Now nod your head and wake up.
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I see so many people lost who really try to pretend
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But am I just another white boy who has caught on to the trend
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When I take a step to the mic is hiphop closer to the end?
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'Cause when I go to shows the majority have white skin
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They marketed the windmill, the air flair and head spin
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And white rappers albums really get the most spins
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The face of hip hop has changed a lot since Eminem
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And if he's taking away black artists' profits I look just like him
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Claimed a culture that wasn't mine, the way of the american
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Hip hop is gentrified and where will all the people live
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It's like the central district, beacon hill to the south end
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Being pushed farther away because of what white people did, now
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Where's my place in a music that's been taken by my race
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Cultural appropriated by the white face
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And we don't want to admit that this is existing
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So scared to acknowledge the benefits of our white privilege
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Cause it's human nature to want to be part of something different
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Especially when your ancestors are European Christians
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And most whites don't want to acknowledge this is occurring
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Cause we got the best deal, the music without the burden
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Of being black in a system that really wants you to rock
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Cause all you need is a program and you can go and make hiphop
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And we hate the mainstream cause we're the ones that took it
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Now we listen to Aesop Rock and wear t-shirts that say Brooklyn
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But it's not about black and white right
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I mean good music is good music regardless of what you look like
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But when you don't give them props isn't that selfish?
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That's like saying rock was actually started by Elvis
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So where does this leave me?
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I feel like I pay dues but I'll always be a white MC
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I give everything I have when I write a rhyme
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But that doesn't change the fact that this culture's not mine
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But I'm gonna be me so please be who you are
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This is something that's effortless and shouldn't be hard
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I said I'm gonna be me so please be who you are
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But we still owe 'em 40 acres now we've stolen their 16 bars
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Hiphop started off in a block that I've never been to
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To counter act a struggle that I've never even been through
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If I think I understand just because I flow too
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That means I'm not keeping it true, nope
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Hiphop started off in a block that I've never been to
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To counter act a struggle that I've never even been through
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If I think I understand just because I flow too
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That means I'm not keeping it true, I'm not keeping it true
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Now I don't rap about guns so they label me conscious
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But I don't rap about guns cause I wasn't forced into the projects
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See I was put in the position where I could chose my options
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Blessed with the privilege that my parent's could send me to college
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Now who's going to shows the kids on the block starving
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Or the white people with dough that can relate to my content?
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Marketed the music now adapted to the lifestyle
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What happened to jazz and rock and roll is happening right now
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Where's my place in the music that's been taken by the media
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With white corperations controlling what their feeding ya
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I brought up aesop rock but I'm not even dissing dude
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We love hiphop and what do you think caucasians are listening to
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And I speak freely when I write this
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If a black emcee examined race there goes half their fan base, white kids
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And this is so true. and we didn't even have to fight the system
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We just went and picked up the microphone too
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And we got good at it so we should be rapping
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But only supporting them is like burning Jimmy and buying Clapton
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Now Clapton's incredible. but no Jimmy no foundation
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So here comes history and the cultural appropriation
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White kids with do rags trying to practice their accents
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From the suburbs to the upperclass mastering a language
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But hiphop is not just memorizing words
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It's rooted in authenticity something you literally can't learn
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But I'm gonna be me so please be who you are
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This is something that's effortless and shouldn't be hard
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I said I'm gonna be me so please be who you are
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But as I'm blessed with the privileg |