To The Ghetto - Talib Kweli & J. Rawls

Brooklyn, New York
Columbus, Ohio
The regiment of motivation
This is a re-work and re-imagination

To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin in the
To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the
To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the
To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

I fell in love with a girl named Touché
She used to dip her pickles in the Kool-Aid
Born on April Fools Day, her color d'Ussé
Cute face, plus her neck smelled like a bouquet
The scent of a rose is beyond sweet
Especially when it has to grow through the concrete
Facing every tragedy, racial disparities
A place where giving to yourself is considered charity
Where eyes are the window to the soul, every cry's a blessin'
That's how you cleanse the lens of your perception
But there ain't no cryin' in the ghetto
Emotions, got folks dying in the ghetto
Where they talk about the plugs, no hair club
When they want to run the fade that's not a haircut
To be clear son, that's a fair one
A lecture yeah the only time the man come

To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the
To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the
To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the
To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the

Ghetto is now an adjective, started out as Venetian
They segregated Jews and other Eastern Europeans
The opiate of the people distributed by the preachers
Snitches get stitches so the ghetto has secrets
Immigration is how you build up the nation
Gentrification creating these migrations
Your property gets taken when there's poverty you facing
Creating the conditions for permanent vacations
Stay paid they hate to hate [?]
School-to-prison pipeline workers of 8th grade
It's the cards that we're dealt, we learn how to place [?]
And burners of our names in the yards with the trains
I don't have many friends in this business, I only trust a few
The most illustrious, the post-industrial
There's no sleep, only the dead slumber
Beware the head-hunters, they want another red summer

To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the
To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the
To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the
To the ghetto
Dude this is surviving to be livin'
Dude this is surviving to be livin' in the