Rebel, rebel and yell 'Cause our people still dwell in hell Locked in a cell Yes, the structure's a cell Mad is the story I tell How long can we wait? Come on, seein' what's at stake Action for reaction If your mind's in a somewhat complacent state Get a check up This is a stick up Our freedom or your life Lord, I wish I could be peacful But there can be no sequel Now freedom must be fundamental In Johannesburg or South Central On the mic, 'cause someone should tell 'em To kick in the township rebellion Yeah, what about that sucker? Yeah, so you thought you could get with the hardlines That fill your mind Thoughts, battles fought And lessons taught Yes I'll display the fitness And flip like a gymnast Raise my fist and resist Asleep, though we stand in the midst Of the war Gotta get mine Gotta get more Keepin' the mic warm against the norm 'Cause what does it offer me? I think often it's nothin' but a coffin Gotta get wreck 'Till our necks never swing on a rope From here to the cape of no hope Now freedom must be fundamental In Johannesburg or South Central On the mic, 'cause someone should tell 'em To kick in the township rebellion Why stand on a silent platform? Fight the war, **** the norm (4 times) (Guitar solo) Why stand on a silent platform? Fight the war, **** the norm (4 times) What's it gonna take? Euuurrrggghhhhh! Shackle their minds when they're bent on the cross When ignorance reigns, life is lost Shackle their minds when they're left on the cross When ignorance reigns, life is lost Shackled our minds when we're bent on the cross When ignorance reigns, life is lost Shackled our minds when we're left on the cross When ignorance reigns, life is lost, lost, lost! Shackle your minds and you're left on the cross! When ignorance reigns, life is lost! Just shackle your minds when you're bent on the cross! When ignorance reigns, life is lost, lost! Why stand on a silent platform? Fight the war, **** the norm (4 times)
RATM - Township Rebellion
'Crank the music up' Bring that **** in! Yeah, the movement's in motion with mass militant poetry Now check this out...uggh! In the right light, study becomes insight But the system that dissed us Teaches us to read and write So called facts are fraud They want us to allege and pledge And bow down to their God Lost the culture, the culture lost Spun our minds and through time Ignorance has taken over Yo, we gotta take the power back! Bam! Here's the plan Mother**** Uncle Sam Step back, I know who I am Raise up your ear, I'll drop the style and clear It's the beats and the lyrics they fear The rage is relentless We need a movement with a quickness You are the witness of change And to counteract We gotta take the power back Yeah, we gotta take the power back Come on, come on! We gotta take the power back The present curriculum I put my fist in 'em Eurocentric every last one of 'em See right through the red, white and blue disguise With lecture I puncture the structure of lies Installed in our minds and attempting To hold us back We've got to take it back 'Cause holes in our spirit causin' tears and fears One-sided stories for years and years and years I'm inferior? Who's inferior? Yea, we need to check the interior Of the system that cares about only one culture And that is why We gotta take the power back Yeah, we gotta take the power back Come on, come on! We gotta take the power back Hey yo check, we're gonna have to break it, break it, break it down Awww ****! Uggh! And like this...uggh! Come on, yeah! Bring it back the other way! The teacher stands in front of the class But the lesson plan he can't recall The student's eyes don't perceive the lies Bouning off every ****ing wall His composure is well kept I guess he fears playing the fool The complacent students sit and listen to some of that Bullshit that he learned in school Europe ain't my rope to swing on Can't learn a thing from it Yet we hang from it Gotta get it, gotta get it together then Like the mother****in' weathermen To expose and close the doors on those who try To strangle and mangle the truth 'Cause the circle of hatred continues unless we react We gotta take the power back Yeah, we gotta take the power back Come on, come on! We gotta take the power back No more lies (8 times, building to a crescendo) Uggh! Yeah! Take it back y'all Take it back, a-take it back A-take it back y'all, come on! Take it back y'all Take it back, a-take it back A-take it back y'all, come on! Uggh! Yeah!
RATM - Take the Power Back
and my personal favorite:
Come on, although ya try to discredit Ya still never edit The needle, I'll thread it Radically poetic Standin' with the fury that they had in '66 And like E-Double I'm mad Still knee-deep in the system's **** Hoover, he was a body remover I'll give ya a dose But it'll never come close To the rage built up inside of me Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy Movements come and movements go Leaders speak, movements cease When their heads are flown 'Cause all these punks Got bullets in their heads Departments of police, the judges, the feds Networks at work, keepin' people calm You know they went after King When he spoke out on Vietnam He turned the power to the have-nots And then came the shot Yeah! Yeah, back in this... Wit' poetry, my mind I flex Flip like Wilson, vocals never lackin' dat finesse Whadda I got to, whadda I got to do to wake ya up To shake ya up, to break the structure up 'Cause blood still flows in the gutter I'm like takin' photos Mad boy kicks open the shutter Set the groove Then stick and move like I was Cassius Rep the stutter step Then bomb a left upon the fascists Yea, the several federal men Who pulled schemes on the dream And put it to an end Ya better beware Of retribution with mind war 20/20 visions and murals with metaphors Networks at work, keepin' people calm Ya know they murdered X And tried to blame it on Islam He turned the power to the have-nots And then came the shot Uggh! What was the price on his head? What was the price on his head! I think I heard a shot (5 times) I think I heard, I think I heard a shot Background: 'Black nationalism' 'He may be a real contender for this position should he abandon his supposed obediance to white liberal doctrine of non-violence...and embrace black nationalism' 'Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to pinpoint potential trouble-makers...' 'And neutralise them' Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Spoken: "How long? Not long, 'cause what you reap is what you sow."
- RATM - Wake Up - best song ever.
