Outside Looking In

The "real Hip-Hop" is a popular myth Ideas have their power when they are not fixed Grace Lee Boggs knows what it is It goes purpose, people, places... My city blew up but I don't see myself Why? I still make music to free myself I exist Without your permission Foundational to the buildings you live in Laid over Black folks bones Historical omission The styles went mainstream But somehow it's different A poisonous mix of music and business These new pop stars used to watch us and mimic Younger rappers want to be them And don't get it It's like the new Hip-Hop is just attracting attention For the sake of attention If this is what we built, I don't want to be in it I'm not here to fit in Or to sell you an image My ability to write has made more than a living It has kept me alive through times when I didn't Think I'd survive the night Music gave me a vision Strength to overcome Even when no one listened I didn't see myself, why? I still made music to free myself Looked at the whole industry and didn't see myself I still make music to free myself And I'll do it even if it never feeds myself I'll still make music to free myself We're only someone, in relation to everyone else We still make music to free ourselves Everything we were ridiculed for then Somehow, one day, became a new trend How are we now on the outside looking in To something that wouldn't exist Without what we did I used to be proud But seen fame change friends These films about our scene I can't relate to them They just blah blah blah on about making it It's no different, they only think as capitalists As if only in an industry does culture exist Disconnected "Conscious" when the radio played that Those same rappers now do coke and sell crack Asian kids say the n-word and get a pat on their back Claiming "POC" and staying anti-Black My whole city doesn't seem to care that it's gotten wack I got love for a few Who clearly stay true Even when what you've made no longer includes you And you find strength in self To still make music to free yourself On the underground railroad escaping hell They were making music so they could free themselves Slavery got abolished now except for jails Private prisons and media giants fill cells Popular rap music brings us back to hell How do we make music now that can free ourselves I only want to make music to free myself How do we all make music to free ourselves I only want to make music to free myself How do we all make music to free ourselves I only want to make music to free myself How do we all make music to free ourselves