Changes
By Tupac Shakur
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 & 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 & 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
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead
I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere unless we share with eachother
We gotta start makin' changes
learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 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
That's just the way it is
Things'll never be the same
That's just the way it is
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 is
smokin' crack tonight and 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
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 kids. "I gotta get paid,"
Well hey, well that's the way it is
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 & the 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 blacks givin' it back to you
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up, crack you up and pimp slap you up
You gotta learn to hold ya own
they get jealous when they see ya with ya 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
my mama didn't raise no fool
And as long as I stay black I gotta stay strapped & I never get to lay back
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs
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
I love this song so much. While reading it I can hear him singing it in my head..
"man I ain't mad at ya..got nuthing but love for you boy..what you think"
Posted by: sandy at March 30, 2004 05:46 PMTupac was a gangsta shitbag. He lived the life and reaped the rewards. It's a shame so many black youth idolized his bigotry and criminal behavior.
Posted by: Gordon the Magnificent at March 30, 2004 06:56 PMNo. What is truly a shame is that you are so narrow minded and racist that you can't accept people that are different than you.
It's also a shame that you yammer on about things you are so uninformed about.
Posted by: Maria at March 30, 2004 07:11 PMMe? Racist because I don't like Shitpac? That irony is laughable!
Why am I not surprised you'd mentor yourself after Tupac?
I don't think you're racist because you don't like Tupac. Lots of people don't like Tupac's music, that doesn't make them all racist. You're racist because you demean him based on his culture, the way he spoke (condescendingly referred to as ebonics, as if ebonics were a bad word - n : a nonstandard form of American English spoken by some American Black people). You devalue his lyrics based on the fact that they are spoken in a way that you think is unrefined, when clearly, much of the time he had a positive message and didn't encourage violence or drugs, but spoke about his experiences with those things in a way that many other people can relate to. The world is full of ghettos Gordon. Don't forget it. The artistic people that emerge from them are often some of the most provocative and unconventional. Just because it isn't your bag or because you are too narrow to relate to the world from which Tupac came, doesn't mean that he was a "gangsta shitbag." He was someone that many people loved for his talent, charisma and his passion for expression.
Posted by: Maria at March 30, 2004 07:53 PMI know some may find it odd my affection for Tupac, Dr. Dre, Snoop.and it was an affection that found me later in life..but..I love this genre of music. Every decade and genre has their "bad boys"..but I think some of these rappers have been overlooked due to their style. I can't imagine what life was like for them, the violence, hunger, the pain they saw everyday in their own front yards. If you really listen and put some effort into hearing, it's poetry. It's the written word of thier life and feelings. Most rappers would like to help pull others out of the "ghetto" and into a better life.
I mean you could discuss it a million ways..but I really like Tupac and this song to me is like an extended conversation.
Whattup, whattup.
2pac didn't make this song and I don't mean he covered it, no, this lyrics were scraped together from other songs, so they could create this song after he died.
Still a good product though ;)
Posted by: Jonathan at May 2, 2004 07:28 AM