth living, should I blast myself?
I'm tired of bein' poor, and even worse I'm black
My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch
Cops give a damn about a negro
Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, 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 got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere
Unless we share with each other
We gotta start makin' changes
Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers
And that's how it's supposed to be
How can the devil take a brother, if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids
But things changed, and that's the way it is
Come on, come on
That's just the way it is (changes)
Things will never be the same
That's just the way it is (that's the way it is)
Ooh, yeah
Come on, come on
That's just the way it is
Things will never be the same (never be the same)
That's just the way it is (way it is)
Aww, yeah
I see no changes, all I see is racist faces
Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under, I wonder what it takes to make this
One better place, let's erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people, they'll be acting right
'Cause both black and white are smokin' crack tonight
And the only time we chill is when we kill each other
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven sent
We ain't ready, to see a black president, uh
It ain't a secret, don't conceal the fact
The penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks
But some things will never change
Try to show another way but you stayin' in the dope game
Now tell me, what's a mother to do?
Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you
You gotta operate the easy way
I made a G today, but you made it in a sleazy way
Sellin' crack to the kid, I gotta get paid
Well, hey, well, that's the way it is
Come on, come on
That's just the way it is (changes)
Things will never be the same
That's just the way it is (that's the way it is)
Ooh, yeah
Come on, come on
That's just the way it is
Things will never be the same (never be the same)
That's just the way it is (way it is)
Aww, yeah
We gotta make a change
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes
Let's change the way we eat
Let's change the way we live
And let's change the way we treat each other
You see, the old way wasn't working
So it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive
And still I see no changes, can't a brother get a little peace?
It's war on the streets and war in the Middle East
Instead of war on poverty
They got a war on drugs so the police can bother me
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do
But now, I'm back with the facts givin' 'em back to you
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up
Crack you up and pimps smack you up
You gotta learn to hold your own
They get jealous when they see ya, with your mobile phone
But tell the cops, they can't touch this
I don't trust this, when they try to rush, I bust this
That's the sound of my tool, you say it ain't cool
But mama didn't raise no fool
And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped
And I never get to lay back
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the payback
Some buck that I roughed up way back
Comin' back after all these years
Rat-a-tat, tat, tat, tat, that's the way it is
That's just the way it is
Things will never be the same
That's just the way it is (way it is)
Aww, yeah
That's just the way it is (the way it is, the way it is)
Things will never be the same (you're my brother, you're my sister)
That's just the way it is
Aww, yeah
Some things will never change
